The video games industry was told yesterday: “Television used to be accused of corrupting the youth of today. Now you are.”

David Mitchell, the TV comedian, was talking to 750 representatives of the industry at the 25th Golden Joystick Awards, which are decided by public vote. In that quarter of a century, Mitchell observed, video games have gone from “being a few dots dancing around a TV screen to a full-on film that you are in”.

Generations of creative Britons who once dreamt of making films and cracking Hollywood are now just as likely to seek fame and fortune in the video games industry.

Tom Dowding, 25, is a graduate in computer science from Bristol University. He has been playing games since he was 10 and last year set up Mobile Pie, a developer of games for mobile phones. His efforts were rewarded at the Golden Joysticks with a prize of £2,500 and a work placement with Electronic Arts, one of the world’s biggest video game developers. Mr Dowding’s winning game is called Let It Grow.

“You install it on your mobile phone, then, using your phone camera, you nurture it and make it grow,” he said. “Then you post your growing flower on Facebook.” He has licensed the game to a distributor.

For many would-be developers, mobile phones offer a way of making games and minimising expense on programming. A leading game, such as the recent Halo 3, can cost $70 million (£34 million) to develop and a mobile game a fraction of that. The possible rewards are vast. Halo 3 outstripped many blockbuster films in the week that it went on the market, generating sales of $300 million.

Video games have quietly overtaken older entertainment forms such as films and popular music. According to the latest figures from Elspa, the industry body, game software sales in Britain for the first half of 2007 were £519 million, 17 per cent more than in the corresponding period of 2006.

The new consoles Nintendo Wii and PlayStation resulted in a 42 per cent rise in sales of hardware, accessories and games, to £1.02 billion. In a market where games compete with recorded music and DVDs for pocket money, the games industry has seen off all-comers.

The market is expanding. The first generation of game players, teenagers who grew up hurling 10p pieces into Space Invaders arcade machines, are now in their forties and the games they produce and play are technically sophisticated and, when done well, thought-provoking.

There are, since pioneering work by Nintendo, games designed for senior citizens. Market penetration in its home territory of Japan is thought to have reached one in seven adults, many of whom use games consoles for daily exercise routines, recipes and gardening and fashion tips.

“What would the first Golden Joystick nominees make of the industry if they were here now?” Mitchell asked. “They expected space travel and robot slaves, but all we’ve got is better computer games.”

Winners

Game of the year Gears of War (PC/Xbox 360)
Family game Wii Sports (Wii)
Handheld game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (PSP)
Innovation Nintendo Wii
Editor’s choice Gears of War (PC/Xbox 360)

Source: Golden Joysticks 2007

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