ESA wins lawsuit, former barbarian continues the fight

The Entertainment Software Association has won a lawsuit against the state of Califronia’s Videogame Legislation and now seeks reimbursement for attorney fees and other expenses incurred during the court battle.

ESA filed a motion asking for $324,840 that would bring the organizations recouped fees and expenses close to $1.9 million. ESA’s President, Michael D. Gallagher, said the court battle could have been avoided if California state government considered ESA’s suggestion to work with policyholders on meeting the needs of concerned parents and raising awareness about videogame ratings as well as educate the public on parental controls that are available on all new game consoles.

“California citizens should be outraged at their elected leaders. Hard-earned tax dollars were spent on defending this law that California’s state leaders knew was unconstitutional. Before Senator Leland Yee [the bill’s sponsor] proposed this bill, federal and district courts across the country ruled that the path California was taking would run afoul of the First Amendment,” Gallagher said. “From early on, the industry warned Governor Schwarzenegger and Senator Yee that this bill was unconstitutional and would be thrown out by the courts and that California taxpayers would pay the cost.”

In a message to Gamasutra, Adam Keigwin from the office of Senator Leland Yee specifically challenged the ESA’s claims that the group ‘repeatedly offered to work together with state policymakers’ and said the offer was a lie.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, a former actor who had made millions starting in the 1980s and 1990s most violent films that ranged from gunning down aliens in Total Recall to slaughtering millions of warriors and raping a slave woman in Conan the Barbarian, is gainst children purchasing violent videogames. Schwarzenegger made the following statement to Reuters News Service on September 5, 2007:

“We have a responsibility to our kids and our communities to protect against the effects of games that depict ultra-violent actions. Many studies show the link between playing ultra-violent video games and violent behavior,” Schwarzenegger said. “We protect our children from buying inappropriate movies and ought to be able to protect them from buying inappropriate video games as well.”

Schwarzenegger himself has starred in several games, including Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.

“We lead in providing caregivers the most comprehensive and effective information and tools to control the content used by their children. And, we invite California legislators, community leaders, family advocates and the Governor to work with us — as policymakers in Utah, Oklahoma, and Rhode Island already do — in raising awareness and usage of the resources provided,” Gallagher said.

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