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Radioactive IT Games industry records another bumper year
Radioactive IT Games industry records another bumper year | Games industry records another bumper year |
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| by Mike Bantick | |
| Friday, 11 July 2008 | |
  
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Independent market research group GfK Austalia have published end of financial year numbers that show spending on games software rose by 55 percent in the 2007/2008 FY. Hardware related sales increased a massive 74 percent. The combined spending now has the Australian games listed as a AU$1.57 billion industry. From the year before combined software and hardware has resulted in a 52.9 percent increase. By comparison, the total box office takings in Australian cinema for 2007 was AU$895.4 million. Understandably the Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia (IEAA) is pretty happy with things. CEO Ron Curry touched on the popularity of the entertainment media; "Today video and computer games have highly advanced technology that supports sophisticated plot lines and rich interactive experiences. Interactive entertainment is no longer marketed towards a niche audience but rather caters to a broad range of tastes and interests." "With sales of video and computer games increasing over 50 per cent over the last financial year, it is clear that interactive entertainment is now firmly entrenched as a mainstream activity. More people of all ages and all walks of life are now choosing video and computer games as a regular form of home entertainment." Curry said. It was an opportunity for the IEAA to remind us of the typical profile of an Australian gamer, including these from the 2007 Bond University study; * 60 per cent of players are male and 40 per cent are female * 8 per cent of gamers are seniors (over 60 years of age) * Women and older Australians are the fastest growing audiences for interactive games * 35 per cent of gamers are parents Last month, the IEAA and the Games Development Association of Australia (GDAA) announced an alliance to urge the Australian Government to offer tax incentives for the local interactive entertainment industry, support intellectual property protection and the introduction of an R18+ classification for video games |
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