Video Games: Friend, not Foe Panelist: Erick Huey, Senior Vice President, Entertainment Software Association America's Summit on National Parks, January 25, 2012, Washington, DC

1. America’s Summit on National Parks
America’s National Parks and 21st Century Trends, Priorities, and
Values: Gaining Broad Support
Video Games: Friend, not Foe
Erik Huey
Senior Vice President, Government Affairs
Entertainment Software Association

2. #1 – A Vital Part of a 21st Century Economy
Including hardware sales, the industry generated
$25.1 billion in 2010
• Entertainment software is one of the fastest growing industries in the U.S.
economy. From 2005 to 2010, the industry’s revenue more than doubled.
• Music for 2010: $15B and Movie Box Office for 2010: $10.5B
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3. # 2 – Changing Demographics
72% of American Households play Computer or Video Games
• Forty-two percent of all game players are women.
• In 2011, 29 percent of Americans over the age
of 50 play video games, an increase
in 1999.
• Over ninety-five percent of children under
18 play video games.
• 55 percent of gamers now play games on their
phones or handheld devices.
• 40 percent of adults play online games.
• In August, Electronic Arts launched
The Sims Social on Facebook, debuting with nearly 5 million active users,
and dislodging Farmville as the #2 game played on the platform.
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4. #3 - Exergaming
Kids playing exergames like Wii Boxing, Cyber Trazer, Light Space, Sport Wall
and Xavic burn 4 to 6.7 calories per minute.
• President Obama purchased Just Dance 3 for his daughter’s Christmas gift, this year at Best Buy.
• First Lady, Michelle Obama, plays Dance Dance Revolution with her daughters over the holidays and said
“I just DDR’ed last weekend” during the Partnership for a Healthier America.
• 3 of top 10 bestselling video games in 2010 were dance games.
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5. Games and Fitness
American families continue to be captivated by the rapidly expanding world of
video game technology. Now more than ever before, playing video games—with
friends, families, and people across the world—is an integral, interactive part of
the fabric of American life.
This unprecedented level of participation and consumer demand enables video
games to provide a powerful platform for encouraging American youth and their
families to become more physically active.
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6. Games and Fitness
 The dancing genre — like the exercise craze that drove
videocassette sales in the 1980s — branched out of the popularity
of fitness games beginning in 2008 with Nintendo Co.’s “Wii Fit,”
which reintroduced the aerobic step platform in high-tech fashion
to millions of living rooms around the world.
 The fitness game boom has since given way to dancing games,
starting in November 2009 with “Dance Central,” a title developed
by Harmonix and published by MTV Network.
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7. #4 – Gamification
• Constance Squire, White House Senior Policy
Advisor
• White House convening of all departments
and agencies involved in gamification
• Over 20 agencies, nearly 80 participants
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8. #5 – The Art of Video Games
The Smithsonian American Art Museum appreciates
games as art with its upcoming exhibit entitled ‘The
Art of Video Games’
• Explore 40 years of video games with a focus on the evolution as an artistic
medium, featuring 80 games across genres.
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9. Playing Online & On the Go in National Parks
Industry innovations transform the way gamers play,
interact and consume other media
 Every product with a screen plays games, stimulating consumer demand and
boosting overall industry sales
 Of the top 10 paid apps available through Apple’s App Store, seven are games
 Market research firm Interpret recently reported 8 million iPad owners in the
U.S. use their device for game play
 12 million unique users pay for virtual goods offered through online games
each month
 There are over 500,000 apps in iTunes
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10. Est. Consumers Worldwide
2000: 200 Million
2011: 1.5 Billion

11. NASA Imagery Boosts SSX
Inspired by real-world NASA
topographical data, EA Sports will
re-launch SSX franchise (1/12) with
gamer choice of iconic mountains
Source: EA Sports; www.nasa.gov/open