Five Publishers Drop Out of E3 This Year, Some Blame ESA President

By: Brian Crecente and Leigh Alexander

Rumored developer displeasure with Entertainment Software Association president Mike Gallagher may be partially to blame for nearly half a dozen member publishers dropping out of this year's E3 conference, Kotaku has learned.

This morning we broke the news that not only are Vivendi and Activision not attending this year's E3 they've both decided to drop out of the association all together. We've since learned that NCSoft, Her Interactive and id Software have all decided not to attend this year's show, though they are all remaining members of the association.

Only NCSoft had returned calls about the decision as of press time, saying that their decision to not attend E3 this year, the first time they won't in the company's history, was due to the development cycle of their games and in no way reflects on the ESA or it's leadership.

But several industry sources who wish to remain anonymous say Gallagher is in part to blame for issues surrounding this year's E3.

Activision and Vivendi Break From ESA

Yesterday word broke that Activision was one of what might be several companies not attending this year's E3 Media and Business Summit. Today I've heard that neither Activision nor Vivendi will be attending the annual conference and are in fact no longer members of the association.

We have contacted the ESA, Activison and Vivendi for comment and will update the second we hear back.

In 2006 the association announced they would be reworking the annual E3 conference after publishers complained about the expense and focus of the event. Last year it was reworked and made smaller, cutting down on the number of press and publishers allowed to attend and held in Santa Monica rather than Los Angeles. This year the event is moving back to the LA convention center but keeping the smaller, more intimate format.

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Game Developers Rolling in the Lucre

The U.S. computer and video game industry's annual growth rate from 2003 to 2006 outpaced the US. economy's growth by 13 percent, according to a new study released today by the Entertainment Software Association.

The industry as a whole employees more than 24,000 people with an average salary of $92,300 in 2006, according to the Video Games in the 21st Century: Economic Contributions of the U.S. Entertainment Software Industry study.

"Computer and video game companies play an ever increasing role in our nation's growing economy," said Michael Gallagher, CEO of the ESA, which represents U.S. computer and video game publishers. "These companies and their colleagues across the nation are making entertainment software one of the fastest growing industries in the United States."

The report goes on to list a potpourri of interesting factoids:
The computer and video game industry's value added to U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2006 was $3.8 billion.
In 2003-04 and 2005-06, the industry's contribution to real growth exceeded its share of GDP by more than four to one.
The entertainment software industry directly and indirectly employs more than 80,000 people in 31 states; and, U.S. industry employees received total compensation of $2.2 billion.

Wait, the average salary is $92,000? Full release after the jump.

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