Ever since Activision announced that they would be leaving the ESA, we’ve all been speculating as to the cause. Some believed it was due to a tiff with management, while others claimed it was because the cost of doing business with the ESA was simply too high. Well, it turns out everyone was wrong, and the main reason for Activision setting out on their own was because they simply don’t believe they need the ESA’s services any longer.

Says Bobby Kotick, "We have our own issues that are not the industry’s issues... Our challenges are sufficiently different from other publishers’ issues that we need our own point person."

What that all basically means is that rather than be lumped in with all other game publishers when it comes to lobbying, Activision will be hiring their own government relations team to handle the delicate task of buttering up politicians. Anyone interested in the job should have a significant history of both back-slapping and arm-twisting, as well as the ability to drink lots of alcohol and listen to a very self-important person go on and on about why he or she is right about everything and that nobody else "gets it."

I’m curious what sort of "sufficiently different" issues Activision faces when compared to other big publishers like EA or Ubisoft. It seems like their problems would be shared by virtually every other publisher in the industry, large or small, and their splintering off just hurts the united front that gaming needs when it comes to matters of dealing with government officials who want something to blame crime on apart from personal responsibility and poor upbringing. But then again, maybe Congress is considering imposing a special tax on dark elves and dancing dwarves, in which case Activision should totally handle this one.

Variety, Via Kotaku