Gaming development no longer means nerdy technicians spending endless hours secluded in a room developing new games – on the contrary, it now hinges mostly on business-savvy wise men, forward-thinking and global-oriented. But is iGaming really the business sector to invest in? Or the one that sets the trend?

Baby, you’ll be a video slot soon

According to Warren Spector, a 30 year-old gaming veteran working at the Denius Sams Gaming Academy at the University of Texas, the global iGaming business represents tens of billions of dollars, and with the current (re)introduction of iGaming to the US and Latin American markets, the industry can reach unimaginable levels.

There’s innovation, and we still desperately need that, but we also require leadership, Spector added, explaining the conundrum: How do you innovate in a commercial context? You have to work efficiently.

Training the next generation of iGaming baby boomers

Usually when talking about iGaming, people mainly associate it with video games and role-playing games, when it actually covers the whole spectrum of gaming entertainment like role games, video games, social platform games, online casino and table games content.

At this moment, iGaming has evolved to become a continuously expanding industry that needs a solid foundation to overcome transitions and go hand in hand with technologic development.

You’re never really taught like you would be if you’re getting an MBA in finance about how the banking industry works as an industry and as a business, says Alfred Schmidt, founder of Portalarium, an US-based betting game software developer.

Schmidt continued on the need for the new iGaming startups to embrace new tech-trends and added on how to cope with the changing global market: How do you manage your project through market transitions? How to fund projects? How to keep on schedule and maintain accountability when you’re dealing with billions in budgets?

Seriously? A MBA in gaming?

Don’t underestimate the power of gaming: this industry is only just starting to expand, now with the browser HTML5 coding development that allows punters to play online without needing to download any software to their computers.

Schmidt and the Portalarium team (among many other iGaming gurus in the world) claim that an MBA in gaming may be suitable to adapt the pedagogy of a graduate business program to suit the needs of the gaming industry.

Despite all the financial turmoil with decaying software businesses that never seem to  get it right (take Zynga, just to name one), the iGaming industry has gone from one single man sitting in a room writing code, to multinational companies that hire hundreds of people in many countries.

Spector also agrees with the need to keep an open education system that allows for further iGaming specialization that can meet the market demand. We’re entrusting more and more money to more and more people and, frankly, those people learn on the fly.

Unfortunately it seems that only the US and Canada are embracing the new breed of iGaming in the education system, Europe and Asia seem to be lagging behind.

The University of Texas is now even developing Masters and Postbaccalaureate degrees in Computer Science aimed specifically at developing iGaming content (including both video games and casino content). Only time (and people’s demands) will tell when more schools will also embrace this trend.