ESA touts 43-0 record in game legislation fights

It's no secret that the Entertainment Software Association has been experiencing success in its legislative battles, with high-profile bills in California, Illinois, Oklahoma, and Utah among the failed attempts to regulate the sale of games. However, the gaming industry trade group today released its annual report for the year ended March 31, 2009, showing it has been no less successful in lower-profile skirmishes.

According to the ESA, it fought 43 bills intended "to regulate content and/or access to video games," with none of them becoming law. The trade group didn't stop with bills looking to keep violent games out of children's hands; among the fruits of its legislative efforts for the year was convincing the mayor of Honolulu, Hawaii, to veto a city council ordinance that prohibited playing games while operating a motor vehicle.

Despite the glut of legal activity, the ESA's dealings with the government weren't exclusively antagonistic. Over its fiscal year, the trade group also saw Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Michigan, and Texas enact new tax incentives for game developers, with 17 more states considering similar measures. The ESA also noted recent changes in Washington, DC, and how they could shape its efforts in the months to come.

"While greater oversight and increased regulation is widely expected under a Democratic Administration and Democrat-controlled Congress, large reforms such as climate change and health care will likely consume both Congress and the Administration well into the first half of the 111th Session (or through the end of 2009)," the ESA said. "That said, it will be more important than ever for the industry to highlight issues like rampant piracy in a stagnant economy and growth in the online marketplace to remain above the fold."

On the piracy note, the ESA said it sent takedown notices to Internet service providers "covering more than 45 million instances of infringement of member company games in more than 100 countries worldwide." It also named names as to the ISPs it found particularly unhelpful in its efforts. An ESA study estimating illegal peer-to-peer downloads of 13 specific titles found that Telecom Italia, Spain's Telefonica, and France Telecom were the top three ISPs whose resources were used to pirate games. Those ISPs also helped Italy, Spain, and France rank first, second, and third in the ESA's study when it came to the top peer-to-peer piracy countries.

The ESA report also contained an update on the Entertainment Software Rating Board. As the game industry grows, it's not surprising that the ESRB's workload has grown as well. For calendar year 2008, the ESA reported 1,677 ratings doled out by the ESRB. That's up 7 percent from 2007's 1,563 ratings, and 30 percent over 2006's ratings tally of 1,281. Of the ratings assigned in 2008, 59 percent received an E for Everyone, with E10+ for Everyone 10 and Older assigned 16 percent of the time. The T for Teen rating accounted for 19 percent of the games released, while just 6 percent of games received the M for Mature designation.