An industry outsider takes helm at ESA

Kristin Kalning Games editor • E-mail

Mike Gallagher takes the helm of the Entertainment Software Association — the trade group that represents video games — at a time of rapid growth and unprecedented prosperity in the industry. But Gallagher had virtually no name recognition inside the industry. He’s a former assistant secretary of commerce in the Bush administration – an attorney who’s worked in telecommunications, both in the private and public sector.

Gallagher’s ascension to head the organization coincides with the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), which kicks off today in Santa Monica. In our Q&A with the new president, Gallagher talked about the show’s new format, replacing ESA founder and president Doug Lowenstein, and how he plans to respond to those who seek to link video games with offscreen violence.

You’ve been in the public sector for the much of your career, mostly as an advisor in telecommunications policy. How has that prepared you to the head of the trade group representing the video game industry?

Between my leadership in public policy and my experience in converging technology and building successful policy in converging technology environments — those two factors put me in a good spot to succeed at the ESA.

I’ve had great success building and leading teams where you convince policymakers about the value of what an industry brings, and help steer policy. ... My entire policy career has been focused on convergence. In going back to 12 years when you look at the Telecom Act [of 1996] when convergence wasn’t very well-defined — today we’re living it. The video game industry is on the cutting edge of convergence in the home. When you take gaming and you combine its artistry and its story-telling capability and its technology and its content with the communications platforms that are out there and becoming very robust…that’s a very exciting marketplace.

Why video games in particular? There are plenty of other industries that are experiencing this same convergence.

Personally, it’s because I play the games. I’m an enthusiast of this industry, not only on the policy side but on using the products. I have a passion for what these companies do.

The reason I came to the video game industry is because of opportunity. This industry is poised for very significant financial growth, very significant customer growth, and very significant technological growth. You look at the Wii, “Dance Dance Revolution,” Guitar Hero…we’re beginning to see as a new interface between the video game players and the device. Plus you’ve got Wi-Fi technologies, broadband technologies, high-definition and surround-sound…all of these elements are going to redefine entertainment for a significant portion of our country. An opportunity to be a part of that, and a leading part of that, was just too good to pass up.

The video game industry is really exploding. What do you think about the growth we’re experiencing and what we can expect in the next couple of years?

The growth of this market place should be determined by the genius of the products created by ESA’s member companies, and by the size of the marketplace around the world. Are we making great stuff that people want to play? And if the answer is yes, the growth will take care of itself, so long as the markets are open to protect and allow the growth of our product.

I think the domestic market has a tremendous amount of headroom. It’s the number one video game marketplace in the world and it’s going to stay that way for a long time.

I’d like to get back to policy. You were a part of the Bush administration, which has a strong hands-off policy in terms of government regulation on business. Do you think the video game industry has enough regulation?

In my view, the industry would be well-served with less regulation than it has now, but it has to make that compelling case to policy-makers to reach that goal. The unfortunate instances where we have the states going after the industry based on content — that energy is focused in a very destructive way for taxpayers because it’s unconstitutional.

Those energies would be better focused on working with the industry to help promote the ESRB, the most successful media ratings board as determined by the FTC. [I think] the government [should] ideally adopt policies that enhance the growth of the industry and brighten the prospects and the prosperity it can bring to the communities where it operates.

We also need to make sure that the government respects, values and enforces the investment that is made in developing these games.

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