State's video game industry ranks second in employees

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
John Cook's Venture Blog
http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/venture/archives/126722.asp

Seattle is known for coffee, airplanes and software. But, for some reason, the burgeoning video game industry tends to get overlooked.
But here's some evidence that the industry is worth tracking. The Entertainment Software Association today said that Washington state ranks second in terms of employment in computer and video games. It found that 9,284 people at more than 59 facilities in the state were directly or indirectly employed in the industry.
Only California employed more people in the industry, with the San Francisco Chronicle reporting that 36,000 people were directly or indirectly employed at more than 190 facilities. Other states in the top five in terms of employment were Texas, New York and Massachusetts.
The report also noted that computer and video game companies contributed $497 million to Washington's economy, not quite the $1.7 billion in California.
Here's a more detailed look at the Washington snapshot, which also shows that the average compensation for workers in the industry stood at $98,036 last year.
And here's a full list of Washington computer and video game companies/studios from the ESA, though a few are noticeably absent.
 
Its normal. Most computer software companies are exiting Silicon Valley as the rents there have skyrocketed. Seattle is a dirt cheap place to set up a computer business
as computers need no infrastructure aside from the basics (manpower and power). They don't even need a independent water-supply, which is a big issue for companies such as mine that require a independent water source for a factory.

Computer companies require a labor pool of highly skilled people and those are best found in or near big, inexpensive, cities (like Seattle). This is exactly why Microsoft is in located in Redmond (which is a Seattle suburb) which in turn helps developers as its handy to have the worlds largest software company as a neighbor.

Anybody interested in the IT should check out the Northwest and also the Southwest like Western Texas and increasing Arizona and New Mexico are getting tech oriented.
 
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