If you visit the ESA (Entertainment Software Association) official website, you’ll find a virtual who’s who of game publishers listed there. But among them are two that are conspicuously missing–Activision and Vivendi.
The reason? Both game companies have cancelled their memberships and hence, will not be attending the ESA sponsored E3 convention this year.
What does the ESA do? According to its website:
The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) is the U.S. association exclusively 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.
The ESA offers a range of services to interactive entertainment software publishers including a global anti-piracy program, business and consumer research, government relations and intellectual property protection efforts. ESA also owns and operates the E3 Media & Business Summit.
While there has been no official word from Activision on why it has decided to spurn its membership from the ESA, the status of Activision as the #1 game publisher in the world certainly will leave some reverberations in the game industry and may cause other game companies to wonder about the benefits of continuing their memberships as well.
The ESA put their spin on the exodus of Activision and Vivendi and stated:
"We can confirm that Activision and Vivendi Games opted to discontinue their membership. The ESA remains dedicated to advancing our industry’s objectives such as protecting intellectual property, preserving First Amendment rights, and fostering a beneficial environment for the entire industry."
"While the Entertainment Software Association remains the preeminent voice for U.S. computer and video game publishers, we can confirm that Activision and Vivendi Games opted to discontinue their membership. The ESA remains dedicated to advancing our industry’s objectives such as protecting intellectual property, preserving First Amendment rights, and fostering a beneficial environment for the entire industry. Our high level of service and value to members and the larger industry remains unchanged."
That’s an awful lot of verbiage and self promotion about the ESA and hardly a word of thanks to Activision and Vivendi for their past support–which may be a window into how the ESA operates and sees its membership–and one of the possible reasons why the two game publishers pulled out.
[via joystiq]
