The game industry has an abundance of talent in 2016

I’ve been in the online media, mobile and games industry for 23 years, and in 2009 , I witnessed the first major change for talent in the move from console to mobile. After a dramatic 2015 in mobile, 2016 marks the beginning of yet another big shift as mobile and console talent morph into the wearable and VR sector. The big opportunities for mobile talent in 2016 are in virtual reality, esports, and wearable technologies – but it won’t be easy for anyone.

The mobile development industry has undergone rapid expansion over the last 15 years, and it really accelerated over the past three-plus years due to the emergence of social apps and monetization practices in free-to-play (or pay to win). For 2015, this rapid change was marked by frequent studio closures, restructurings and layoffs, such as at DeNA, Rovio and Gameloft who underwent their 8th major studio closure. On the positive side, Activision-Blizzard acquired Candy Crush Saga maker King for $5.9 billion, Bethesda’s first mobile game shook the Apple App Chart in June, and SGN acquired two new studios the week before Christmas – it’s clear the mobile market was adapting rapidly. But it was also a summer of quiet desperation, it was unlike any other I’ve seen, as the opportunities for talent to experiment and commit to is now so wide.