ESA said it and members unaware of a meeting with Trump administration, White House says “invites going out” soon

No, the invitations weren’t lost in the mail. They just hadn’t been sent out yet.

The Entertainment Software Association (ESA), nor its members, have been contacted by the Trump administration to discuss violence in video games.  This may change in the coming days, though.

Last night, a statement provided to Glixel by an ESA spokesperson following a comment made by White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee-Sanders said representative body had yet to be contacted by the White House.

Sanders said during a press briefing yesterday Trump would be meeting with representatives of the game industry next week to discuss school safety and gun violence “to see what they can do on that front.”

The ESA represents over 30 different companies which include: Activision Blizzard, Bandai Namco, Bethesda, Capcom, Deep Silver, Electronic Arts, Epic Games, Konami, Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony, Square Enix, Take-Two, Ubisoft, and Warner Bros.

As of yesterday evening, none of the game companies contacted by either Glixel or NBC had knowledge of such as meeting.

However, this morning the White House said it had yet to invite game industry members to a meeting. It would, however,  send out invitations next week.

UPDATE: WH official tells me invites to video game companies will be going out in the coming days.
So, to be clear:
-WH announces a mtg w video game execs next week
-Video game execs say it’s the first they’re hearing of it
-Now, WH says it’s sending out invites https://t.co/yXyuWyJ22J

— Peter Alexander (@PeterAlexander) March 2, 2018

Last week, President Trump made a comment insinuating violent video games could play in school shootings.

The statement from the ESA to Glixel decried video games being blamed for acts of violence such as the mass school shootings in Parkland, Florida or Sandy Hook.

“The same video games played in the US are played worldwide; however, the level of gun violence is exponentially higher in the US than in other countries,” the spokesperson told Glixel. “Numerous authorities have examined the scientific record and found there is no link between media content and real-life violence.”

This week, the ESA also announced it along with “36 internationally renowned and respected mental health experts,” would be opposing the World Health Organization’s (WHO) plan to create a new “gaming disorder classification.”

The ESA said it would publish the opposition in the Journal of Behavioral Addictions with an experts’ journal paper featuring studies and commentary from the aforementioned mental health experts.

The paper also cites leading social scientists and academics from research centers and universities around the world.

 

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