ECA's Hal Halpin Expects ESA to Lose More Members in 2009

ECA's Hal Halpin Expects ESA to Lose More Members in 2009

December 30, 2008

In a recent feature, Crispy Gamer named its Top 21 News Stories of 2008. Coming in at #16 was the  series of member defections which plagued game publishers' trade group the ESA.

Hal Halpin, president of the Entertainment Consumers Association, commented:

I’m not sure that there’s a lot more I can add to what has already been said about the defecting companies or their impact on the [ESA] apart from that I do believe it will continue. Things have fundamentally changed in the past few years and the recession’s impact on the industry is far from over…

 

That fact alone could drive one or two more publishers to leave, given the rising dues costs. Having a strong association representing the industry is important for us all, so I hope that things will change for them in ’09… perhaps with the newly restructured E3.

The ESA began 2008 with 28 member companies, but will end the year with just 21. Exiting were: Activision, Vivendi, LucasArts, id, Codemasters, Crave, and NCsoft.

FULL DISCLOSURE DEPT: The Entertainment Consumers Association is the parent company of GamePolitics.

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Re: ECA's Hal Halpin Expects ESA to Lose More Members in 2009

I can only hope more companies leave.  I still stand by the fact that the ESA shouldn't exist.  Publishers make too much money the way it is, and they already have their dirty fingers in everyone's pot.  Working with Pro-IP is only making it worse for consumers and developers.

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Re: ECA's Hal Halpin Expects ESA to Lose More Members in 2009

I really hope they don't just fail and leavea vacuum. It would be bad for the games industry to not have a central representative body.

I would like to see either a major overhaul of the ESA or a new organization rise up in its stead. I am sure that there are more level headed people out there that know how to do it better.

But yes, I do see more companies leaving the ESA. From what I hear, they are expensive to be a part of and they don't always leave you with that satisfying "got your moneys worth" feeling. Aside from fight legislation and running E3 into the ground, they really don't do a lot. There are a lot of industry and public perception betterment projects they could be doing but refuse or fail to do.

EDIT: Changed ECA to ESA. Had been doing ECA business today and had that on my mind and running through my fingers.

E. Zachary Knight
Oklahoma City Chapter of the ECA
MySpace Page: http://www.myspace.com/okceca
Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1325674091

Re: ECA's Hal Halpin Expects ESA to Lose More Members in 2009

I do hope you meant ESA...

Re: ECA's Hal Halpin Expects ESA to Lose More Members in 2009

Wow, can't believe I did that. I will fix.

E. Zachary Knight
Oklahoma City Chapter of the ECA
MySpace Page: http://www.myspace.com/okceca
Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1325674091

Re: ECA's Hal Halpin Expects ESA to Lose More Members in 2009

Who doesn't see this happening?  With the amount of other industry heads dropping out, it'll be a miracle to see ESA around by July

Re: ECA's Hal Halpin Expects ESA to Lose More Members in 2009

I hope it dies a painful death and a customer oriented organization takes its place if there has to be a "central representative organization". However on principle I detest special interest lobbying.

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Re: ECA's Hal Halpin Expects ESA to Lose More Members in 2009

Major game companies should represent themselves. A unified front by large corporations results in monopolization and rate hikes sucha s the 59.99 / 69.99 price per console game next to the same game on PC for 49.99.

 

Smaller game companies I don't mind. But companies like the ESA result in securom being commonplace and modchipping becoming a federal crime that pirates aren't afraid to do.

Re: ECA's Hal Halpin Expects ESA to Lose More Members in ...

GamePolitics ShoutBox

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ZippyDSMlee: replaced :P
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beemoh: @Zip: ...and you'd have to spend all that time re-downloading that porn?
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ZippyDSMlee: ggrrrrr......vista lost one of my hard drives and I had a heart attack thinking I lost 1TB of data....
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:58am
JDKJ: Which could be explained by both (a) and (b).
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:56am
Austin_Lewis: JDKJ: You forgot C) the fact that, for some reason, every time he did something that would suggest he shouldn't be in the military, let alone an officer, higher ups ignored it or let it slide.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:51am
JDKJ: Part of the problem is, I believe, that (a) the Army had a lot of time and money already invested in him and which they were unwilling to simply write-off and (b) an increasing need for the type of skills and services he provided.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:48am
JDKJ: And that even if he was begging not to get cut loose, he was apparently a real good candidate for being cut loose, anyway.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:11am
JDKJ: @chada: And while Kennedy once noted that there's usually more than enough blame for everyone to get a slice, the possibility that the Army was unwilling to cut loose someone who was asking to get cut loose could be a factor.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:07am
ZippyDSMlee: *noms on his feet*..nomnomnomnom*droooll* ...wuuutttttt uuu looking at?
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:05am
JDKJ: I'm no psychologist, but I'm told that crazy people have a tendency to do crazy things.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:03am
chadachada321: Whoops, was out of the convo for awhile. I do wonder what type of ammo he used etc, but the real issue is WHY he did it, not HOW
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:56am
JDKJ: But if it turns out that they actually did, they'll have Hell to pay.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:45am
JDKJ: And I'd tend to rule out the possibilty of FN Herstal supplying restricted ammunition to someone merely because they're ordering it from a military base.
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JDKJ: I know you don't leave your gated community and get around much in dark alleys, so you may be surprised to learn that there's this thing called "the black market" where, if you've got enough money, ain't too much of anything which can't be bought.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:36am
Austin_Lewis: Or, maybe he or someone else at the base ordered the SS190 from FN Herstal.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:32am
Austin_Lewis: the hands of private owners. They run about 300 dollars minimum for a box of 50, and boxes of AP 5.7 are extremely scarce, mainly residing in the hands of Class III stores or individuals who for one reason or another got a demo box of it.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:30am
Austin_Lewis: There are other firearms that fire the 5.7. However, I too would like to know where he got the ammo and what kind was used. Maybe Hasan, planning not to live through this, went out and bought one the boxes of SS190 that are floating around in
Posted 11/07/09 at 08:44am
JDKJ: And it isn't yet clear what type of ammunition Hasan used. It's strange that he purchased a gun but didn't purchase ammunition for it at the same place and time. Especially because the calibre required is peculiar to the actual gun.
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