Question Of The Week Tackles The Role Of The ESA

Longtime readers may remember Gamasutra's "Question Of The Week," which asks a specific industry-related question to be answered by professional game developers reading this site. This week, that feature returns, asking for feedback on how relevant the Entertainment Software Association is to today's video game industry, and what its role should be. From an external point of view, the organization has suffered several bumps in recent times. Following a highly-publicized downsizing of the E3 game show, which the ESA helps to fund and organize through its members, ESA founder Doug Lowenstein left his post as president of the organization last year, to be replaced by Mike Gallagher. Over the past few months, major companies Activision, Vivendi, LucasArts, and id Software have left the organization, which is a voluntary peer-based association "dedicated to serving the business and public affairs needs" of game publishers. As the Association itself explains of its mission: "The ESA offers a range of services to interactive entertainment software publishers including a global anti-piracy program, business and consumer research, government relations and intellectual property protection efforts." Thus, the question, which can be answered at the official Question Of The Week page until June 23, is: "In the wake of the recent high-profile departures from the Entertainment Software Association, what changes does the ESA need to make to better serve its members and show its relevance, if any? As an industry professional, what do you think the ESA's role should ideally be for our industry?" Though the ESA represents the United States' game industry, responding professionals who live outside the U.S. are also welcome to reply with their opinions - please indicate where you live in your reply, if you wish to do so. The best responses will be compiled into an article to be published on the site, and users can either respond publicly, with their name and company specifically cited, or answer anonymously if they wish.