The ESA (Entertainment Software Association) is one of the largest video game lobbyist groups (much like the NRA for the gun industry) in the United States, although that may not be true for long. Recently a mass exodus of developers, including Activision-Blizzard, the largest video game publisher in the world, has the future of the ESA in doubt.

It is the ESA’s job to lobby and represent video game publishers in Washington, officially stating that the ESA is

“dedicated to serving the business and public affairs needs of companies that publish video and computer games for video game consoles, personal computers, and the Internet.”

With the exit of publishers Activision-Blizzard, LucasArts, and Id Software one has to wonder if the ESA has not been doing its job to a level that these companies see fit for their investments. One of the most popular rumors as to explain for the decisions is the dislike for the current ESA head Mike Gallagher.

Although no official statements have been made by any of the publishers in question concerning the change of leadership at the ESA as the main reason for leaving, analyst Michael Pachter is quoted in a Kotaku article as stating that

“I would guess that Activision doesn’t perceive the same value from the ESA as they did under [former ESA head Doug Lowenstein] leadership. I criticize [Gallagher's] lack of drive to learn about the industry.”

With a former White House secretary as the President of the ESA it would seem that Gallagher would be able to handle the political side of video games that seem to grow each day. However, according to Pachter’s observation it seems as if Gallagher may just be sitting and collecting a paycheck at his new position, instead of caring about the well being of the industry.

Does this spell the end for the ESA? Mega publisher EA issued a statement Gamesindustry.biz

“I think having [Activision and Vivendi] pull out of the ESA reflects an unfortunate lack of leadership.”

“EA is 100 per cent committed. There’s Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, THQ, Disney, a bunch of others – and I assume all the others are still locked into it,”

However it is these assumptions which could prove troublesome. In Joey’s post about the death of the old E3 we can look no further to EA and Activision as the two publishers that caused the premature death for the large format industry conference. WIth no official statements from other publishers, it could be only a matter of time until the ESA no longer has a sufficient amount of members to continue its day to day operations.

The future of the ESA, and ultimately E3, is up to the publishers that belong to the organization, and only through the continued support of these members will the ESA be able to survive and provide the necessary support to the games industry in this post hot coffee world.

-Eric Wall

Tags: E3, ESA, Game Industry

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