The ESA (Entertainment Software Association) have increased their membership dues 1700 percent, according to the company’s latest tax returns.   
      
It seems the source of this spike in membership fees is due to the downsizing of the E3 expo in 2007 and 2008. According to GameSpot, the company pulled in $18.46 million from E3 in revenues from E3 in 2006. In 2007, that amount had fallen to $3.49 million. Attendance dropped from around 60,000 to some 5000 after the event was closed to the public.

In order to compensate for that dramatic loss in revenue, the ESA increased its membership dues. Total revenues from its fees rose from $4.47 to $17.41 from April 2006 to March 2008.  Fees also rose for the ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board) by 48 percent, up to $5.18 million

This astronomical increase in fees may explain why several companies have left the ESA recently. Companies such as LucasArts and Activision, which have left the ESA, may not be able to justify such steep fees without the added benefit of a large E3. Midway is believed to have left the ESA as a way of cutting costs.

Several of these companies have hinted that the withdrawal from the ESA may only be temporary, presumably in the hope that the fees will be reduced once E3 returns to its former size. In an interview with Gamasutra, ESA’s Rich Taylor promised that this years event will “return to a bit of the buzz and excitement” of previous years.