A new face for Canadian video game industry advocacy

The Canadian video game industry's leading advocacy group has a new leader. Jayson Hilchie has taken over as the new president and CEO of the Entertainment Software Association of Canada, where he'll lobby to improve the state of the Canadian video game industry. Hilchie previously served a similar role at Nova Scotia Business Inc., where he helped mature that region's video game industry by assisting studios including Longtail, Frontier Developments and Radian6 establish offices in Halifax. Among his tasks as ESA Canada's new head, Hilchie will lobby to lift federal restrictions preventing Canadian video game companies from importing talent from outside of the country. ESA Canada is an organization similar to the ESA in the United States, though they're not directly affiliated (they're "distant cousins," a representative tells us). It produces research into the habits of its country's players, lobbies on the federal level on copyright reform and IP issues, and acts as the "voice" of the Canadian video game industry. Members of ESA Canada include the Canadian divisions of Microsoft, Nintendo, Ubisoft and Warner Bros, among others.