Yes. Are you not aware now that kids are more likely to play video games than watch television yet we pay into PBS. Are you not aware that much of what we enjoy and work for in life was because of the awareness brought by an artists passion. Arts are just as important to fund as research. Otherwise life is not worth living.

Is VFX any different? You'd be amazed that a majority of it is government/state funded. Good podcast on it here: http://freakonomics.com/podcast/no-hollywood-ending-visual-e...

The military has been involved in back-channel funding of video game development for 10-15 years now. Every triple-a shooter title out there has a team of active duty military members in the credits. They make for excellent recruitment tools.

For better or worse, entertainment shapes public policy. So it's no surprise that the government gets involved.