Missouri’s video game industry adds $39 million to economy

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Robin Rath of Pixel Press, a St. Louis-based game developer

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Brian Feldt

Reporter- St. Louis Business Journal

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Missouri's video game industry grew more than 41 percent between 2009 and 2012, according to a new report out from the Entertainment Software Association (ESA).

The data also show that the video game industry added $39.4 million to the state's economy in 2012, up significantly from the $14 million it contributed in 2009, and accounted for nearly 300 jobs that had an average annual salary of $87,922.

Missouri also tripled the number of video game publishing or development shops during the three-year period to nine.

The numbers are encouraging, but Missouri still trails game development hubs like Austin and Silicon Valley.

California, Texas, Washington, New York, Massachusetts, Florida and Illinois collectively employ 32,652 workers in the sector, or 76 percent of the total direct employment for the U.S. video game industry, according to the national data provided by the ESA.

St. Louis has quietly become a mini-hub for video game developers over the past several years.

Game developers such as Pixel Press and Upheaval Arts have found particular success in crowdfunding, with St. Louis-based companies raising nearly $300,000 on Kickstarter in 2013.

"St. Louis has become this IT mecca... the startup scene has really started to take off over the past couple of years," said Jonathan Leek, chair of the International Game Developers Association's St. Louis Chapter. "With all of that, we have these technical people and a lot of those tech jobs are just not that exciting. So these guys are starting to make games in their free time."

Nationwide, more than 42,000 people are employed by the video game industry in 36 states. Between 2009 and 2012, direct employment grew 9 percent while total U.S. employment grew just 0.72 percent.

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