Tag Archives: Mike Gallagher

According to the ESA’s Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry 2009 report, 68 per cent of American households play videogames.

In addition, the study reveals that 42 percent of said houses have a game console whilst the average age of game players is 35 years old. The study also showed that 43 percent of online game players are female.

ESA president Mike Gallagher: “This is the new golden age of entertainment software. Our products are now being enjoyed by over two-thirds of Americans.

“More and more Americans across all demographics are now embracing the interactive entertainment experience that computer and videogames provide.”

Thanks, Edge.

ESA boss Mike Gallagher has told GameDaily that 2009′s E3 won’t see a return to the grandiose shows of yesterday. Remember? The events that didn’t work for anyone involved?

“Last year we made some improvements based upon the input we received, but this show is not a return to the old E3,” he said.

“It is definitely much more reflective of the energy, excitement and creativity of our industry, but I wouldn’t say it’s our first ‘big E3′ or a return to the old one.

This year’s E3 is “the right show,” apparently.

“It’s a show based upon what the industry needs to project as an image of the excitement we have in the pipeline for the rest of the year. It’s the right show; it’s not a particular reference to any prior year,” Gallagher added.

Fingers crossed, eh? E3 kicks off with the Microsoft press conference on June 1. Thanks, Joystiq.

Texas Governor Rick Perry has signed into law House Bill 873 which increases the amount of state grants available to video game firms and other media production companies in the Lonestar State.

The press release mainly focuses on what this means to the movie industry, but it applies to all forms of media created by companies that take up shop in the state.

“The passage of House Bill 873 is an important step in helping Texas regain its footing in the moving image business,” Gov. Perry said. “With this legislation, we are strengthening our state’s investment in a vital industry that not only shows off our state to the rest of the world, but also draws investment and creates jobs for Texans.”

ESA’s Mike Gallagher, who lobbied for the bill’s support back in March, seemed very pleased with the governor’s decision.

“I commend Governor Rick Perry and the Texas state legislature for recognizing the contributions that the video game industry already has made in the state, and for acting quickly and decisively to ensure that the industry has the opportunity to reach its full potential,” he said.

“Today, Texas showed its strong willingness to stay competitive with other states that are seeking to attract video game developers and publishers.”

Whole thing through the break.

Thanks, GamePolitics.

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According to ESA IRS records, CEO Mike Gallagher was paid $789,929 for the 12 months ending March 31, 2008, GamePolitics reports.

By way of comparison, Gallagher’s predecessor, Doug Lowenstein, earned $744,344 for the prior year, plus a benefits package valued at $96,616.

We got Mike on the phone about this, but he couldn’t hear us over the sound of his private helicopter winding up. Maybe next time.

In this interview with Joystiq, ESA president and CEO Mike Gallagher said not to expect any forthcoming announcement that E3 (announced yesterday) will be open to the public next year.

From the interview:

Is it out of the realm of possibility that we’ll still see public dates announced later?

MG: I wouldn’t expect that.

That kind of closes that door, we reckon. However, further down, Gallagher doesn’t rule out the return of booth babes, but stresses there will be “standards”.

Full thing through the link.

Jail, eh? It’s great, says ESA. Kevin Fuchs of West Amherst, NY, and Kifah Maswadi of Oakland, FL, were sentenced to eight and 15 months in prison respectively this summer, and the ESA has welcomed the move in a press release today.

Fuchs will follow that up with eight months of house arrest and another 16 months of court supervised release. Maswadi also received three years of court supervision, 50 hours of community service, and an order to pay $415,900 in restitution.

“These decisions illustrate, once again, that game piracy will not be tolerated and the extent at which these criminals will be prosecuted. The ESA and its members will continue to support law enforcement’s efforts to protect the intellectual property of our industry,” said Michael Gallagher, CEO of the ESA.

We love jail. Best thing ever. Thanks, Shacknews.

ESA boss Mike Gallagher said that “now is the time” for the games industry in his E3 keynote yesterday.

“When we look back, we’ll see now is the time that our industry became an accepted part of our cultural landscape,” he said.

“In my predecessor’s time, we were fighting government officials, not working with them,” he added, noting Texas Governor Rick Perry’s earlier address, a speech attended by less than 30 people.

More on Joystiq.

According to MCV, ESA’s announced the full list of E3 exhibitors this year. It looks a bit… sparse.

A – M

1UP Network; Akella; Atari Inc.; Bethesda Softworks; Capcom USA Inc.; Crave Entertainment; Codemasters; D3Publisher of America; Deep Silver; Disney Interactive Studios, Inc.; Electronic Arts; Eidos Interactive; Fox Interactive Media; Indie Games; Jagex, Ltd.; Konami Digital Entertainment America; LucasArts; Majesco Entertainment Company; Microsoft Corporation; Midway Games, Inc.; MTV Games;

N – Z

Namco Bandai Games America, Inc.; Natsume, Inc.; Nintendo of America Inc.; Novint Technologies, Inc.; Nyko Technologies; Rebellion; SEGA of America, Inc.; Serious Games Initiative; Sony Computer Entertainment America, Inc.; Sony Online Entertainment Inc.; Southpeak Interactive; Square Enix USA; Take-Two Interactive; Tecmo; THQ Inc.; Toshiba America Information Systems; Ubisoft Entertainment Inc.; Valve Software; and, Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment Inc.

“Clearly companies and attendees value what the E3 Summit offers that nobody else can—a professional and efficient experience conducive to getting the business of the video game industry done,“ said ESA boss Michael Gallagher.

“This continued support validates the Summit and is a testament to both the high level of interest and the important role it plays in our industry.”

E3 takes place at the LA Convention Center from July 15-17 this year.

We thought we’d leave this last night as some of the details involved seemed less than solid.

The confusion focused mainly on a Kotaku story that claimed six publishers were to quit E3. The story’s been edited since publication – as you can see from the original URL – with the headline now reading “Five Publishers Drop Out of E3 This Year, Some Blame ESA President”.

The six publishers in question were Activision and Vivendi (both confirmed as quitting both the show and ESA), Codemasters, Foundation 9, NCsoft and id Software. After Kotaku published the story, ESA contacted the site to say Codemasters would be attending the show, and a note was added at the bottom of the original piece.

The story took another hit when id PR contacted Gamespot to say that it too would be attending E3, but then later contacted the site to retract its statement and promise a further update. As you can see, the Gamespot piece carries three updates at the bottom. The Kotaku story still claims id won’t be there.

The other aspect to Kotaku’s story centred on Mike Gallagher’s ESA leadership, but we wouldn’t go near it with a bargepole, frankly.

Foundation 9 and NCsoft have now both issued statements to Gamespot confirming they won’t be attending this year’s show.

An NCsoft spokesperson said, “The timing wasn’t right for our products, so it really doesn’t make sense for us to go.”

The Foundation 9 comment said, “”Our decision not to exhibit at E3 this year, was in no way in response to Activision’s decision.

“We came to the decision on our own at the end of 2007. Some of our business development folks may actually go to the show as attendees, we’re just not investing in the exhibit space. In addition, we just want to be clear that we have nothing against the show or the ESA in any way; exhibiting at E3 is just not something that fits with our marketing strategy this year.”

The firm make a similar confirmation of non-attendance to Joystiq.

In summary: Activision, Vivendi, NCsoft and Foundation 9 definitely aren’t going to be at E3 this year. Codemasters is going. Atlus isn’t. Not sure what’s happening with id.

There’s a list of companies listed on the official site so far – which at the moment is password-protected – here.