The study by French business school Essec said 38 per cent of boys under the age of 21 who play sports games on active video game consoles practice their favourite virtual sport in real life - and that 75 per cent of video gamers participate in some kind of real sport. The more they play active video sports games, the more likely adolescents are to practice sports.
TIGA chief executive Dr Richard Wilson said: "Video games have traditionally been developed for entertainment purposes but they can also have positive side effects. The Essec's findings that playing sports video games can increase the likelihood of playing the sport in real life is a case in point.
"More generally, video games can be used for educational and training purposes. A fifth of UK games business make educational or serious games, making an explicit feature of learning. A number of studies suggest that video games may help to promote skills such as visual and motor skills, strategic thinking, relationship building, computer literacy, collaboration, competition, multi-tasking and experiential learning."
Thierry Lardinoit, head of the marketing department at Essec, said: "Video games are frequently demonised. We now know that these fears are unfounded.
"While it is difficult to fight against the consumption of video games, which has become more and more widespread among youth, we can use this consumption to further the realistic goal of encouraging physical activity among adolescents."
"There is a strong correlation between playing video games and participating in real sports. Watching television is a threat to physical activity. Video games are not, however."
TIGA has been campaigning for the video games sector to receive tax relief from the Government. It says that without such relief, the UK could lose developers to countries such as Canada where governments do offer similar support.