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Texas Gov: Games Are Economic Beacon
At a sparsely populated E3 keynote Wednesday, Texas Governor Rick Perry cited the games industry as a prosperous field in an economic downturn and encouraged other states to help foster the industry.
Perry said that his primary goal for being at E3 was to highlight the advantages of locating a games industry company in Texas, citing not only the financial incentives offered by the state but also the high-tech workforce and long history of technological creation Texas has.
At the same time, Perry asked that both Texans and other states learn more about an industry that is “blazing a path” for America’s ability to compete in a global economy. He mentioned that the video games industry added $395 million to the Texas economy and grew at quadruple the rate of the state’s average economic growth, pulliing his statistics from an ESA study that analyzed the region from 2006 to 2007.
But the reasons for others to learn went beyond the economic. Perry also mentioned that games now help people learn and work as well as play, and that the group of “gamers,” which is now 40% women, has grown to the point where games are a mass medium.
Just to put that number in perspective - Texas' Gross State Product in 2007 was $1.14 trillion, and videogames therefore provided only about 0.035% of Texan income. $395m is still a big number, but probably not going to single-handedly rescue the state economy! Consider that Tennessee is about to receive a $1bn boost just from one car company (VW) building a factory there, and videogames' place in the broader scheme of things becomes a little clearer. Nevertheless, the industry's growth is exceptional at the moment.
I might be alone in this, but it would be really interesting to see an Edge feature on why the industry is so defiantly recession-resistant, particularly after the recent headlines in the UK about videogame purchases propping up consumer spending overall in the most recent quarter.
Definitely great to see a politician being positive about videogames for once! Anyone know why the keynote was "sparsely populated"?
He's completely right, it doesn't happen to often with politicians! The gaming industry has recently proven itself to be resistant to recession and financial downturns, and with some games ROI of 5-6 times it's not wonder. If the US states continue to foster and embrace game development studios and publishers the industry could in effect move the down trodden US economy into a positive direction, especially with the big games season of the fall/winter coming up, time will definitely tell. In the long term countries like China and Korea who love their games just as much as us Americans, will help build that global momentum and support of US based companies.
Now if only Final Fantasy would come to the 360 the Asian countries might buy some 360s...OOOooo...it is.... finally......