The ESA

If you have been following the news in the video game industry over the past year, you have probably heard about the Supreme Court case “Brown vs. EMA/Entertainment Software Association”. This case prevented a California law that prohibited selling violent video games to youth, signed by the govenator, from going into effect. Regardless of where you sit on this topic, something important took place during this case. The video game industry started to take Washington seriously.

Take Hollywood or the steal manufactures for example. Each group has a group of lobbyist that are in Washington, talking to senators and representatives each day to help ensure that any law that is passed has is within their favor. The video game industry, for the longest time, has never truly had any representation like this. Not until 2008 was there a call for lobbyist.

Currently the video game industry is being represented by the Entertainment Software Association. This group is “dedicated to serving the business and public affairs needs of companies that publish computer and video games for video game consoles, personal computers, and the Internet.” -(http://www.theesa.com/about/index.asp) Along with representing this industry, they also offer a variety of services. Some of these services involve representing the industry in court cases, providing annual numbers about the industry, to educating the public how videos are helping society.

The Brown vs. EMA/Entertainment Software Association was not the only court case that they have been involved with. Dating back to 2001, the ESA has been defending the right to publish content with as little restrictions as possible. This helps to ensure that games are able to reach the intended market in as many locations as possible.

The real bread and butter of the ESA are their annual numbers of the game industry. These numbers breakdown every possible detail one would like to know about the video game industry, who the consumers are, and current trends. Take, for example, why is there an annual release of Madden NFL? Well, it sold the second most titles in 2010 with Call of Duty taking the number one slot.

Currently, there is a lot of public miss information with video games. The ESA provides great literature from “Games and Art”, “Games and Families”, to “Games and Health”. Each article takes a closer look and provides great examples at how this industry is helping to promote a better lifestyle. Mind you, some people will think this data is loaded, but it is good to see that someone is trying.