New Zealand's Smokefree Coalition says tobacco companies may well have found a backdoor method of marketing their products to Kiwi kids.
Research from the University of California in San Francisco shows 42 percent of video games released between 1994 and 2015 feature characters smoking tobacco products or making reference to tobacco in the dialogue with users -- and that concerns Smokefree Coalition director Dr Prudence Stone.
"A recent US Surgeon General's Report says adolescents aged 12 to 17, who see the highest amount of smoking in movies, are twice as likely to start smoking than those with the least exposure," she said.
"How much more likely is it that gaming adolescents, so avidly immersed in their favourite pastime, will be influenced by the behaviour of the characters in the games?"
Ms Stone says researchers at the Truth Initiative found tobacco use in video games seems almost always to be presented positively.
Young people they interviewed thought smoking characters seemed more cool and powerful.
"It may not be public knowledge that tobacco companies pay video game makers to feature their products, but it's highly likely given the industry's propensity to profit wherever addiction occurs," she says.
"Video games are addictive in their own right and would therefore have huge investment appeal to tobacco companies, providing a new frontier for marketing their deadly products to kids."
However, New Zealand Game Developers Association (NZGDA) chairperson Stephen Knightly says he hasn't heard of any paid production placement in New Zealand-made video games.
"Mobile games make up 40 percent of the games industry these days and are generally very family-friendly," Mr Knightly says.
"Android apps include a content rating indicating whether cigarettes are featured in a game app and receive a higher age rating."
Mr Knightly says Apple doesn't publish apps that "encourage minors to consume alcohol or smoke cigarettes".
The Interactive Games and Entertainment Association reported the average gamer in New Zealand is 34-years-old, with females making up 48 percent of the numbers.
"The [University of California] study looks at teenage and adult gamers and 'M' rated games. It doesn't look at children or children's games, and that's representative of the age group who play games," Mr Knightly says.
"They're not as much as a children's activity as people would think."
He says there are games available which encourage healthy life choices including non-smoking games or apps like local ones from SmokeFree NZ and the Health Research Council.
The Smokefree Coalition says it wants more funding for research into youth and young adult exposure to tobacco in gaming and says New Zealand's Smokefree Environments Act must be reviewed to ensure the ban on tobacco marketing to children is adequately regulated and enforced in all mediums.
The government is currently reviewing whether New Zealand needs to update New Zealand's film, video and game content ratings system for the digital age, Mr Knightly says.
The NZGDA found video games were an $80 million export industry for New Zealand last year.
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