The Associated Press reports that the US-based Entertainment Software Association (ESA) paid the Smith-Free Group $100,000 (£49,700) to lobby the federal government on behalf of the video games industry.
This figure crops up on a recent disclosure form - pictured right - and compares to $60,000 spent in 2005, and $100,000 that went from ESA members such as Microsoft, Sony, Activision and Square (a full list can be found here) in 2006.
AP reports that "The firm lobbied on education and outreach efforts dealing with parental controls and rating systems for video games, according to form posted online Aug. 13 by the Senate's public records office."
Now, there is nothing wrong in this except maybe the paltry sum that the ESA is spending in order to educate the law makers as to exactly what playing video games is all about. Let's compare it, for example, to the sum paid by an association called 'Gun Owners of America' for the first part of 2007. This was $571,355 (£285,000) - more than five times the ESA's outlay. The Gun Owners of America's activities included such gems as, "a bill to repeal the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990" but also "a bill to require criminal background checks on all firearms occuring at gun shows".
Kind of puts the video game industry into perspective really.
And remember, kids, you can have fun finding out who is paying the US government for what by using this handy tool right here!
This figure crops up on a recent disclosure form - pictured right - and compares to $60,000 spent in 2005, and $100,000 that went from ESA members such as Microsoft, Sony, Activision and Square (a full list can be found here) in 2006.
AP reports that "The firm lobbied on education and outreach efforts dealing with parental controls and rating systems for video games, according to form posted online Aug. 13 by the Senate's public records office."
Now, there is nothing wrong in this except maybe the paltry sum that the ESA is spending in order to educate the law makers as to exactly what playing video games is all about. Let's compare it, for example, to the sum paid by an association called 'Gun Owners of America' for the first part of 2007. This was $571,355 (£285,000) - more than five times the ESA's outlay. The Gun Owners of America's activities included such gems as, "a bill to repeal the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990" but also "a bill to require criminal background checks on all firearms occuring at gun shows".
Kind of puts the video game industry into perspective really.
And remember, kids, you can have fun finding out who is paying the US government for what by using this handy tool right here!
Companies:
ESRB
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