According to market research firm Newzoo, a complete newcomer in the videogame analyst scene, consumer spending on video games topped $25 billion in 2010, beating out the movie industry and music industry, its main competitors. You can see the breakdown of the $25 billion on the pie chart above.

And as you can see, PC retail gaming is still in decline — 19% compared to last year, while console spending is down 29%. This is common when the consoles are going on their last few years, meaning that the next gen consoles should arrive soon and pick up the sales. When, we dunno. But we’re guessing 2012. You can check out the full report at Newzoo here, although it’ll cost you €990.

Game Developer magazine ran their annual survey of the industry and found out that on average, salaries among the workers in the game development industry rose by an average of 7% in 2008. The average annual salaries increased from around $74,000 to $79,000.

GamaSutra has more details here, including a breakdown of the average salaries of different positions in the industry.

The details on the events and programs for the upcoming 2nd China Game Developers Conference have been announced by the organizer, Howell International Trade Fair Ltd. During the 3-day conference, 47 general sessions will be held. The decision was made after experts of the Advisory Board carefully reviewed the questions collected from game companies from home and abroad.

CGDC aims to promote technology exchange and cooperation in the game industry both on the national and international levels, with an objective of building a platform for developers to exchange experience, share the latest technology and discuss future trend.

The first CGDC conference, which was held in August 2007, proved to be such a platform: the conference was warmly welcomed and appreciated by both Chinese and overseas game developers, now waiting anxiously for the conference this year. CGDC Organizing Committee notes that through the first conference, CGDC answered their most urgent questions and demands.

The proposed topics were first discussed, through conference calls and meetings, with the secretary division and with members of the Advisory Board, which is made up of technical executives of 28 game companies from home and abroad, including Blizzard, EA, Shanda, NetEase, Tencent, Perfect World and Giant ext. The General Advisory Board meeting was held on Jan. 14, 2009, in which a framework of the program was decided by advisors by sharing their opinions and considering practical needs of the game companies. The program was then finalized after lengthy discussions and careful evaluation by the Advisory Board, which was made so as to ensure that the most typical and urgent issues faced by most companies in game developing are covered.

You can download the complete list of topics for discussion here.

(Source) Press