ECA Announces Round Of Strategic Partnerships

The Entertainment Consumers Association game advocacy organization has announced what it is calling the organization's first round of key partnerships, which include companies that have signed on the support the ECA and the organization’s mission by providing financial or other membership-oriented resources. According to its founder Hal Halpin, the mission of the ECA is "to give gaming consumers a voice and ensure that state and local politicians hear their concerns and appreciate their demographic power." The organization is designed to be an advocate for the interactive entertainment consumers who represent nearly fifty percent of the population, whose average age is 33, and spends $10 billion annually on gaming, yet are continually overlooked by politicians and the mainstream press. Among the ECA's newly confirmed partners are Ziff Davis Media, which produces consumer game site 1UP and Electronic Gaming Monthly and Official PlayStation Magazine in North America, as well as NCsoft, America’s Video Game Expo, Yahoo! Games, energy drink Bawls Guarana, Hardcore Gamer Magazine, GameFly, GameJobs, and Gen Con. Other supporters include Chase Manhattan Bank, Evergreen Events, the recently acquired website GamePolitics, indie film Gamers, Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, Intec, i-Tec Electronics, Tips & Tricks publisher LFP, New York Comic Con, Performance Designed Products, The Themis Group, and traveling video game concert Video Games Live. “There’s been an amazingly positive reception for the ECA from the industry – be they publishers, developers, retailers or enthusiast media – which has helped to support and strengthen our cause,” said ECA president Hal Halpin. “The games industry companies for years has been saying they are committed to gamers, and with the help of the ECA, I believe that goal can be achieved as we strive to enable and empower the consumers and their voices.”