Entertainment Software Association (ESA), the trade association of the video game industry in the United States, published its new 2014 US Video Game Industry report, indicating that the computer and video game industry grew more than 9% in real compound annual growth from 2009 to 2012, a rate four times the growth of the American economy during the same time.

The report, Video Games in the 21st Century: The 2014 Report, measures the economic contributions made by the U.S. entertainment software industry to the American economy during the period from 2009-2012. It also updates and expands upon earlier studies that quantified the economic benefit provided by the entertainment software industry to the U.S. economy as a whole.

The report presents a number of statistical measures that quantify the economic contributions of the video game industry from 2009-2012. Below is some interesting numbers we find in the report:

In 2012, the average annual compensation per employee (wages, salaries and employer contributions for pensions, insurance, and government social insurance) was $94,747.

The U.S. video game industry’s value added to U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was over $6.2 Billion.

The real annual growth rate of the U.S. video game industry was 9.7% for the period from 2009-2012. During the same period, real growth for the U.S. economy as a whole was 2.4%.

In addition to that, the industry job growth increases 9% year over year since 2009 and the total U.S. employment, both direct and indirect that depends on the video game industry now exceeds 146,000. The seven states with the greatest number of entertainment software industry employees – California, Texas, Washington, New York, Massachusetts, Florida and Illinois – collectively employ 32,652 workers; nearly 80 percent of the total direct employment for the U.S. video game industry as a whole.

It is fascinating but not surprising to see how the video game industry has grown rapidly in the US, and it is for sure that the video game industry will continuously grow and affect the overall US economy.

Source: ESA