It’s been a rough year for the Entertainment Software Association. Four major video game publishers—Activision, Vivendi, LucasArts, and id, have already chosen not to renew their memberships with the group, and now another publisher is jumping on (or should I say off) the bandwagon. The latest to quit is Crave Entertainment, who you may know as the publishers of gems like World Championship Poker and Pinball Hall of Fame.



Okay, maybe they’re not quite as big a name as Activision or LucasArts, but this is still bad news for the ESA. In a statement to GamePolitics, the ESA had this to say about the latest departure:

We can confirm that Crave has decided not to renew its membership in the ESA. We value each member of our association, but respect their decision. In conversations with Crave, representatives stated that they value their longstanding membership with the ESA and remain committed to the values and goals of the association.

That’s almost exactly the same statement the ESA gave about LucasArts a few weeks ago. I guess once publishers start dropping out left and right, you’ve got to have some kind of default statement readily available to save time. Apparently Crave will still be attending E3 next month, although I’m wondering what kind of long-term effect the mass exodus from the ESA is going to have on future E3 conventions.

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