How to finance the new space program

"Ross Oliver" wrote in message
...
Jay Honeck wrote:
The revenue from computer games exceeds that
of movies, television, and music COMBINED.

Do you have a source for that claim?

Not that I'm doubting you -- I just want to be able to quote that
statement
with confidence.


Well, time for my serving of crow. I do remember reading this stat
in a magazine article (Business 2.0 or Wired or somesuch), but I can't
locate it now. So I did a little research and turns out this statement
is not true.

According to the Entertainment Software Association (www.theesa.org),
total entertainment software sales in 2002 was $6.9 billion. The
Motion Picture Association (www.mpaa.org) reports that total 2002 movie
box office receipts were $9.5 billion. So the computer game industry
has a a little ways to go before even topping Hollywood alone, but may
do so soon. BTW, the RIAA reports 2002 total music sales of $11.5
billion,
the third consecutive year of decline from the 1999 high of $13 billion.


Somebody's stats are incorrect. I had read that video game revenue
surpassed movie revenue.

This site seems to confirm that.

"As video games have grown into a $30 billion-a-year global entertainment
giant, they have become a new hotbed for — of all things — orchestral
scores. Game music no longer is relegated to insidious jingles played out on
chintzy-sounding synthesizers. Much more often today, it consists of
well-heeled epic score music written by top composers and played by the same
orchestras that perform music for many of Hollywood's best films.

The video game music revolution is both a product of and a reason for the
larger gaming boom. According to the NPD Group, the leading market-research
firm tracking gaming, the industry took in $11.7 billion (all figures U.S.)
in domestic revenue in 2002 — more than the $9.5 billion in annual U.S. box
office receipts reported by the Motion Picture Association. According to the
Electronic Software Association, more than 221 million computer and video
games were sold in '02 — enough to put two in each U.S. household. "

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Con...l=969483191630

Earl G.

You could both be right...
(Earl Grieda's addition: the leading market-research
firm tracking gaming, the industry took in $11.7 billion (all figures U.S.)
in domestic revenue in 2002 — more than the $9.5 billion in annual U.S. box
office receipts reported by the Motion Picture Association.)

Resale places like FunCoLand do a brisk business as kids grow out of Tetris and
Mario Bros and trade them in for more complex games. I'm sure the industry's
happy to count the resale of popular games among its total figures.

Earl Grieda wrote:

The video game music revolution is both a product of and a reason for the
larger gaming boom. According to the NPD Group, the leading market-research
firm tracking gaming, the industry took in $11.7 billion (all figures U.S.)


The $6.9 figure I cited was only for gaming software. If revenue
from hardware (game consoles and accessories like fancy joystics) and online
gaming is included, $11.7 billion may be a more fully representative figure
for the overall industry.