{"id":1622184,"date":"2026-07-01T14:06:25","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T14:06:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tE8brMwfjTqgA5Axq2xSen"},"modified":"2026-07-01T14:06:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T14:06:25","slug":"the-esa-quietly-starts-walking-back-baffling-statements-about-private-servers-being-illegal-though-its-still-tutting-and-wagging-its-finger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/the-esa-quietly-starts-walking-back-baffling-statements-about-private-servers-being-illegal-though-its-still-tutting-and-wagging-its-finger\/","title":{"rendered":"The ESA quietly starts walking back baffling statements about private servers being ‘illegal’, though it’s still tutting and wagging its finger"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The Entertainment Software Association, in an ongoing attempt to slow the roll of the games conservation movement Stop Killing Games, made a baffling statement at a recent California State Senate hearing over a proposed Protect Our Games Act that goes as follows:<\/p>\n

“[Private servers are] illegal. They are not in any way affiliated with Microsoft. Microsoft, for Minecraft, has gotten a lot of criticism because of those community servers not employing the same safety standards that Microsoft does on their Minecraft servers.”<\/p>\n

Now, you can read our very own Joshua Wolens’ article<\/a> on the foible yourself, but I’ll repeat what he said back then in that the words of ESA vice president Jennifer Gibbons are basically nonsense. More on that in a moment.<\/p>\n

In a statement provided to PC Gamer, the ESA wrote: “Private servers infringe on the intellectual property (IP) rights of game publishers. Publishers reserve the right to exercise their rights against them. The provision in CA AB 1921 that proposed these servers as a legitimate alternative to keep games running raises concerns about a publisher’s ability to enforce their IP rights. <\/p>\n

“In addition, private servers operate with no oversight from the publisher and do not uphold the same trust and safety standards. This could create an unsafe environment for players and be counter to the industry’s commitment to fostering safe and fun game play for all players.”<\/p>\n

The ESA has since sent us another statement for what it calls “additional clarity”, I’m not all that convinced we aren’t looking at a backpedal, here. You can read the full updated statement in the screenshot below, but for the sake of in-article brevity, here are the key differences:<\/p>\n