Students from the UNWE Knew about the Specifics of Gaming Industry

Representatives of the gaming industry in Bulgaria presented one of the fastest growing sectors to students of specialities Business Administration and Economics of Defence and Security.

The event was initiated by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Noncho Dimitrov, Vice Dean for Quality and International Cooperation of the Economics of Infrastructure Faculty and Scientific Secretary of the National and Regional Security Department.

Lyubomir Zaharinov from Alphabet Gaming and Boyan Mitrakiev from Bulgarian gaming cluster spoke to students about the main features and opportunities of the gaming industry. The peculiarities of online gambling, how to get an operator's license and what are the regulations in the sector were also part of the topics. Lyubomir Zaharinov outlined that according to the Gambling Act only the full-grown citizens can participate in online gambling.

"The gaming industry is a dynamic sector. The organizers and operators of such business are embracing gaming as an entertainment and leisure alternative for people. In it good results are achieved with years of work and following certain goals. Our industry which is young for Bulgaria has lack of personnel", pointed out Lyubomir Zaharinov and added: "We often boast how developed is the IT sector in our country but any manager will tell you how difficult it is to find staff. There is a real crisis in finding animators in game development. The next crisis points are the frontend and backend developers as well as the game designers who are often attracted by international corporations". The lecturer also presented to students the company structure and the departments that exist within an operator such as Alphabet Gaming.

Radka Bacheva who works at the Polish casino betting company Wazdan, presented to the students how the casino gaming industry works. She examined the varieties of Casino and Slot games and gave information on the gambling revenues on a global scale, noting: "At the moment the online gambling itself is estimated at 70 billion dollars in annual profits which means that there are lots of companies and operators in this industry and there is also a constant search for staff because it is a very complex industry for which there is no university". She noted that in addition to the game development and production, there are positions for students in other company`s Departments such as marketing, sales, analytics and product management.

Zheko Stefanov who is a specialist in mobile game development explained the students the process from the development and advertising of the game online to its arrival on the phone of the respective gamer.

"In the recent years the gaming industry, and in particular mobile gaming, has developed very rapidly and has managed to become the most remunerating and attractive industry in the world. The profits in mobile gaming are over 90 billion globally and for the entire gaming industry it is around 185 billion. Unlike gambling, we don't give anything back. As it's not about gambling there is no promise of a cash prize or becoming a millionaire, there is a promise only to have fun, we take back absolutely everything the user decides to spend in our games", commented Zheko Stefanov.

Radka Bacheva, Lyubomir Zaharinov, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Noncho Dimitrov, Zheko Stefanov, Boyan Mitrakiev /from the left to the right/