The industry is characterised by recurring ups and down typical of technological products that have shorter life cycles. New games and consoles are constantly superseded by the next generation of powerful consoles or more enhanced game play.
Over the last thirty years the industry has grown from a cottage industry to one dominated by publicly owned global publishers selling to mass markets. The global market is now worth well over 15 billion dollars. The UK and Japan are among the world leaders. The UK leisure software market has grown at a massive rate of 36% over the past year. The UK enjoys a future balance of trade in interactive leisure software of around £225m, making this sector one of the best performing of its creative industries.
Jamaicans are very much into gaming there are several thriving retailers like Watts New and Royale Computers who stock video games, gaming consoles and varying accessories for their customers and also Game Yaad that offers repair services for gaming consoles.
The console market is dominated by Sony (Playstation), Microsoft (Xbox) and the Nintendo (Wii). Some of the most popular games are 'Halo' by game developers Bungie and 'Gears of Wars' created by Epic Games. There are scores of others for sports, adventure and virtual worlds.
PC games are not as popular or as widely purchased as console games. This may be because of the graphics capabilities of the console verses the PC. There is a market however for PC games because the industry is more open and publishers don’t have to pay fees or seek permission to make PC games which tends to make those games cheaper for consumers.
There is also the phenomenon of online gaming and virtual worlds which are not just about entertainment but a new kind to cultural experience that is creating real world monetary gains for developers.
Jamaica does not have an interactive leisure software industry. The Jamaican culture is pregnant with areas to explore for game development. Jamaican designers, writers and programmers are not lacking in the creativity or technological skills to create games and build consoles. However there is no funding available through the government or private sector for such initiatives.
The development of the gaming industry impacts on the economic output of related industries such as television and film. The interactive software industry is definitely an area that the government and private sector should seriously consider for investment; these games require voice actors, music directors, writers and other industry players which would produce jobs and tax revenue.
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