Finding employment in the game industry is an extremely competitive business, especially if you don’t have the means to experience to create a portfolio or get work experience. This can lead to a lot of potential talent being lost.
The Sumo Digital Academy is an apprenticeship scheme run by Sumo Digital, one of the largest games companies in the country, to find game design talent outside of the usual routes into the industry. They support graduates looking to make their first career move, those skilled in different industries and those seeking a career change.
In this video, Jake Habgood, Director of Education Partnerships for Sumo Digital, discusses how and why the Academy came into being and why they believe in supporting creative minds from other industries to get involved with games.
In the additional video, four of the current Academy cohort discuss how they found their way into the games industry and why they wanted to pursue their careers.
What value do you think there is in training people from outside of the games industry to design games?