I have said before that gamers have no advocate to speak powerfully on their behalf, and while the ESA has a reasonably successful history of representing the interests of the industry, which do not always meet harmoniously with the interests of game consumers, at least it served the role of governmental advocacy for publishers. From the perspective of a consumer, it's not much, but at least it's something. As the organization increasingly mirrored the broken policies of peers such as the RIAA, it seems it has lost focus on its other roles, failing to sustain the relevance of its once great trade show and failing to meet the needs of its members. In fact, I'm not entirely certain that I can say precisely what the ESA has been doing the past few years. Its anti-piracy efforts have been as successful as most anti-piracy efforts, which is to say not at all. It has watched as E3 has slipped into virtual irrelevance. It has not made any notable accomplishments in stemming legislative attempts to censor gaming. Certainly the industry can pat itself on the back for continuing to grow the video game industry, but how much credit can the ESA take for that? Apparently not much from the point of view of Activision and company.
Imagine for a moment if Sony BMG were to suddenly part ways with the RIAA, or if Paramount were to cut ties with the MPAA. That's the magnitude of seeing even one major publisherdivest itself from the ESA, much less four.
It may be fair to suggest that the ESA's legitimacy is now entirely in question. Put simply, the video game industry no longer has a unified trade organization to represent its interests. Under the watch of Mike Gallagher, whose stewardship has only just passed the one-year mark, the ESA has collapsed under what appears to be, at least from the outside, catastrophic mismanagement. This at a time when gaming is breaking into the cultural mainstream and defying a difficult economic environment. One would think that ESA members would be naturally inclined to consolidate their collective strength to keep the ball rolling, rather than striking off into the unknown on their own.
With a rash of lawsuits and referendums regarding explicit material in video games still fresh in our minds, the need for a competent and legitimate advocate for the video game industry seems crucial. Unfortunately the ESA seems a long way from being that competent and legitimate advocate in its current state. Whether the solution is a change of leadership or just a change of philosophy is a question that ultimately the organization's members will have to address, but the current state of things is untenable. What happens over the summer will probably define the future of Gallagher's tenure and even that of the ESA itself.
