So what are YOU doing for a living?

They don’t call it the fastest-growing entertainment medium for nothing. PricewaterhouseCoopers is forecasting the global video game industry to grow another $27 billion (all figures U.S.) by 2012.

They don’t call it the fastest-growing entertainment medium for nothing. PricewaterhouseCoopers is forecasting the global video game industry to grow another $27 billion (all figures U.S.) by 2012.

How much is the video game industry poised to rake in over the next four years?

According to a PricewaterhouseCoopers report, the worldwide video game business will grow another $27 billion dollars by 2012. This would bring the totals of the $41.9 billion business (based on 2007 worldwide sales) up to $68.3 billion, a compound annual growth rate of just more than 10 per cent.

While TV-based console games, the largest category, will grow by 6.9 per cent annually, online and wireless games will grow the fastest at 16.9 per cent and 19 per cent, respectively, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers’ upcoming report entitled "Global Entertainment and Media Outlook: 2008-2012."

The only category forecasted for negative growth is computer games, expecting to fall 1.2 per cent a year until 2012.

Canadians love to game, too — even in the buff?

Here are some recent stats from Ipsos Reid/Microsoft Corp:

* 17 per cent of men and 9 per cent of women saying the sometimes game in the nude. Gamers between the ages of 18 and 34 were the most likely strip down for some game time (23 percent), while only 5 percent of those age 54 or older admitted to doing so.

* 30 percent of those polled admitted to playing games while they should be working, such as casual PC games like Bejeweled or Diner Dash.

* 19 per cent have played video games in public, largely due to the growing number of Guitar Hero or Rock Band jam nights at bars.

* 27 per cent of Canadians play video games in the bedroom; 7 percent of gamers admitted to bringing a laptop to the bathroom to keep playing.

* Minesweeper and Windows Solitaire are the most commonly-played computer games by Canadians, as 86 percent of those surveyed said they have played those (they’re preloaded on most PCs).

* Males are nearly four times more likely to play a massively-multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG), such as World of Warcraft, than females.

* Roughly 28 percent of Canadians said they play online games, such as Diner Dash, while one in four said they have played a game on Facebook such as Scrabulous.

* Ontario residents were the most likely to buy a video game (63 percent), which is more than half of residents in Alberta (57 percent) and British Columbia (52 percent).