After denying previous contact with the White House, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) announced they will be having a sit down with President Donald Trump this Thursday. The ESA is best-known for their rating system adorned on video game covers, the ESRB. Their goal is to help regulate what content is suitable for gamers; particularly young gamers. The company stated the upcoming meeting will be an "opportunity to have a fact-based conversation about video game ratings, our industry’s commitment to parents, and the tools we provide to make informed entertainment choices."
White House spokeswoman, Sarah Huckabee Sanders stated this meeting will revolve around gun violence and school shootings; a highly-contested topic surrounding video games. This appears to be Trump's response to the recent school shootings. He went on the record to say, "I'm hearing more and more people say the level of violence on video games is really shaping young people's thoughts."
The ESA holds their stance, claiming there is no evidence pointing to a relationship between video game consumption and violence. "Video games are enjoyed around the world and numerous authorities and reputable scientific studies have found no connection between games and real-life violence." They continued to point out "Video games are plainly not the issue: entertainment is distributed and consumed globally, but the US has an exponentially higher level of gun violence than any other nation." We will have to wait and see if the video game council can convince Trump otherwise.
[via Rolling Stone]