New Report Shows Just How Fast Video Game Industry Is Growing

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – With video game sales expected to top $18 billion this year, the entertainment software business is booming.

According to the Entertainment Software Association, video game and computer entertainment firms now employ more than 24,000 people in the U.S.

And they are paid a pretty penny, too – average salary in 2006 was $92,300.

The ESA’s new report, called Video Games in the 21st Century: Economic Contributions of the U.S. Entertainment Software Industry, helps explain why so many people turned up looking for jobs at a Triangle gaming industry event two weeks ago.

As John Gaudiosi, writer of the Gaming Guru blog for LTW and WRAL.com has noted on several occasions, video game titles such as Epic Games’ Gears of War and Microsoft’s Halo 3 are taking on Hollywood blockbuster labels in sales and revenues.

The ESA notes that the demand for interactive entertainment has produced an annual growth rate of 17 percent from 2003 through 2006.

“Computer and video game companies play an ever increasing role in our nation’s growing economy,” said Michael Gallagher, ESA’s chief executive officer, citing the new report.. “These companies and their colleagues across the nation are making entertainment software one of the fastest growing industries in the United States.”

That growth is especially hot in the Triangle with more than 40 companies and more than 1,000 jobs. And more companies are starting or locating here, thanks to cost of living, access to talent and quality of life.

But the Triangle is a bit on the small side compared to California, home to 40 percent of the industry’s workforce. Washington state is second with more than 9,000 workers.

However, Wake County and Raleigh are making recruitment of video game companies a major point of emphasis. And the ESA, which recently added Cary-based Epic as a member, has provided some statistical data that clearly shows entertainment software is big, big business.