Red 5 Starts League For Gamers as Alternative to ESA, to Fight SOPA/PIPA

Red 5 Studios, and its CEO Mark Kern, have announced a pledge of $50,000 and the creation of the League for Gamers (LFG), a new organization dedicated to fighting SOPA and PIPA and to bring members of the gaming community together as an alternative to the ESA (Entertainment Software Association and their Video Game Voters Network, VGVN.

This is in response to the ESA funding and supporting both SOPA and PIPA which the LFG believes is not in the best interest of gamers or companies in the long run. President Obama said from the White House the SOPA bill was �draconian� and he will not support it.

Red 5 will shut down Firefall and its website on January 18th in a 24 hour show of solidarity, encouraging gamers, developers and all industry supporters to join LFG and stand together against misguided and overbearing legislative initiatives such as SOPA, (Stop Online Privacy Act), and PIPA, (Protect IP), in order to perpetuate and continue industry growth.

“The VGVN and the ESA claim to represent gamers and developers, but they have turned their backs on them by supporting and funding legislation such as SOPA and PIPA,” said Mark Kern. “Developers such as Red 5 Studios and other game makers no longer have an organization to represent their true position on this kind of destructive legislation. LFG’s first action will be to petition the ESA to withdraw their support from PIPA, which still looms large in the Senate.”

While it was announced on Monday that SOPA has been “shelved” – for the time being – its sister bill PIPA is still an immediate threat to the gaming industry and online freedom. The Senate is scheduled to vote on PIPA January 24th, leaving one week for gamers and developers to add their support and get the attention of representatives. Interested parties can join LFG and its ESA petition at the following link:

The shelving of SOPA does not mean it will go away, it just means that they will rewrite it to again attempt to gain support and further erode the privacy and rights of American citizens.

Gamers Daily News has already joined the LFG and does not agree with SOPA, PIPA or the way that members of the US government have attempted to ram it through without proper public discussion. We applaud those who decided to shelve SOPA and who are continuing to fight PIPA. The ESA does not have the best interest of gamers in mind in this regard and is apparently being driven by corporate dollars of its members to support an anti-consumer bill that will step on the rights of gamers across the country.