Tens of billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of jobs showcase how the United States’ one of the key growth factors is gaming itself.

ESA (Entertainment Software Association) published a report, which revealed that gaming is no longer a niche, obscure way of spending free time. In 2019, the American gaming industry generated no less than 90.3 billion dollars of economic output, and it also supported nearly 429 thousand jobs! Almost a third of them (143 thousand) were directly employed by the industry, and their average annual salary is 121 thousand dollars. 12.6 billion dollars came from video game-related activity via federal, state, and local taxes.

The biggest two states with the highest economic output and approximate employment are on the West Coast, led by California (51.8 billion, and approximately 218 thousand jobs), followed by Washington (11.6 billion, approx. 48 thousand). The podium’s third position was taken by Texas (4.15 billion, nearly 25 thousand). The remaining places in the top ten were taken by Florida, New York, Nevada, Minnesota, Idaho, Illinois, and North Carolina, respectively.

„The statistics in this detailed report reinforce the significant impact video games have on the U.S. economy, including jobs creation and providing family-sustaining wages in a wide array of careers. As a convergence point for leadership in software, hardware, entertainment and creative arts, the video game ecosystem generates the kind of innovation critical to economic growth and this report helps share that story in a new and comprehensive way,” Stanley Pierre-Louis, the CEO of ESA, wrote.

It showcases that gaming is now a mainstream method of entertainment, and it could be backed by the government itself. It’s a move that even Poland has recently taken – they also have some well-known faces. Just think of CD Projekt RED or Techland, for example.

Source: DualShockers

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