Breaking: LucasArts leaves the ESA [update]

by Alexander Sliwinski on May 16th 2008 4:53PM

Joystiq has just confirmed with the Entertainment Software Association that LucasArts is no longer a member of the organization, but will still feature at E3. "Today, we can confirm that one of our members, LucasArts, has decided not to renew its membership. We value each member of our association, but respect the unique factors that led to LucasArts' decision," ESA Senior VP of Communications Rich Taylor said in a statement (copied in full after the break).

Recently, Activision and Vivendi also left the ESA. ~~We're currently seeking a statement from LucasArts and will update.~~ Update: LucasArts has sent us a statement as well (full text after the break) confirming it is no longer with the ESA, but supports the organization's mission in the industry. LucasArts also confirms it will still attend E3.

ESA statement:

"Since its creation in 1994, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) has grown and evolved into the pre-eminent voice of the video and computer game industry. The organization has 25 members, including three companies that were welcomed last year.

"Today, we can confirm that one of our members, LucasArts, has decided not to renew its membership. We value each member of our association, but respect the unique factors that led to LucasArts' decision.

"Last year was a record year for an industry which is becoming an increasingly important part of the nation's social, cultural and economic landscape. We are confident the industry will continue to thrive and ESA will continue to create a beneficial environment for the entire entertainment software industry." -- Rich Taylor, Senior Vice President of Communications and Research, Entertainment Software Association (May 16, 2008)

LucasArts statement:

"We can confirm that LucasArts is no longer a member of the ESA. As a company we are still committed to bringing consumers the best interactive experience possible and support the ESA's mission in the industry. LucasArts will be participating in E3." -- Margaret Grohne, Director, Public Relations

Tags: breakingnews, esa, lucasarts

Reader Comments (33)

who is having the bigger Mass Exodus, ESA or Gamespot??

It depends if you want to count each company as 1 or each company as the total amount of people there.

Yes, something is going on behind the scenes of the ESA and E3 is a big part of it. In the past publishers abandoned E3 because they're product wasn't being displayed at the event like they wanted thus throwing their own party to show the gaming media what their product is about. Apparently other companies feel the same.

E3 is depleting even as we speak.

Someone already did a big story on how companies can leave the ESA and still benefit from the ESA's activities. Basically ESA is a lobby group, and their lobbying helps all game companies, whether they are members or not. On top of that, companies get to use the E3 excitement to host their own exclusive events that basically piggy-back on E3. In other words, these companies are free loading at our (the gamers) expense. The reality is that without a strong lobbyist group (even though I'm sure I know how everyone feels about lobbyist groups) to protect video games, there could very well be censorship in the years to come, and if companies leave the ESA left and right, who is going to be left to do that lobbying?

I wonder how small the annual fee is for these companies, that they can't suck it up and stay part of the team. Meh.

This may be the last E3 IMHO, unless the ESA gets a new VP.
They better hurry.

I want to know what the hell happened with the ESA that companies are suddenly jumping ship.

If it was just Actiblizion, that would be one thing, but for LucasArts to suddenly bail too just a couple of weeks later, it's kinda weird.

something is definitely going on behind the scenes, or maybe the ESA is just no longer needed?

I think the reason is that it is really hard to see exactly what the ESA has done for the game companies in the recent past.

With E3 not being that big of a deal, and with individual publishers doing there own events. It just seems like the ESA painted itself into a corner of futility. And I think it is hard for people in the gaming companies to see exactly what service the ESA provides aside from E3.

Umm, the ESA fights all those game laws you people hate. The ESA makes contributions to gaming friendly candidates. The ESA is essentially all that's keeping the bible thumpers from pulling another Comic Code Authority on the industry and essentially destroying the freedom of speech for 20+ years.

And yes, I'm a member....

Fidlious: The ESA is also responsible for lobbying for ISPs to spy on their customers, throttling/banning BitTorrent, and all kinds of other shenanigans, in the name of preventing piracy. They are as bad as the RIAA.

They are hardly a benign or benevolent entity. They've proven themselves to be yet another industry lobby group - one that has placed no moral limits on its actions, seeking only the improve the bottom line of the industry.

Just because they're fighting the anti-game laws doesn't mean they're on "our" side.

Thanks potato for bringing up those points. It's entirely true that the ESA represents the game industry in the same manner that the RIAA/MPAA represent theirs. It's an association of game publishers who want to make sure that the market remains as profitable for them as possible. Sometimes, that coincides with our interests as game consumers. But it should never be assumed.

A point about lobbying vis-a-vis free speech: it doesn't actually matter if the ESA fights or wins these cases in court. The triumph of political freedom is muted by the need for marketability. Manhunt 2 being the obvious reference. They could have released the game as-is, on PC, but because Sony, MS, and Nintendo refuse to release AO titles, it was financially untenable. And why do the console makers refuse AO games? Because they want to sell hardware units to parents of small children and they think this is going to make a difference. What's the point of paying the ESA to fight for free speech when some of the most important companies in the ESA conduct their own forms of censorship?

The real purpose, of course, is for the ESA to keep the market open for the products that the big publishers want to sell. It has nothing to do with freedom and everything to do with profitability.

What purpose does the ESA actually serve anyway?

Besides running E3 and supporting the ESRB, they fight legal battles against piracy, bad game legislation and game censorship.

Which to me is much more important than a trade show...

Ever since Doug stepped down, there's been a lot of people having problems from what I hear. Maybe it's just small things that irk the companies.

Who knows really.

Oh and Pojo? I vote for Gamespot. They lost almost all of their staff to be replaced with new guys.

Is this bad, or is this something that doesn't matter? That is what i would like to know. Some people take on it.

If they really are the ones that fight ridiculous game legislation, and other political fronts and so forth..this could be bad. But then whats causing companies to start leaving all of a sudden? Sure its only 2 so far, but within two weeks...something is fishy.

It's two things. The first is a general dissatisfaction with Gallagher as he's a lot more quiet than Lowenstein.

The other is this general "feeling" that the industry no longer requiring a champion against the moral majority's attempts against the industry, however given two different game censorship laws were attempted in the past two months, that hardly seems the case.

What does leaving the ESA mean exactly?

How does it affect us gamers?

Think the RIAA for games, only not quite as annoying becuase they have less cash.

Something funny's going on, gang! We'd better get to the bottom of this mystery!

The post system has fucked up agian. These were meant for Jnas, and I'm SURE I hit the right link the second time.

the ESA sent my isp an email because they caught me downloading a dreamcast game. DREAMCAST GAME.

Dreamcast isn't 75 years old.... that's when the copyright protection ends.

Here's to the ESA going out of business!

how does the ESA or the game publisher make money when someone buys a game that is not produced anymore? Where you cannot find it new anywhere? Used games do not generate any profit for them only for the people who sell it to you.

Agreed timmy. I'm all for stopping piracy in gaming, but going after people downloading Dreamcast games? How does that help anyone at all? What difference does it make to Sega if someone buys Chu Chu Rocket secondhang, or downloads it? Sega's not getting money either way.

"how does the ESA or the game publisher make money when someone buys a game that is not produced anymore?"

It has been proven that they can sell their old shit via Live Arcade or Virtual Console. I have to say, hats off to them for that.

Al: How many Dreamcast games are on Virtual Console? *cricket chirp* Any? I'm waiting.... How many Dreamcast games are on anything but the Dreamcast?

There actually are a couple on GameTap (Crazy Taxi, Typing of the Dead, etc.). And SoulCalibur is coming to XBLA, soo....

Thing is that we still have no clue about what is going on. I wonder if the ESA is running into financial problems or is becoming too big for its own good. Kinda like E3. Or maybee its that Actiblizzan and Lucasarts found a new master.

E3 SUCKS!!! I hope they go down they over charge companys and are too greedy, i say all the game companies come to canada Gaming Expo brought 43,000 public attendee's more then any US expo ever did!!

the ESA is way more than E3. (some good, some bad).

the way the commenters on here talk you'd think its only purpose was as an event organiser.. which probably ammounts to 1% of what they actually do.

the ESA is good for the industry.. and what's good for the industry can be both good and bad for gamers. So I guess i'm pretty ambivilent about who joins or leaves.

(That would be like getting worked up over which megacorporation is beating which other megacorporation in consoel sales... which would be patently irrelevant for everyone here. ;-) )

Still, i'd like to hear the gossip behind it...

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Breaking: LucasArts leaves the ESA [update]

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