Over the last few weeks big names have been pulling out of the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) including Vivendi, Activision, Lucasarts and now, id software. So what's going on over there?

 The ESA is not commenting on the recent loss of several big name members which could spell serious problems for the group.  They are the maintainers of the ESRB which, while not a fantastic system, is an important informational tool for gamers, parent and children. It seems that the problems are mounting within the group.

First they changed E3 to make it less gamer oriented and more game developer oriented. This resulted in several companies pulling their places or simply not showing up. The general consensus is that they dropped the ball on this and have turned the event into an industry joke. It's a shame since it used to be one of the most popular trade shows in the world for games and was the main meet-and-greet for gamers and businesses alike. Several businesses claimed the stands were becoming far too pricey and it was too informal to hold proper business meetings.

 Get a grip people, you make video games and while it's big business it is founded on having fun. Obviously Lucasarts and the soon-to-merge Activision and Vivendi were not in that minority of stale-minded developers. 

 The ESA then, after changing E3 and having it fail, raised their membership rates. Some say this was in response to all the cash they lost on the doinked E3, others believe it may be rising costs and salaries in the group. No matter the cause many are dissatisfied with the group's performance it seems. 

 Sure there are still major players in the industry involved with the group including the Big 3 as well as THQ, Ubisoft, WB and Sega but for how long? Think about how a stampede begins? One giant starts stumbling about pushing other giants and soon they're all running in the same direction?

No one but the ESA knows exactly what is going on and they are not so inclined to tell anyone about it. So everything is purely speculation at this point. Perhaps it's displeasure with the managing of the group, the rising cost of membership or general disagreement with the ESRB system on the whole. All we can do is keep an eye on things and see where they go. I for one would herald some changes to the ESRB to make it closer to PEGI which is used in the EU and seems like a more democratic way to rate games. 

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