The San Jose Mercury-News reports that ESA CEO Michael Gallagher (left) has received a vote of confidence from Microsoft entertainment exec Robbie Bach:
"Mike's doing a great job. . . . I think he was the right hire; I think he was a good hire," Bach said. "But he's had to deal with a lot of change all at once, so that just makes his job harder than it probably needs to be."
Bach said he interpreted the withdrawals of Activision and Vivendi as largely a side effect of the distractions of their pending merger. But given their importance, he also noted, "Certainly we have to assess the impact of not having them as dues-paying members. That does have an impact."
Bach is Microsoft's representative to the ESA's board of directors, and was chairman when Gallagher was hired in May, 2007. Gallagher and Bach share a connection of sorts with the George W. Bush administration. Prior to joining the ESA, Gallagher worked as an Assistant Secretary of Commerce, while Bach was a contributor to Bush's 2000 and 2004 presidential campaigns.
Bach's vote of confidence follows questions about Gallagher's leadership of the game publishers group in recent weeks. As GamePolitics has reported, four member companies (Activision, Vivendi, LucasArts and id) have dropped out since the beginning of May.
GP: Bach's vote of confidence would be more meaningful if it were echoed by the entire ESA board.
Comments
Re: ESA's Gallagher Gets Vote of Confidence from ...
I would simply think of this as being protective, or staying positive. With a sinking ship, perhaps this is a way of repairing or attempting to repair that hole in the ship. Not sure where things stand now, but certainly more is needed in this instance.
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Re: ESA's Gallagher Gets Vote of Confidence from Microsoft's
Yeah, votes of confidence mean a whole lot more when said by groups. And when large portions of the group aren't already on their way out. One person's "vote of confidence" can not successfully counter attack a groups lack thereof.
Re: ESA's Gallagher Gets Vote of Confidence from Microsoft's
Tis zippy again.
Mmmm MS is a company with a heavy leaning to profitering of corse they dislike anyhting that would lower thier profit fair use,frsit sale doctrine are bad for business, netnutrailty is in the way of profit makign as well.
Sounds like Gallagher and Bach are good old boys rubbing each others backs.
Re: ESA's Gallagher Gets Vote of Confidence from Microsoft's
We can only hope he doesn't go off on an even grander fugue.
Re: ESA's Gallagher Gets Vote of Confidence from Microsoft's
Full votes of confidence for both Gallagher and Bush. Hm...
*questions Bach's judgement*
Re: ESA's Gallagher Gets Vote of Confidence from Microsoft's
Re: ESA's Gallagher Gets Vote of Confidence from Microsoft's
Thing is, Activision is one of the biggest earners in the ESA iirc, they used to be able to put on a massive show at E3, so yes, it's possible they don't like the new 'closed-door' feeling of E3, but then, that's not really a reason to leave in my books.
My own thoughts are that a lot of these larger corporations forget that the primary role of computer games is to have fun, a lot of these 'famous' software developers, such as Brabham and Wright started coding computer games because it was as much fun figuring out how to write them as it was playing them. I'm not sure how well the 'suit and tie' ethos is catching on with with game development at ground level. What most software developers want to do is make games, what most distributors want to do is make money.
With companies like Activision and Epic, they are both a developer AND a distributor, and I think that many of the ESA's policies are causing waves with one of those two groups, most likely the developers. If that concern was exacerbated by the lack of availability of the higher tiers of the ESA to discuss those concerns, then it may well be that Activision et al started to wonder why they were one of the largest contributors to the ESA coffers.
Re: ESA's Gallagher Gets Vote of Confidence from Microsoft's
If memory serves, the change in the E3 venue attracted a $5 million breach of contract penalty which the ESA thoughtfully passed on to its member companies and I'd not be surprised if those members weren't consulted about the venue & format change. They've got pretty good reason to be annoyed if thats the case.
What the leaving companies should do is create a new game specific trade show themselves (That E For All thing is all forms of electronic entertainment isn't it?), maybe out of spite they could call it E4 because it'll be 1 better than the old E3. An open trade show would benefit the industry and the public, the gaming media would be pleased, particularly the smaller outfits that ween't allowed to go to the smaller ESA show and the LA convention centre can probably fit them in now that the ESA isn't taking up space for that week...
Re: ESA's Gallagher Gets Vote of Confidence from Microsoft's
An interesting thought, but it doesn't explain the other companies that are jumping ship.
I can't help noticing that Mircosoft etc are far more 'corporate' in nature than most software houses, since their interests cover a far broader spectrum. I find myself wondering what their policies are regarding Net Netrality, copyright law etc. I suspect Microsoft's view of the ESA current policies may be considerably higher than those of smaller, less corporate ones.