New Game Design Major Meets Industry Need

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts: Gregg Mazzola                             
Director of Communications                            
Southern New Hampshire University                                                             
603.629.4649                                                                                     
g.mazzola@snhu.edu      
       
As Game Technology Reaches New Heights
SNHU Offers Degrees to Meet Growing Demand

Manchester, N.H. (Feb. 7, 2008) – Video game industy sales continued to spike in 2007, and with that growth comes an increasing demand for university graduates with game-related skills. Southern New Hampshire University’s new game design and development major was created to meet those needs and provide students with skills that bridge into the business, creative and technology worlds.

SNHU students can earn either a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science in game design and development. The B.A. emphasizes the creative, interactive story lines and environments of games, while the B.S. degree focuses on game production and the business of gaming.

“Our new major in game design and development answers a call from industry to produce graduates with skills to apply gaming technologies to business concerns,” said Lundy Lewis, chair and associate professor of game design and development at SNHU. “This isn't just about entertainment. Game development skills are being used for serious purposes, such as military training, education, personal medical assistance, and business simulations. Our program is unique in that students can get a B.A. or a B.S. in this field.”

Nearly 65 percent of game-publishing leader Electronic Arts’ employees have computer science degrees, however, the recent decline of students earning C.S. degrees has left the game technology industry seeking employees with cross-disciplinary creative and business skills to bridge the gap. The U.S. video game industry generated nearly $18 billion in sales in 2007, up 43 percent from 2006, according to The NPD Group, a consumer and retail information provider. The industry is expected to continue to grow in 2008.

SNHU’s degrees will include hands-on work and internship opportunities Students will collaborate to produce final products that include story-line creation, character development, and include audio and visual design, and production management, and will create business and marketing plans.

Please contact Dr. Lundy Lewis at 603.668.2211, ext. 3061, or l.lewis@snhu.edu for additional information.
# # #