Can you believe it; playing computer gamei
is almost as popular as practicing sportsii. In
Sweden the quantity of practicians of computer games are more than in both soccer and ice
hockey together.iii There are no reliable details about exactly how many people that is playing
computer games but roughly we are talking about 350 millions around the world and in
Sweden 2 millions.iv Playing computer games are particularly popular among children and
adolescents. A report from the Council of Media showed that 84 % of children between nine
and fifteen years old in Sweden have played computer games in the last year.v
The computer
game industry is big around the world. In 2005 the worldwide sales of computer games was
estimated to a value of $30 billion.vi The Swedish computer game industry has increased
largely since 1998 and in 2006 5, 5 million computer games were sold to a value of 1, 7
billion Swedish crowns ($1, 2 billion).vii The computer game industry is as big as the musicand
movie industry in Sweden.viii These statistics are not fully reliable but they tell us
something about the popularity of computer games.