ESA Fights Louisiana Video Game Law
The Entertainment Software Association has filed a lawsuit against the state of Louisiana after the governor signed a new bill that limits the sale of violent video games to minors.
The lawsuit, filed by the ESA and the Entertainment Merchants Association, seeks to overturn the bill that would fine retailers between $100 and $2,000 and/or up to a year prison sentence for selling, leasing or renting violent video games to children under 18. Restricted games would include M-rated (Mature) games for consumers 17 and older (for example, Take Two’s and Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto) and AO-rated (Adult Only) games for consumers 18 and older (think Vivendi Universal’s Leisure Suit Larry). The lawsuit was filed June 16 in Louisiana Federal District Court.
Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco signed the bill into law last week. It went into effect immediately.
The suit alleges that the state law violates the First Amendment and creates a “chilling effect” on video-game expression by creators, publishers, manufacturers and distributors. The new law poses “substantial burdens” on retailers who sell or rent video games preventing them from exercising their freedom of expression, according to the suit.
“This bill is an unnecessary effort,” said Doug Lowenstein, president of the ESA, the trade group that represents U.S. computer and video game publishers, said in a statement. “Both parents and [the] industry are working together to ensure that video games are purchased responsibly. Retailers already have increasingly effective carding programs in place to prevent the sale of Mature or Adult Only games to minors. Legislators know full well that this bill is destined to meet the same fate as other failed efforts to ban video game sales.”
The ESA and EMA, a non-profit trade association formed in April through the merger of the Video Software Dealers Association (VSDA) and the Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association, are seeking to overturn Blanco’s law and recoup lawyers’ fees.
EMA says the Louisiana bill, like others filed by seven states since 2000, usurps parental roles.
“People need to understand retailers have a policy not to sell or rent M-rated games to people under 17 without parental consent and not to sell or rent AO-rated games to those under 18,” said Sean Bersell, EMA spokesman, said. “Essentially, this is a parent’s job, not the government,” he added. “Politicians are jumping on this because they think it is good politics.”
A March study by the Federal Trade Commission found that the industry has made some progress in enforcing game ratings and video game sales. Retailers turned under-age children down who tried to buy M-rated video gamed 58%, the study says. That’s a 362% increase since the first FTC survey in 2000 when the agency found that only 16% of retails turned away underage consumers, Bersell said.
“Is there room for improvement? Absolutely,” Bersell added. Parents need to take a more active role in regulating the games their children play, he said. In addition, parents should better understand the Entertainment Software Rating Board’s rating system and limit the amount of time kids play video games.
The lawsuit is the eighth the ESA and the (VSDA) have filed against states which passed similar bills. Over the last five years, six courts nationwide have struck down similar laws, the ESA said. Lawsuits filed by the ESA and EMA are currently pending in Illinois, California and Minnesota.
In the case against California, the ESA and EMA are taking issue with that state’s law to fine minors $25 if they are caught buying violent video games. “Most people kind of scratch their heads and go, ‘huh?'” Bersell said of the California bill. Previous laws passed in municipalities, including St. Louis and Indianapolis, as well as the states of Washington, Illinois and Michigan, were found unconstitutional.
The ESA and EMA soon plan to file a lawsuit against the state of Oklahoma, in which Gov. Brad Henry signed a video game bill into law on June 9. That bill would prohibit retailers from selling violent video games to people under 18. As part of the bill, which goes into effect Nov. 1, merchants would be required to check ID similar to purchases for alcohol and tobacco.
