Videogames & the Economy

In the lecture Kevin mentioned that the economies in the industry and the rating systems are inter related and it led to google on the topic. I came across this report issued by the Entertainment Software Association. I don't know how trustworthy this whole document is as ESA is someone who obviously would support videogames but anyway, these kind of big numbers are probably the reason why governments who want to make $$ cannot easily restrict videogames and impose harsher ratings.

And this is from 2010, so quite a while ago, but it furthers shows how the economy and the ratings/cencorship are related - "There’s an economic argument here too. We shouldn’t be giving online games, based overseas, an advantage over the games developed and sold in Australia. The games industry employs thousands of Australians, many of them young people, and we need to support that industry to grow in the future." - Brendan O'Connor MP (Australian Parliament). (accessed:http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/why-the-government-backs-an-R18-games-rating/)

I guess the governing bodies and the gaming industry may find conflict in the fact that the government has to be a bit two-faced about the whole situation. On one side, they want to support a high-tech, high-growth industry but on the other hand they have to look all high and mighty with regulations and ratings that would stigmatize the gaming industry (which could limit the sales of games).