Bungie speaks out against SOPA

Halo creator Bungie is the latest high-profile gaming company to come out against the highly controversial Stop Online Piracy Act. In a statement posted to its website today, Bungie called the bill "a messy piece of legislation."

"Bungie is opposed to any legislation that curtails free speech, stifles innovation, and prevents the open sharing of information on the Internet," the Washington-based studio wrote. "SOPA fits that bill. If it passes, it will hurt our community, the gaming community at large, and it could very well cripple the kind of games we love to create and play."

The studio also noted that were the bill to pass the US House of Representatives, it would "negatively impact both the games we make and the people who play them." Bungie put out a call for gamers to educate themselves by reading the bill itself, as well as contacting their representatives in Congress to speak out against the piece of legislation.

In related SOPA news, CNET reports today that the bill's champion, Rep. Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas), has said that he will remove the Domain Name System provision. The DNS segment of the bill would have required Internet service providers to block websites based abroad that have been accused of piracy, according to CNET.

"After consultation with industry groups across the country," Smith said in a statement. "I feel we should remove DNS blocking from the Stop Online Piracy Act so that the [U.S. House Judiciary] Committee can further examine the issues surrounding this provision. We will continue to look for ways to ensure that foreign websites cannot sell and distribute illegal content to U.S. consumers."

Authors of SOPA's Senate complement, the Protect IP Act (PIPA), have also said in recent days that they will remove the DNS language from their version of the bill.

Though the Entertainment Software Association officially endorses SOPA and PIPA, a number of studios have come out against it. These include Epic Games, Riot Games, and Mojang.