After a little back and forth, it appears that things are all set for the meeting between Trump and video game industry leaders to take place. At today’s press briefing, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed that the meeting between the two parties will take place this Thursday, March 8th.
In a separate statement, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), which has many of the top software publishers as their members, confirmed that it would be participating in the meeting.
Here’s ESA’s full statement:
Video games are enjoyed around the world and numerous authorities and reputable scientific studies have found no connection between games and real-life violence. Like all Americans, we are deeply concerned about the level of gun violence in the United States. Video games are plainly not the issue: entertainment is distributed and consumed globally, but the US has an exponentially higher level of gun violence than any other nation. The upcoming meeting at the White House, which ESA will attend, will provide the opportunity to have a fact-based conversation about video game ratings, our industry’s commitment to parents, and the tools we provide to make informed entertainment choices.
In its statement, ESA again points to the fact that while there are many video games distributed worldwide, there is no other nation that has a fraction of the gun violence that is found in the United States. ESA does have a point because there are also many studies showing no link between violent video games and real-life violent behavior.
