Student-Athlete Likenesses in Sport Video Games

NCAA STUDENT-ATHLETE LIKENESSES IN SPORT VIDEO GAMES

Industry Overview

The video game industry has been one of the fastest growing segments within the entertainment industry and has reached total revenue of $63 billion worldwide in 2013 with the U.S. accounting for about a third of this total. (Greenspan 2014). According to the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), the industry as a whole is employing over 146,000 while adding in excess of $6.2 billion to the U.S Gross Domestic Product in 2014 (ESA 2014). As these numbers indicate, the video gaming industry has become an important part of the U.S. economy and will continue to do so as real annual growth rate is expected to outpace the general economic growth rate for the foreseeable future (ESA 2014). This expectation of growth is attributed to video games becoming more prominent as an entertainment option for both children and adults in the U.S. A study by the National Institute on Media and the Family has reported that eighty-seven percent of children aged between 8 and 17 play video games (Walsh 2006) while overall fifty-nine percent of Americans do so (ESA 2014).

Traditionally, video games included console gaming (such as Sony’s PlayStation and Microsoft’s XBox) and PC games, however since the widespread adoption of smartphones has taken place, the structure of the video game industry has grown to include three distinct groups: console, personal computer, and mobile (Greenspan 2014). Console games are those that run on ‘built-for-gaming’ platforms optimized to provide ultra realistic graphics and simulations. The major players in the console gaming business include Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, EA Sports, and Activision. PC games can generally be run on computers with a Windows, Mac, or Linux operating systems and have similar players as publishers. A unique aspect of PC games is that digital distribution is primary delivery mode of gaming. The wide adoption of smart phones has led to the mobile...