DigitalBattle.com

Despite a year that saw dips in global stock markets and huge drops in the strength of the United States economy, analysts are predicting that on the heels of a record year for the video game industry we’ll be seeing even further growth. In 2007 the US game industry took in $17.94 billion with about half of that being software sales alone. Despite the apparent flaw in logic implicit here, the essential “but if we have less money, why would we spend more money?” question, there is some precedent to think that a period of economic decline would increase consumption in other areas. In the early 20th century when the United States was going through ‘the Great Depression’ movies and various other entertainments were extremely popular. In the early 90s and 2000s, both periods of economic slump, video games helped drive economic growth as well. The simple cause is this: what do movies, television and video games all have in common but escapism. Video games especially are a relatively affordable one, as the average movie ticket will cost $6-10 depending on your location and only last for maybe three hours if it’s an epic. Games can be purchased for as little as $10 sometimes and even brand new titles that cost upwards of $60 (remember, buying a copy of Rock Band is over $100) will net you many more hours of entertainment.