Xbox | ESA adds four more members

Realtime Worlds, Ignition Entertainment, Nexon America, and O-Games sign on with US gaming trade organization.

A big week for the Entertainment Software Association just got bigger. The gaming trade group added a quartet of new member companies to its ranks today, just days after the US Supreme Court said it would rule on the group's five-year-old legal battle with the state of California. Joining the ESA fold this week are Realtime Worlds, Ignition Entertainment, Nexon America, and O-Games.

The ESA has grown too big to even fit properly in this picture.

Best known as the developer of the original Crackdown, Realtime Worlds has development offices in Scotland but is based out of Boulder, Colorado. The studio has spent several years working on its current project, the anticipated upcoming cops-and-crooks online game APB.

Founded in 2002, Ignition Entertainment has established its identity as a third-party publisher in recent years by importing a number of games for the North American audience. Among its higher-profile imports are the Wii action game Muramasa: The Demon Sword, SNK Playmore's King of Fighters XII, and the surreal survival horror game Deadly Premonition.

Nexon America is the domestic arm of the South Korean massively multiplayer online specialist behind MapleStory. The company's games use a microtransaction-driven business model, where players get a basic game for free and then purchase incremental upgrades, such as in-game items, for small amounts over time.

Finally, O-Games is the publisher behind the Pro Stroke Golf and PDC World Championship Darts series. Formerly known as Oxygen Interactive, the company has specialized in family, sports, and social games for consoles, handhelds, and PCs since 2004.

The additions bring the ESA's roster to 33 member companies, the most the organization has ever had. The organization has seen its membership increase by 14 companies since the beginning of 2009, but there are still a handful of prominent US companies conspicuous by their absences.

Activision Blizzard, LucasArts, NCsoft, and id Software (now part of Bethesda owner Zenimax) all left the ESA in 2008 and have yet to rejoin. The departures followed a stretch of time when the trade group tinkered with the format of its Electronic Entertainment Expo and hiked up member dues 1,600 percent over a three-year period.

A esa.

Source: http://www.gamespot.com/news/6260507.html