May 17, 2007
The Entertainment Software Association has a new boss.An overnight press release from the ESA, which represents leading video game publishers, brought news that Michael D. Gallagher will take the reins later this month. He replaces Doug Lowenstein, who helped found the organization in 1994 and left earlier this year.
Gallagher is a former Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications & Information and served as chief telecommunications and policy advisor to the Bush Administration.
Said Microsoft exec Robbie Bach, who chairs the ESA Board of Directors:
Mike's outstanding technology, policy, and government relations experience makes him a strong fit for the ESA, where issues like intellectual property, self-regulation, and industry social and economic contributions are at the forefront of the agenda.
Jerry Berman, president of the Center for Democracy and Technology, added:
Mike Gallagher is an experienced Washington hand - he understands the intersection of technology and policy and we look forward to working with him and the ESA to pursue our shared goals of keeping kids safe, empowering and educating parents, and protecting the First Amendment.
Gallagher weighed in with his thoughts on the new job:
It is a privilege to represent the dynamic entertainment software industry. With over two-thirds of American heads of households playing video games, and the tremendous opportunities available to the industry on every device -- from consoles and PCs to handhelds and broadband enabled cell phones -- the business is poised for tremendous growth. I look forward to working with federal and state leaders to foster an environment where the industry and its consumers can thrive.
Comments
The bad thing is... well, it's not such a "bad" thing, but in fact, I wish he could also have been involved in video games in the past. OK, Doug Lowenstein didn't come from video game industry either and he did a nice job anyway. But I would like to see, one day, video game publishers represented and defended by one of them.
For the moment, let's wait and see what Mr. Gallagher will do.
Oh, and GP, if you sign on to Xbox Live and see a friend request from tifosiotaku, that's me! Add me! :-)
We game-folk can tell the difference between the writings of a current events blogger and the output commercial news organizations. Be nice if they could tell the difference about us too.
Now hear me out. I know ehough to make a proper legal arguement. I know what the first amendment says. But that is not the problem that the ESA had in the past. The problem was that they would not act when the clearly needed to. They did nothing to educate and call politicians and groups which will remain nameless (because I don't know the names of all of them but rest assured that most of them had "Family" in their name) on their ignorance and blatant misinformation. On the very rare ocation that they did, they did nothing to PR the right information into mass media. Because of this attitude where the only thing the ESA ever did was to assist with court cases. What is needed is someone who will be "loud" and rebute any lie.
I sure hope this guy can deliver.
Hopefully he wasn't behind those assenine claims that 90% of movies are pirated by camcorder in Montreal...
My predictions? He'll be strong in defending the rights and freedoms of the industry while hyping up and supporting stricter rating/retail policies.
Who knows if it will be a good or bad thing, I wouldn't mind games like GTA, Gears or even Halo staying out of the hands of those under 18. My greatest hope would be to tighten ratings and retail policy while championing the right of devs to make the games they wish.
Then again, I think we're all rather open to disaster, at this point.
Silence was the failure of his predecessor (and the industry as a whole). I guess we'll see if anything changes...
I hope they will speak up soon and blast that NY politician who asked for the boycott.
I also hope that this guy will be out there in the first days anytime we need defended and all other times is engaged in PR work to help other understand and accept the video game industry.
Lets see how he does with the V-Tech Rampage issue.