Hill & Knowlton today revealed the results of a survey of 1,147 American adults between September 17 - 19, 2007. Their study showed that 60% of respondents believe that the government should regulate the sale of violent or mature content video games and 51% agree that the government should regulate mature content itself. The survey also showed that 54% of those queried that live with children believe that violent or mature content will affect a child's behavior.

"Next generation consoles combined with a near-Hollywood experience translates into increased scrutiny for a $7.4 billion industry that seeks to outpace movies and music as the number one choice for entertainment," said Joe Paluska, Director, Hill & Knowlton's Worldwide Technology Practice. "We're seeing an interesting shift in economic growth and societal influence across gaming, movies and music. While the gaming industry is forecast to grow faster than the motion picture and recording industries, gaming still under-punches its cultural influence except when it comes to mature content."

The study also showed that a slim majority of gamers are against regulating video games with violent content (47% versus 44% who are for regulation). Furthermore, somewhat surprisingly, 55% of current gamers surveyed are for government regulation of the sale of games with violent or mature content.

"While the industry is reinventing itself by broadening the content and the category, society still tends to view gamers as one-dimensional," Paluska said. "The industry's reputation centers on mature content due to the sensational nature of the content and subsequent publicity. As a result, our survey suggests that there's an appetite for more government oversight even among the maturing Atari Generation who now have children."