Yesterday we filled you in on the latest regarding NCSoft’s departure from the ESA, guessing that the reasons could possibly be financial. This morning, NCSoft’s Director of Public Relations, David Swofford, spoke about the issue, clarifying that reasons for leaving the ESA were not quite what we may have thought:
While we appreciate what the ESA does for our industry, we can confirm that NCsoft has elected not to keep membership with the ESA for 2009.
This decision was not financially motivated, as indicated in your story. There have been many changes in the gaming industry over the past couple of years and, like other developers and publishers, we have decided to wait to see how related industry events and organizations further develop before rejoining. We will be reviewing our membership status on an annual basis.
GamePolitics followed up with a phone inteview, in which Swofford offered a bit more information regarding the company’s departure, saying that the “timing was not right” for NCSoft to be a member of the organization. He also mentioned that “everyone was looking at E3 to see how things panned out.”
Definitely agreed, Mr. Swofford.
[Via GamePolitics]
