Games for Change Festival: Spotlight on the Industry Talking Points for Michael Gallagher, President and CEO, ESA April 22, 2015 New York, NY As prepared: Good afternoon everyone. Thank you to the Games for Change Festival organizers for the opportunity to speak today. Over the past two days, we have heard experts and innovators in many different fields detail how they use video games to improve our lives and society. I hope you all found these conversations to be as inspiring as I have. For an industry as dynamic as ours, a lot can change in a short time period. Since I last addressed this festival three years ago, our industry has continued its remarkable evolution, introducing innovative new entertainment experiences and chartering unprecedented leaps in technology. Amid these changes and the backdrop of an ever expanding player base it has never been clearer that video games have tremendous potential to stimulate social change. Video games are now more than just pure entertainment they are at the forefront of education and digital learning, workforce training and recruitment, and drive the technological innovation that will make companies smarter, faster and more competitive. Today, I plan to share highlights of our industry s evolution, and to discuss how we all can continue to work together to expand video games positive influence on all areas of daily life. Given what we have achieved so far, I believe the future holds outstanding promise. Over the past 40 years, entertainment software experienced enormous growth. What started with Pong and 8-bit plumbers has transformed into visually stunning masterpieces, featuring fantasy worlds and simulated real-life environments rendered in such incredible detail that players feel almost as if they are in the game. In fact, thanks to recent and rapid advances in virtual reality and wearable technology, players may soon actually see themselves in the game. Other advancements, especially those in wireless technology, broadband connectivity, streaming services and cloud computing, allow consumers to access games and entertainment content across nearly every device with a screen at any time giving on-demand game play a whole new meaning. As these new platforms have emerged, the variety of games has expanded. Game genres and business models that did not exist or were just getting started a few short years ago are pushing our industry to new heights. Standouts in these genres, such as Clash of Clans, the current highest grossing mobile game, make more than $1 million dollars every day. In fact, the rise of video game technology has also spurred the growth of an entirely new category of sporting events professional video game competitions. Esports is a million-dollar industry and is
quickly becoming the fastest-growing and most-viewed sport in the U.S. Last year, more people 27 million watched the League of Legends Season 3 World Championship, an e-sports competition, than watched the series finales for Breaking Bad, 24 and The Sopranos combined. Already more than 100 million viewers watch video game play online each month through Twitch. Each move has pushed our industry to be more expansive and interconnected. Once limited to one or two players, game platforms now allow thousands of gamers to connect and play together. According to the 2015 Essential Facts about the Computer and Video Game Industry, which ESA released earlier this month, 56 percent of the most frequent gamers play with others and 54 percent play online in multiplayer mode at least weekly. These technological and artistic advancements drive demand for our cutting-edge entertainment. Computer and video game play has grown to become a universal experience. More than 1 billion people play games worldwide. As our industry has developed more innovative games and game technologies, our audience has broadened, matured and diversified significantly. According to our recent Essential Facts report, here in the U.S., nearly half of the population 155 million people plays video games. Four out of five American households own a device used for game play. These players are diverse, too. There are twice as many adult female gamers (33 percent) as there are young male players (15 percent), and the most frequent female game player is on average 43 years old. Additionally, players age 50 and older represent the second largest segment of the gamer population, and are a larger block of the industry than players 18 and under. Games also give families a fun way to spend time together. Nearly 60 percent of parents play games with their children at least weekly, and 85 percent of those that do say that video games are fun for the whole family. The evolution of our industry and the popularity of play across all demographics has in turn prompted video games integration into our daily lives. Now ingrained in our culture, entertainment software is uniquely positioned to drive positive change and to truly transform our lives. This is not news to anyone here. You have done outstanding work to apply games, game principles and game technologies to fields outside of entertainment to find creative solutions to shared challenges. As you know, video games are now valuable tools that strengthen our education system, improve the delivery of healthcare, increase our chances for workplace success and help tackle important social issues. At ESA, we are confident your continued efforts will advance these important trends even further, and you have our full support. We proudly celebrated our 20th anniversary last year, marking two decades of success in representing the U.S. video game industry. Among the accomplishments in which we take great pride are the quality partnerships we have built with nonprofit organizations, issue experts, and state and federal policymakers to strengthen video games impact.
We are particularly interested in the intersection of games and education, and collaborate with partners to support and promote video game use in the classroom. Just yesterday, we partnered with the Department of Education and Games for Change to launch the first Games for Learning Summit here in New York City. This day-long summit brought together leading developers, publishers, policymakers, educators, and students to identify strategies on how to better create, distribute, and use quality educational games both in and outside the classroom. ESA also collaborated with Institute of Play, Electronic Arts, the MacArthur Foundation, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to create the Games, Learning and Assessment Lab (GlassLab). This groundbreaking video game design lab is developing compelling game-based educational tools that engage students and measure learning outcomes. One such game, Mars Generation One: Argubot Academy, was developed by GlassLab researchers in partnership with NASA. Set on the Red Planet in the year 2054, the game challenges players to work together with peers to make important civic decisions and teaches students how to make effective evidence-based arguments. Additionally, we continue to support the National STEM Video Game Challenge, an annual game design competition that challenges students and developers to create original games that stimulate interest in science, technology, engineering, and math learning. This year s competition included game design programs for youth, educators and parents in communities across the country, an exciting Regional Spotlight Program in the greater Pittsburgh area, and a series of workshops exploring the power of intergenerational play and design. We look forward to announcing our 2015 challenge winners in June. Finally, we are helping women and minorities begin their path to professional success in our industry through the ESA LOFT Video Game Innovation Fellowship, a partnership with the Hispanic Heritage Foundation s (HHF) Leaders on the Fast Track (LOFT) program. The fellowship awards 20 minority youths with grants to design and program their own video games that aim to solve problems in their communities. The fellows also travel to Washington, D.C. to present their ideas to Members of Congress and White House officials. These and other initiatives are imparting complex knowledge and developing crucial STEM skill sets among students, while reinforcing positive educational habits and lessons learned. They are providing our country s future innovators with the tools and skill sets necessary to achieve personal success, but also to bolster the American economy with a digitally advanced, socially minded and highly skilled workforce. Our industry further supports your work and that of your colleagues through our philanthropic arm, the ESA Foundation. Since its inception in 2000, the ESA Foundation has provided millions of dollars to support innovative and diverse projects that harness the power of computer and video game technology to create positive social impact. The ESA Foundation s core grant program supports charitable organizations and schools that leverage entertainment software and technology to create meaningful opportunities for America s youth. Each year, our grants help connect youth to educational computer and video games, contributing to a more
digitally-advanced generation. Programs we support help reinforce math and science skills, enliven history, increase civic participation, improve health outcomes, and prepare students for college. For example, ESA Foundation grantee icivics which was founded by former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O Connor created a game-based learning platform to help teach civics. First launched in 2009, icivics now features 21 games about constitutional law and the branches of U.S. government, each of which also comes with suggested lesson plans that are tailored to meet state-specific learning standards. In January, we proudly partnered with icivics to launch DBQuest: Eyes on the Prize, a first-of-its-kind online platform that teaches students about the Civil Rights Movement while improving students argumentative writing and critical reading skills. We hosted a special event in Washington, D.C. with Justice O Connor to celebrate the launch, and look forward to supporting icivics continued success. Another ESA Foundation grantee, HopeLab, seeks to improve children s lives with its innovative and educational digital resources. The ESA Foundation provided HopeLab with grants from 2008-2014 to support its development of the Re-Mission and Re-Mission 2 video games, which promote successful, long-term treatment outcomes for adolescents and young adults with cancer. The games are designed to motivate players to stick to their treatments by boosting positive emotions and shifting attitudes about chemotherapy treatment. This year, HopeLab received a grant for its development and testing of Zamzee, a physical activity tracker that encourages children and families to pursue healthy lifestyles. This year the ESA Foundation is also providing funding to VisionQuest 20/20, which is leveraging educational technology to establish a nationwide vision screening program for school children across the U.S. Its newest screening system, an interactive game called EyeSpy 20/20, is the only screening system that tests visual acuity, depth perception and color vision. Our grant will help provide game software and related supplies and trainings to more than 30 schools to enable them to conduct unlimited vision screenings. This slide reflects all of the ESA Foundation s 2015 grantees, whose projects are well underway. We look forward to seeing the results of their efforts later this year, and encourage any of you who are interested to apply for a grant. The ESA Foundation is accepting submissions for its 2016 grant program through May 15. Of course, our support for your work does not end with these programs. As you may know, ESA is based in Washington, D.C. a location that provides us with access to policymakers and opinion leaders, and enables us to tell the story of how games are improving what matters to an influential audience. We achieve this in part through our relationship with the Congressional Caucus for Competitiveness in Entertainment Technology, or E-TECH Caucus. ESA worked with U.S. Representatives Kevin Brady and Debbie Wasserman Schultz to launch the caucus in February 2011. Now boasting more than 50 members, the caucus works to educate policymakers and the public about the economic, educational and social benefits of entertainment technology.
We frequently share examples of your work with these lawmakers and other audiences to demonstrate the positive impacts video games can have on the way we live, learn and work, and to further their interest in developing new and innovative applications for interactive entertainment software. Video games have proven their value in making a positive impact in the world, and as a result we see a growing acceptance of games as more than just an entertainment medium. Yet, there is always more we can do to increase this recognition. At ESA, we want to work with you to enhance understanding among policymakers, educators, health care providers, nonprofit organizations and business leaders of how video games can help Americans lead healthier, happier and more productive lives. We want to amplify your voice and tell the stories of how your innovations are changing our society. And we are always interested in forging new partnerships. On behalf of ESA, I congratulate you on your achievements, and welcome the opportunity to work with you. Together, we can leverage our creative strengths and shape our country s future. I am now happy to take your questions.