It's the Economy, Stupid

This Sunday's political column on Joystiq gets into the economics of games, and why Canada's encouragement of game developing may have a very positive impact on the industry of the future. In the same vein as France's declaration of games as art, the 'Great Canadian Videogame Competition' may just mean more great games for gamers, more jobs for game makers, and the chance for a new EA or Ubisoft to emerge. From the article: "While the nanny staters trip over one another in their rush to legislate games, they are missing an opportunity to embrace an industry that grows bigger every year, one that could brings jobs and educational opportunities to their constituents. ESA boss Doug Lowenstein talked about the economic benefits of the video game industry at this year's E3, pointing out that U.S. sales of games for all platforms surpassed the $10 billion mark in 2004. But more importantly, the game industry stimulates another $7.7 billion in related spending, bringing its net effect to $18 billion."

Taxpayers should subsidize billion dollar industy

[Anonymous Coward]

And that will get the nannies and do-gooders off our backs? No thank you. Gamers need to assert themselves politically and demand their freedom. Let the gaming industry make their billions without my tax dollars (they get enough from me directly).

And let's stop subsidizing oil companies to make money and subsidizing farmers to lose money.

Gaming is becoming mainstream culture

[Esteanil]

Youths of today are spending less and less time watching TV, and more time gaming and browsing the web
National TV of various nations have a long history of state subsidized programming to further said nation's cultural values.

So, now they have the choice of subsidizing games to do the same thing, or watching the upcoming generations fed with even more US "propaganda" (as most game companies are american, and thus reflect american values).

And with the current state of US moral(s/ism), I can't say I'd blame anyone for wanting to expose the children to something more appropriate.
Also, I think exposing everyone to different cultures is a good thing. The various cultures of the world is a treasure chest - do we really want them overrun and wiped out, when a small investment could be all it takes to save them in this new world?

economics

[operato]

economics? you know i submitted a request for an economics section for slashdot and it got rejected. just because this article was gaming related then it gets a mention on slashdot? is economics really not-geeky-enough for this crowd?

Re:Taxpayers should subsidize billion dollar indus

[Schraegstrichpunkt]

Presumably it encourages competition by lowering the barrier to entry into the market. No idea whether that actually happens.