ESA applauds Texas stance on funding

The Entertainment Software Association has responded to Texas Governor Rick Perry's State of the State address, given yesterday, in which he underlined the importance of the Emerging Technology Fund - a fund which makes incentives available for the videogames industry.

During his speech Governor Perry outlined the reasons for protecting the measures.

"As the nation struggles to recover from the ongoing economic crisis, and states go head-to-head for new jobs, now is not the time for Texas to roll up our tents and go home," he said. "Instead, it's time to keep attracting good Texas jobs by funding our premiere economic development tools like the Enterprise Fund, and the Emerging Technology Fund.

"If we pulled the plug on our economic development efforts, no one would be happier than my fellow governors, in states like Oklahoma and New Jersey, who are creating their own versions of the TEF, to compete for the jobs we've been landing."

According to the ESA, quoting a report authored by Texas Comptroller Susan Combs, the state employed 3400 permanent workers in 2009 and brought in around $234 million.

"Governor Perry has again demonstrated his understanding of 21st Century job creation and growth," said ESA president and CEO Michael D Gallagher. "We commend his leadership and commitment to providing Texans jobs by aggressively pursuing videogame industry development for his state. Our industry's employees are highly educated professionals with an average annual salary of $88,000.

"These are exactly the types of creative and dynamic jobs for which other states are competing. We encourage the legislature to work with follow Governor Perry and strongly support this proposal for job creation and economic growth."