Gaming still may not be as popular in the U.S. as it is in Japan, but times are rapidly changing. This country is already home to multiple videogame conferences, including the Game Developers Conference, the Hollywood and Games Summit, and of course, E3. But how many Americans work within this crazy fun industry? Well, to find out, the CMP conducted the very first Game Developer Consensus 2007.

As it turns out, nearly 40,000 Americans (39,700) and around 8,100 Candians are "working within video game development and publishing" at any one of the 600 companies in both countries. These include any business that focuses exclusively on middleware, PR, marketing, legal, game journalism, and other game-related services for the industry. Approximately 46% of the U.S. gaming industry earns their money in California, 11.6% in Washington, and 7.4% in Texas. New York, Massachusetts, Illinois, and Florida all have employed at least 1,000 game professionals.

These numbers are pretty impressive, but they're only going to get bigger. Will you be one of the gaming industry crowd the next time they perform this census?