Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1055420
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 25 NOVEMBER 2018 G7 GAMING THE Malta Gaming Authority (MGA), through its Information Unit, has conducted a survey among its licensed remote gaming operators in order to obtain a better understanding of the existing skills gap in the gaming industry. The survey was conducted during the first quarter of 2018, and its analysis was carried out for each job category, level and firm size. The following are the key highlights from this sur- vey: • A total of 781 unfilled positions have been reported by the remote gaming companies in Malta as at the end of 2017; • Unfilled job vacancies are primarily in the game operation and development category at the operational level, presenting significant potential for the local educational system to contribute in addressing the issues of job va- cancies in skills that are specific to the gaming industry in Malta; • According to the survey results, 57% of re- spondents consider the lack of appropriate skills, in terms of either work experience or qualifications, as the main cause of unfilled va- cancies; • The sourcing of experienced talent from other firms in Malta is practised by over 60% of sur- veyed firms; the majority of operators recruit- ed workers already employed by other firms in the online sector (37%) or in other industries (24%); • The recruitment of workers immediately after the completion of their formal education was reported by 15% of firms, confirming the po- tentially stronger role which could be played by educational institutions; and; • Various initiatives are undertaken by the gam- ing companies to address the skill shortage in the industry with majority of firms (55%) or- ganising in-house training for their employees or investing in overseas training (21%). Over the past months, several policy efforts have been made to address this skills gap. In fact, in No- vember 2017, the European Gaming Institute of Malta (EGIM) was launched following an agreement signed between the MGA and MCAST. This strategic initiative aims to increase the talent pool in the gaming industry and create more long term careers for both local and foreign students. Ed- ucational programmes through EGIM started being offered as from October 2018. MGA survey identifies skills gap in gaming industry MALTA'S first ever professional gaming tournament was launched at the Quickfireesports centre, which is part of InterContinental Malta. This event, which is spon- sored by the MTA, is the first ever Counter-Strike: Global Of- fensive to be held in Malta. It will be taking place between the 29th of November and the 2nd of De- cember, and will bring eight teams from all around the world, includ- ing China, Russia, Europe and the USA to compete for a prize pool of $150,000. A total of 4,000 people are ex- pected to attend this four day event, which will include some of the top professional gamers in the world. In fact, the eight competing teams can all be found in the top 30 worldwide. One of the competing teams, the American one, is cur- rently ranked as number three in the world for Counter-Strike. The event is going to be live streamed through various social media channels and will be broad- cast in eight different languages in- cluding English, Russian, German, Hungarian, Polish, Chinese, Por- tuguese and Spanish. It is expected that this tournament will attract over five million unique viewers worldwide and also a great local audience. The Parliamentary Secretary for Financial Services, Digital Economy and Innovation, Silvio Schembri noted that just a few months ago he was addressing the first ever Malta e-Sports Forum and spoke about the local govern- ment's vision to make Malta into the 'Home of Gaming Excellence', and now, through this interna- tional scale event, they can say that their vision has become real- ity. Events such as these are the future, and everyone involved be- lieves that the Maltese Islands has all the criteria to be a high quality e-sports destination. The Malta Tourism Authority's Executive Chairman, Gavin Gulia, commented that the Maltese Is- lands are now fully equipped to host traditional events as well as events which make use of the lat- est technology. This event pro- motes our country as a destination where the best gamers can meet as well as compete against one an- other. This is one of the reasons why Malta is being promoted as an ideal all-year round destination and not just as a traditional holi- day venue. Ivan Filletti, the Head of Opera- tions & Business Development for Gaming Malta, said that the e- sports market is very large and in- corporates many different games, and therefore there is a lot of room to grow. Simon Decesare, Chief Executive of Eden Leisure Group, said that this event is a first in Malta and will open Eden up to becoming a leader in the e-sports events organisation. Tickets for the event, as well as more information relating to it, can be viewed from https://www. supernovamalta.com/ Malta's first ever international e-sports tournament