Activision Blizzard Rejoins the ESA After a 5 Year Absence

The Entertainment Software Association has officially announced that Activision Blizzard is returning to the organization after a five year absence.

The ESA is a trade and lobbyist organization that represents the video gaming industry. It was formed in 1994 and is currently based in Washington D.C. Among its members are EA, Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony, Square Enix, Capcom, Disney Interactive Studios, Namco Bandai, Konami, SEGA, Take-Two Interactive, Ubisoft, and Warner Bros. Interactive.

The organization focuses on targeting intellectual property issues, public relations, and public policy lobbying. The ESA is also responsible for putting on the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo.

In 2008, Activision left the group along with Vivendi Games, LucasArts, idSoftware, and Codemasters. Despite the high-profile departure, no official reasons were given for Activision's decision, nor for its return earlier today.

Despite the ESA's role as the preeminent games industry lobbying group, it has engaged in some very controversial policies in the past, particularly in regards to enforcing copyrights. In 2007, the ESA supported domestic raids by Homeland Security to search for mod chips, or as they call them, "copyright circumvention devices."

Later that year, GamePolitics discovered that the organization had been modifying Wikipedia articles on mod chips and abandonware to match the legal opinions of the ESA. This included deleting a discussion on mod chip legality and replacing it with a "flat assertion that mod chips are illegal." Additionally, a section on the "positive uses of mod chips" was deleted, as was the note that the Supreme Court had not yet made a ruling on their legality.

Recently, the ESA supported the hugely controversial SOPA and PIPA legislation. These proposals called for mandatory blocks on sites suspected of copyright infringement, as well as removal from search engines, and court orders to bar advertising networks and payment companies to conduct business with them. This was met with a widespread negative reaction, and prompted over 7,000 websites including Wikipedia and Reddit to coordinate a service blackout to raise awareness. Mark Kern of Red 5 Studios went on to found his own game industry advocacy group, in part as a protest to the ESA's support of SOPA.

With this in mind, it would seem that Activision's return to the ESA marks an approval, or at least a willingness to overlook, some of the organization's more controversial policies. It is certainly a murky issue, as the ESA is definitely responsible for helping the game industry in its fight against anti-media legislation. So, it is really a question of whether or not ESA's contributions to the health of the industry outweigh the group's attacks on consumer rights.

In a related announcement, Tencent, a stakeholder in both Riot Games and Epic Games, has also joined the ESA. You can read the full press release below.

ACTIVISION BLIZZARD AND TENCENT JOIN ENTERTAINMENT SOFTWARE ASSOCIATION

Leading Game Publishers Strengthen Association's Diversity Across Game Platforms

Washington, DC - July 8, 2013 - The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) announced today that Activision Blizzard, Inc. and Tencent have joined the trade association. They increase ESA's membership to 37 companies, and bolster its representation of diverse businesses that drive advancements across all game platforms in the evolving marketplace.

"These highly innovative companies offer compelling and influential video games and game content to millions of players across the globe," said Michael D. Gallagher, president and CEO of ESA. "Activision Blizzard and Tencent have established worldwide reputations as producers of world-class interactive entertainment. We are eager to work with both companies as they continue to grow their global interactive and entertainment services."

Activision Blizzard is an international online, PC, console, handheld, and mobile game developer and publisher with leading market positions across every major category of the interactive entertainment software industry. In addition to offering exclusive content for game consoles and computer games, the company is one of the largest third-party video game publishers in the world; titles include Activision Publishing's popular Call of Duty and Skylanders franchises and Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo franchises. Founded in 1979, Activision was the first independent developer and distributor of video games for game consoles. Activision Blizzard maintains operations in 17 countries, including the United States.

"We are excited to join ESA," said Chris Walther of Activision Blizzard. "ESA has a long track-record of supporting its members and the video game industry, and we look forward to sharing our unique perspective and experience with them."

Tencent uses technology to enrich the lives of Internet users. Hundreds of millions of people communicate, share experiences, consume information, seek entertainment, and shop online daily through its integrated platforms. It serves the largest online game community in China with a diverse online games portfolio including the QQ Game Platform, advanced casual games and massively multiplayer online games. In addition to online games, its services include QQ, Weixin and WeChat for communications; Qzone for social networking; internet service portal QQ.com; and the eCommerce open platform. Founded in 1998, Tencent has steadily grown to become one of the leading providers of comprehensive Internet services.

"ESA supports and cultivates collaboration among member companies," said Gordon Bellamy of Tencent. "We are excited to join an association that promotes the development of the U.S. game industry as we are exploring more opportunities in this market."

ESA offers services to interactive entertainment software publishers, including conducting business and consumer research, providing legal and policy analysis and advocacy on First Amendment, intellectual property and technology/e-commerce issues, managing a global anti-piracy program, owning and operating E3, and representing video game industry interests in federal and state government relations. For more information, please visit www.theESA.com or follow us on Twitter: @RichatESA.

###