NC Interactive leaves the ESA
by William Dobson 
Dec 8th 2008 at 5:00PM
Filed under: Economy, MMO industry, News items
It looks like the Entertainment Software Association has struck another company from their membership page. GamePolitics has confirmed with ESA Senior VP Rich Taylor that NCsoft's US division, NC Interactive, has joined a list of 6 other companies that parted ways with the ESA in 2008:We can confirm that NCsoft decided not to renew its ESA membership. We respect their decision and remain committed to serving the public affairs needs of the computer and video game industry.
NC Interactive's departure will mean that they don't have to fork up any more hefty membership fees, which GamePolitics initially saw as the most likely reason behind the split -- they mention that the company also shied away from an appearance at this year's E3. In a follow-up, NC insists that their financial situation has nothing to do with their decision to leave the organization.
Although some big names like Activision, Vivendi and LucasArts are among the companies that left the ESA in 2008, they still have most of the industry's important players, such as Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, and EA. Now, if 2009 goes anything like this year, then we might start to have doubts about the ESA's future -- but there's something to be said for the current financial climate, and their situation might improve a little further down the track.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
InfamousBrad said on 7:02PM 12-08-2008
More likely, a subscription-based MMO company has figured out that they don't benefit from, don't need, a lobbying organization that spends huge chunks of its time dealing with software piracy issues, and most of the rest on ratings issues that are unlikely to apply to any of NCsoft's Teen-rated MMOs. They just weren't getting anything useful for their money.
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Jack said on 2:01PM 12-09-2008
There is no software piracy in subscription-based MMO.
There where some p servers for WoW but they all suck so much that there is no reason not to pay for the game!
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