Amid GamerGate controversy, ESA speaks out against harassment in game industry

The American trade organization for the game industry -- whose major members include companies such as EA, Epic Games, and Sony -- has spoken out against online harassment campaigns in the wake of the #GamerGate controversy. "Threats of violence and harassment are wrong. They have to stop. There is no place in the video game community—or our society—for personal attacks and threats,” a rep for the Entertainment Software Association told the Washington Post. The ESA’s comment was in a reply to an inquiry specifically about #GamerGate, according to reporter Haley Tsukayama. The statement comes in the wake of threats against Anita Sarkeesian, who cancelled her talk at Utah State University yesterday, and developer Brianna Wu, who was driven from her home. ESA's statement comes as the game industry is embroiled in the controversy surrounding #GamerGate, a group bound by a Twitter hashtag that is ostensibly about game journalism ethics and “consumer advocacy,” but has ugly underpinnings in harassment of women involved in video games. The ESA is a trade organization representing a large number of video game publishers and developers, including EA, Epic Games, Konami, Sony, Ubisoft, and Activision Blizzard. It conducts research, owns the annual E3 trade show, and lobbies the government on behalf of the game industry. [Disclaimer: #GamerGate proponents recently organized and successfully executed a campaign to have our ad partner Intel pull an ad campaign.]