Abu Dhabi: If you are a video game lover and have always wanted to create games for a living, it is now possible to do so right here in the UAE’s capital by enrolling in a Gaming Academy.
In partnership with Ubisoft and SAE Institute, the twofour54 Gaming Academy Level Design course is a 16-month programme that teaches students everything they need to know about creating video games. The course takes them all the way to where they create and publish their very own game – a qualification that is mandatory for them in order to graduate.
Yousef Jasim Bukhamas, an Emirati student, was pursuing a Master’s degree in Business when he found out about the course and decided to switch to a career in game design instead.
Bukhamas says that although it is worrying to be pursuing a career in an industry that is not yet mature in the region, it is also rewarding to be among the first in this field. “It’s a good opportunity, and I live here, so I might as well take advantage of that.”
Hadeel Miqdadi and Fakhra Al Mansouri, two Emirati students, say they’ve had a passion for video games for as long as they remember which is why they decided to go for the course.
Today, there are nine students enrolled at the Academy, says Noura Al Kaabi, chief executive officer of twofour54. “The course allows students to receive international standard training, right here in Abu Dhabi. It prepares students for a career in the digital gaming industry, which is one of the fastest growing sectors within the media industry in the world and especially in the Middle East,” she says.
Not like university
Students study full-time, but the experience is very different from a traditional university one. “The classes are flexible and you’re never bored. You’re always learning in a creative manner and always working in a group,” says Bukhamas. “We need more hours in the day (to be able to learn it all).”
Nick Phipps, who was studying Game Design in Australia, learned of the course in Abu Dhabi and decided to come to the UAE. For Phipps, the chances of pursuing a career here seem better than in Australia. “The market back home is saturated,” he says. “Because it [the Middle East] is a fresh market, we should have a good chance of getting in.”
Phipps and other students have also come to the Gaming Academy for the chance to work for Ubisoft, a Paris-based game developer and publisher. The company, which is behind games such as Assassin’s Creed, has 26 studios worldwide including a recently opened one in Abu Dhabi.
Ubisoft in the UAE is looking to have a 100 people on board between now and the next couple of years, an opportunity a lot of these students are hoping to get.
Yannick Theler, general manager of Ubisoft Emriates, says Ubisoft had been looking at the region for quite some time as the company wanted “to make video games and develop a studio where nobody is doing so.”
Speaking of the Gaming Academy, Theler says there’s no doubt it is going to be a channel of recruitment as well. “We know it’s going to take time to teach the people, and to craft the people into our way of doing business,” he says.
Ubisoft, says Al Kaabi, is one of several companies of its ilk that has recently set up base in Abu Dhabi. The others are Tahadi, Jawaker and T-break. “We hope there will be an increasing number of opportunities for our students once they graduate.”
Ubisoft is hoping to produce its first game from its Abu Dhabi studio next year. “If we can create a good base of people, maybe it’ll grow on us,” Theler says.
