Final Essay

Both the video game console and the gaming industry as a whole have had a major impact on the economy throughout the years. From 2005 to 2009, the industry had an annual growth rate of 10 percent compared to the 3.4 percent annual growth rate of the U.S. (Morris, 2010). The video game industry saw a similar annual growth rate from 2009 to 2012, coming in at 9.7 percent, while the U.S. economy slowed to 2.4 percent annually. The booming industry added more than 6.2 billion dollars to the U.S. economy in 2012 (Taylor, 2014). There is also expected to be continued growth at a rate of almost 13 percent from 2014-2018, as seen in figure 1.

Besides adding economic value, it has also been the source of jobs for many Americans. The employment rate in the gaming industry grew at an annual rate of 9 percent from 2009 to 2012. During that same time, the U.S. labor

economy, there is also many negatives. Since the invention of the first gaming console, that has been a monstrous environmental impact that has followed, as seen in figure 2.

All gaming consoles are made out of plastic, which takes gallons of crude oil to make. It takes roughly four gallons of oil to make just one pound of plastic. Four out of five households in the U.S. own game console and many of the households own two or more consoles, adding to need to burn crude oil. Plastic is also used in the production of video games. The plastic used for both the game console and the games does not decompose, which means it is being added to landfills (Murphy, 2012).

Game consoles also use up the same amount of energy as a large refrigerator while they are running. As the technology has advanced, the use of power has increased. The Super Nintendo, released in 1990, used about 10 watts while in gameplay mode, compared to the PlayStation 3, released in 2006, that used about 190