Blitz announces more open days

Blitz Games has finalised the dates for next year's open days, in which the company invites students and lecturers to visit its Leamington Spa headquarters to tour the studio and speak to staff.

The dates for students to attend will be March 3 and March 10, while the lecturer's open day will be March 17 and a special workshop will be March 27.

Open day co-ordinator Kim Blake spoke to GamesIndustry.biz about the company's policy on getting its message across to students.

"At Blitz, we have a dedicated Education Coordinator and take education and the future of our industry very seriously. We are working closely with several government bodies and educational institutions to increase understanding of the skills needs of the games industry."

"We speak regularly at universities and colleges and have an annual series of open days for both students and lecturers. As a result, we are starting to get our message across to students, teachers and the opinion-formers who shape policy in the education and skills sectors."

But Blake did admit that while such moves are leading to improvements in the numbers of graduates considering careers in videogames, there's still a problem.

"It's great that so many people are interested in making games and there are a huge number of games-related courses available now."

"However, there is still a massive shortage of programmers, despite the number of games courses on offer. We really need to attract more students onto Computer Science courses in order to address this."

One of the reasons for this is the skills gap between what traditional courses have offered and what the industry demands, but Blake feels this is something that's improving.

"As a relatively young industry, naturally it's taking a while for Higher Education institutions to understand our needs."

"Happily, Skillset, the Sector Skills Council which covers games development, has started accrediting degree courses that meet the needs of the games industry, so it should become easier for students to find out which course is right for them."

At the forthcoming London Game Careers Fair, part of this year's London Games Festival, Blitz will be on of the companies exhibiting.

"We're really excited about having a stand at LGCF. Last year we were overwhelmed by the visitors' enthusiasm and it's great to see that there are still loads of people interested in making games, not just playing them."