ESA Head Resigns

Doug Lowenstein resigns as head of the ESA

Feb 10, 2007 Robert Janelle

Doug Lowenstein, head of the main video game lobby group since 1994, has resigned.

Doug Lowenstein, known as the defender of the game industry, has resigned as head of the Entertainment Software Association, the North American game lobby group.

Lowenstein has headed the organization since its inception in 1994 as the Interactive Digital Software Association, formed to fight software piracy.

However, as the heat got turned up on violent video games, Lowenstein became a crusader fighting anti-violent video game legislation across the United States.

Rather than legislation, he advocated parental involvement and supported the Entertainment Software Rating Board's rating system.

Despite his advocacy of the video game industry, though, he was also quick to criticize it.

When the hidden sex scene was found in Grand Theft Auto San Andreas (known as the Hot Coffee mod) in 2005, he told a conference of game industry public relations people that, "we have met the enemy and it is us."

So what's next for the video game industry's best-known defender? He will be heading the Private Equity Council, a Washington D.C. based lobby group made up of 11 private equity firms.

As for his replacement and the future of the ESA, no details are available yet.

The copyright of the article ESA Head Resigns in Video & Online Games is owned by Robert Janelle. Permission to republish ESA Head Resigns in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.