Michael Gallagher, ESA CEO: “…we are entering the golden age of gaming.”

by Emily Balistrieri on July 17, 2008 at 12:05 am

The State of the Industry? It’s good, according to Michael Gallagher, CEO of the Entertainment Software Association. In fact, he thinks that 2008 will be looked back on as the year that videogames went mainstream.

Gallagher talked a lot about the new gamers drawn in by the Nintendo Wii and mobile games, about serious games that teach kids about world hunger or cancer, and also about how the industry is gaining respect from both scientists (who are beginning to study the positive effects of videogames, as opposed to just the negatives) and politicians (as evidenced this morning in the address from Texas Governor Rick Perry.)

Business is good, too. Games and hardware did 18.85 billion dollars in sales last year, with an average of nine games sold per second everyday last year, and current profits in ‘08 are already up by 30%. The prediction is that the gaming industry will provide a quarter million Americans with jobs in 2009.

Gallagher continued with five main concepts to use for further industry growth–pretty much summarizing what he had already said and moving foward to the end of his speech in one shot:

1. Remember the core gamers.
2. Welcome new gamers.
3. Broaden the use of games (not just as entertainment, but as education or therapy)
4. Help parents.
5. Unite to support policy interests.

Self regulation, Gallagher believes, is the best way to do it. Although he acknowledged that of course European countries would have to solve their rating problems their own way, he seemed to be suggesting that if they came up with their own system it would impress the government bureaus and watchdog groups, like the ESRB has here.

Finally, he recommended everyone go join the Video Game Voters Network (see number 5 above.) The group exists to educate gamers about the types of legislation that could threaten games (like proposals that undercut IP law) so we can take action to defend our hobby. So far there are 150,000 members, and Gallagher set the goal for the next E3 at 200,000.

He ended by saying that our industry is finally, “getting the respect we deserve,” and challenging devs and gamers alike to continue the positivev trends into next year.

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