Digital Display Technology - Consumer Electronics Association

5ElectronicEntertainment/GamesOVERVIEWIn the immortal words of Rodney Dangerfield, electronicgames don’t get no respect.The latest consumer researchindicates that about 60 percent of Americans over the ageof six, or a staggering 145 million people, now play somekind of computer and/or video games some of the time,and the number keeps growing swiftly.Yet Wall Street, themainstream press and other powerful influencers of publicopinion still too often treat electronic games as a silly,wasteful pastime for addicted, pimpled kids and geekygrownups.They also see gaming as a solitary, somewhatunsavory pursuit for boys and young men in dark, lonelyrooms.And they view most electronic games as violent,even sadistic, smash-and-crash, mind-numbing diversions forthe lowest common denominator, not stimulating, challengingstrategic matches, sports contests and educational testsfor the overwhelming majority of players.GROWTH IN ELECTRONIC GAMES SALESBut most of these outdated notions are far from the truth.In fact, the electronic game industry is a large, steadilygrowing business, generating a record $6.35 billion in U.S.software sales alone in 2001, according to NPD Funworld.Similarly, sales of game consoles and other equipment forvideo games reached a record $3.25 billion in 2001, accordingto CEA Market Research data.Adding up these twototals, the entire game industry produced somewherearound $9.6 billion in revenue last year. Digital softwaredevelopers sold a stunning 225 million computer and videogame units in 2001, or nearly two games for every U.S.household, far more than the number of pro sports ticketssold last year.Defying the conventional wisdom, electronic games are alsonot just for kids, at least not anymore. Indeed, the averagegame player is actually a surprising 28 years old, accordingto the latest annual consumer survey conducted by theInteractive Digital Software Association (IDSA) in spring2002. Furthermore, the IDSA says, 90 percent of all gamesare purchased by people over the age of 18, albeit many asgifts for children. In another surprise, women now make up43 percent of all gamers. Finally, the ISDA finds, mostgamers play with friends and/or family, and 18 of the 20best-selling games in 2001 rated as either “E” for everyoneor “T” for teens.Source: NPD FunWorld, May 2002.SETTING RECORD STATSBesides being big business, electronic games also seem tobe largely recession-proof. Despite the sluggish economy ofthe last two years, sales of video games, which account formore than two-thirds of all electronic games sold, climbedsteadily in 2001 after a slight dip in 2002, according to NPD.In particular, video game sales jumped 10 percent to $4.6billion in 2001, more than offsetting a slight 1.7 percent dipto $1.75 billion for computer game sales. Overall, NPDsays, sales of both video and computer software gamesclimbed 7.9 percent from $5.9 billion in 2000 to reach therecord $6.35 billion total last year. CEA Market Researchpegs the 2001 total at an even higher $6.7 billion, a 15 percentincrease from the 2000 figure.By all accounts, this growth spike has continued, if notaccelerated, in 2002. In the first quarter of the year, totalvideo game industry revenue soared to $1.9 billion, up 205 Technologies to Watch OCTOBER 2002 23