SOPA Developments

This past week has seen a lot of pressure mounting against a piece of US domestic legislation the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). Game publishers this week are increasingly being asked to clarify their position on SOPA, while US politicians state that opposing this bill doesn’t matter and it will go through as is.

The game developer Capcom released the following statement this past week on SOPA:

"Guys, a few points:

1. We are members of the ESA (along side pretty much every other major publisher in our industry).

2. We've only ever stated that the ESA represents us in legislative matters (again, like every other publisher). We have not stated any stance on our support (or not) for SOPA. Inferring more than that is bad journalism (which seems to be rampant based upon the rereporting of a six word response to inquiry).

3. Months ago I've commented that streaming folks/video uploading have absolutely nothing to worry about. We've always been very accommodating to our supporters (and as this thread would demonstrate, even our detractors) and I don't ever see that changing.

The ESA is working with representatives to improve solutions to what is a real problem..."

Several things about this statement.  First, blaming Capcom’s lack of communication on bad journalism, is quite simply bad communications.  Second, simply stating that “trust us” we will not take action on folks uploading content to social media, even though we have the power to do so, just doesn’t cut it.  For the gaming industry, think of it this way;  publishers are so intertwined with independent reviews and social media,  if a bad review were to spread across the social media world, it can make or break a product/service.  You can quite clearly see the reasoning behind such a move to try and control this content. 

It doesn’t have to be in video form, it can be written.  The strong potential is there in SOPA that if you write a bad review on a game, and the game publisher takes wind of it, it can be taken down and your site blocked.  This is why SOPA needs to be further defined if not scrapped.  The last time Americans “trusted” the Copyright Lobby it lead to massive lawsuits against its citizens.  The last time the international community “trusted” US domestic law, resulted in the 2008 market free fall.  Trust needs to be earned, and approving SOPA will further undermine that trust which has already been severely eroded.

There has been growing domestic and international condemnation of both of these pieces of legislation with a strong showing of opposition from both tech and consumer communities. These voices of dissent can only get louder, and the consequences only more dire for companies that support this legislation or remain with no stance.  The same influence that game developers are benefiting from through socialecomoics, is the exact same influence that has turned against SOPA.  Members of the Entertainment Software Association might want to remember that.