Developer Vicarious Visions Weighs in on New York Game Legislation

In recent weeks, GamePolitics has been closely tracking several video game bills before the New York legislature.

Now, a pair of video game developers based in the Empire State have weighed in against the proposed legislation, stressing the economic benefits of the game industry and noting that the ESRB system and console parental controls are already in place.

In an op-ed for the Albany Times-Union, Karthik Bala, CEO and Guha Bala, president of Vicarious Visions (Marvel Ultimate Alliance, Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam) write:

We are deeply troubled by the prospect of New York enacting legislation that would treat video games differently from other protected, creative expression...   

We founded Vicarious Visions when we were in high school in Rochester. One of us (Karthik Bala) chose to attend Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute for an undergraduate degree because of the RPI Incubator Center. Vicarious Visions began in that incubator center...

In 2005, we became a part of Activision... but we are committed to long-term growth in the Albany area... We have worked hard to keep strong, creative "home grown" talent here in New York, rather than having them leave for places like California and Florida...

At a time when New York is working hard to maintain its competitive edge... we have to avoid stigmatizing video games and game development in our state.

We know many in our state may not like the content of some video games, and, to be frank, we do not like some of it either. However, a better way... would be to... encourage use of video game ratings and parental controls...