Posted on January 27, 2009 in Just for Fun

For many people it will come as a surprise to find that the games industry is double the size of the movie industry.

The Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia (IEAA) released figures at the start of the year that show games industry revenue was $1.96 billion in 2008 - twice as large as the box office and an increase of 47% from 2007.

These figures reveal a major shift in the way people are spending their entertainment time and dollars and provide new opportunities for entrepreneurs.

"We've seen a 137 per cent increase in family games - things like music and dance games, party games, puzzle games, that sort of stuff is really making up the bulk of the dollars," says Ron Curry, chief executive officer of the IEAA.

Even though movies still seem to hold a more central place in the public view this is probably only because of the maturity of the movie market. User demand for games is high and the pool of available games and game publishing houses is still limited when compared to movies and related production companies.

But I think that a slew of new gaming houses is not the only change we'll see as this trend develops.

In much the same way as the Internet allows easy distribution and publicity for 'Indie' movies and music, I suggest that we will see much more Indie computer games being launched, played, discussed, compared, tagged and generally supported by gaming communities online.

The technology for creating games is widely available and is becoming cheaper, more powerful and easier to use. So if you've got the ideas and the skills to start making a game (or a game production company) now is the time to do it.