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Video games need a top 10 list. Movies have them, music has them, but the video game industry still hasn’t found a solid way to track the country’s most popular video games, according to Michael Gallagher, president of the Entertainment Software Association.
It dawned on me recently, in fact when my 8-year-old bought an iPod Touch, that it would be nice if the games in the App Store were rated.
We warned you, Canada. The ESA dropped us a line today to inform us that our neighbours to the north have officially made the U.S. Priority Watch List for failing to protect intellectual property.
Entertainment Software Association president Michael Gallagher has issued a plea to the Texas state government to strengthen tax incentives for software companies residing in the Lone Star state.
ESA top dawg Michael Gallagher took home more than $800,000 in cash and prizes in his first year on the job, GamePolitics reports.
Well, that National Post thing went out the door a little early, so in return I give you a look at another story dated (echo chamber) FROM THE FUTURE … In tomorrow’s Austin American-Statesman is, or will be, a story by their gaming writer, Lilly Rockwell. She talked to Michael Gallagher, described as “one of the game industry’s top lobbyists” but not the president of the Entertainment Software Association. Curious. Anyhow, we’re familiar with the fact Texas is courting developers with incentives, and Gov. Rick Perry’s appearance at E3 says as much. But tucked in the story is this little nugget:
Technology columnist Mike Musgrove got Entertainment Software Association CEO Michael Gallagher on the horn (we got him first!) to talk about, what else, ESA’s membership losses. Everyone here should be familiar with the story and the pressures that realigning E3 have brought to bear on membership dues, believed to be the motivation for so many big name publishers flying the coop. ESA refers us to the companies to get the reasons for leaving, and so far none have, really.
Over the past month the Entertainment Software Association has lost a number of high profile members, acknowledged that they spent more than $US 5 million to move E3 to Santa Monica for a year and taken heat for the role, or some say lack-thereof, that CEO Michael Gallagher has played in the industry since his appointment.
Earlier this week we had a chance to ask a number of pointed questions of Gallagher about some of the news that has recently rocked the association that he runs.
In this exclusive first in-depth interview with Gallagher about the perceptions and problems plaguing the ESA, he reveals that the annual E3 tradeshow made up about 85 percent of the association’s operating funds and that the membership dues increases sparked by the show’s downsizing were in some cases “substantial”. He also offers his thoughts on why companies like Activision, Vivendi, LucasArts and id have left the fold of the association and why the ESA, despite the recent troubles, is still an important and viable part of the industry.
