Why aren’t there Women Game Developers despite the 65% Female Game Users
Zac Jacobs co-director of the multi-award winning company Millipede and creator of Dumb Ways to Die 2, the #1 game in 81 countries, with over 45M downloads, talks about his company, the team and what it takes to be so successful. He talks about the thought process that goes in game development; what game developers should search for and why it is almost impossible to find women game programmers although female players are the significant proportion (65%) of game users. He goes on to talk about investing in startups, trends he sees in the future and what it means to grow as a startup in Australia. Interviewed by Vicki Kolovou for Tech Talks Central.
3:11 “..(companies & government bodies) use gamification for teaching, for learning and development, for induction training, for accreditation. A lot of things that are difficult to get through or to employ engagement, we now gamify and it makes it much more fun and easy to use. That’s the direction we are heading in.”
5:35 “..good game developers are hard to find…it’s a very awarding career…it’s not an easy career path. I would hesitate to say you should follow it unless you are really dedicated to the gaming industry and have a lot of creative ideas, I would definitely say Go for it! but there aren’t so many employers or game developers out there…”
9:19 “..one of the best things in our region, in the last 12 months has been -funny enough- the demise of the mining industry in Australia. so there’s a lot of money looking for places to invest. They’re not investing in mining any more, and they’re looking into technology as a potential area to put their money in. So in the next 12, 18, 24 months I think it is quite positive for the startup industry in Australia.”
Zac Jacobs
Co-Director at Millipede
Zac is the co-director of multi-award winning Millipede, who are one of the the world's most experienced and talented game developers, with a specialty in mobile and tablet applications across all platforms. Millipede has developed innovative projects for clients that include the Australian Government, the Navy, KPMG and Metro.
Their latest game, Dumb Ways to Die: The Games, was #1 in over 80 countries and currently has 45M downloads.
Millipede is part of STW, Australia’s leading marketing content and communications services group; and are bringing their expertise into the enterprise arena, helping governments and corporations engage their staff and customers.
History: - 20+ years in international sales and marketing in the tech industry, working in Sydney, Singapore, Tokyo and San Francisco. - Joined local games/entertainment company, Beam/Melbourne House, as Marketing Manager in 1997, that also went public on the ASX in that year. When Beam morphed into Blaze International, progressed to the role of International Business Director while setting up the US office in San Francisco and later in Tokyo, before returning to Australia to fulfil the role of Executive General Manager in 2004. - Pioneered Australian mobile content delivery in Japan and China with groundbreaking deals with OKI, Sony, DoCoMo and China Mobile. - Recently the founding general manager in Melbourne of the global Tigerspike Group. - A regular presenter at seminars run by government and business groups on export marketing and mobile technology. - Supports the industry as one of the local conveners of the global Mobile Mondays organisation, committee member at MobilityVic and board member of ASMEA.
Follow him on Twitter under @zacjacobs
Specialties: Game development, mobile, investor
Tech Talks Central interviewed 37 ICT professionals at the Mobile World Congress 2015, the Health & Wellness by ECHAlliance and the Heroes of the Mobile Fringe, events that ran through March 1st to March 4th in Barcelona, Spain.