Tag: Entertainment Software Association

Mike Gallagher resigned his job as CEO of the Entertainment Software Association today, after 11 years running the video game industry’s lobbying group in the U.S. Gallagher didn’t say what he would do next, but we heard that he is considering a run at a political campaign in his home state of Washington. Dan Hewitt, a spokesman for the ESA, declined to comment on Gallagher’s plans or why he left. “I think is longest-lasting legacy is the Supreme Court decision protecting video games under the First Amendment,” said Mike Fischer, a former ESA board member and an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California’s game division. Gallagher also arranged a meeting with President Donald Trump after yet another shooting. Those discussions helped hold off renewed government attempts at censoring games. During the Trump meeting, the president reportedly turned to Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida) and said, “We got a problem, Marco, and it’s not with these guys.” Gallagher also got credit for bringing the Electronic Entertainment Expo back from the dead. At his first E3, the show had been gutted and was reduced to a few thousand press. It was rebuilt to include fans and now draws about 65,000 people to Los Angeles every June. “I agree that the Supreme Court effort was a huge one, but he also negotiated some very complex times for the organization [bringing E3 back from the dead] and for the industry [being blamed for school shootings by the NRA while we were meeting with Biden],” said Mike Capps, a former president of Epic Games. While the ESA and the IGDA found common ground on many issues facing the industry, and both shared the high-level goal of a successful, thriving game industry, we also had divergent missions and audiences and as such we didn’t always agree on various positions.” She added, “That being said, there’s no question to me that Mike’s greatest achievement while running the ESA was securing the 2011 Supreme Court decision that ruled in favor of games as protected free speech under the U.S. Constitution.