Our students and prospective students are always thoughtful when it comes to their career paths after graduation, and this is especially true in the current uncertain economic environment. News from the video game industry is very good, and as NPD’s (market research group) Anita Frazier states, “Heading into the critical fourth quarter, the U.S. games industry is on solid ground.”

This is a very encouraging data point not just for our game students, but for all of our digital design students in general. The game industry directly employs multimedia developers, web programmers, and graphic artists with the skill sets our students have coming out of our Multimedia Technologies programs. Indirectly, through advertisers, service vendors, retailers, and many other associated businesses, the game industry pulls along with it the types of businesses that have a need for our students. This year, the game industry will hit $22 billion in sales. That’s huge, and our students should be feasting on that pie.

The articles below speak to the trends and provide some data you will find interesting. If you are a current or prospective student, this information should give you some confidence that our game and digital design programs are excellent programs as you consider your futures careers.

http://www.dvhardware.net/article31259.html - “It seems sales of video games and hardware aren't suffering at all from the financial crisis. Data released by indicates sales in the US jumped 18 percent last month and the forecast for the holiday season looks well.”

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2008/11/10/daily115... - “Though the economy is slumping, sales of video games rose in October, according to NPD Group.”

http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE4AD0MS20081114... – “The videogames industry is set to top $22 billion in 2008, according to NPD.”

http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/microsoft/archives/153946.asp - “Despite increasing economic anxiety, the video game industry continued to grow during the third quarter.”

- Hap Aziz