SOPA: The Drama Continues

Early ago, it seems like Nintendo, Sony and EA have withdrawn their support of SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act that has gotten millions of internet users up in arms worst than the Tea Party at Obama. In fact, a recent list of companies that support SOPA have gone down in recent days. One part of the list that is missing: the Business Software Alliance.

It would appear that the three largest gaming companies supporting SOPA have quietly retracted their backing. Sony Electronics, Electronic Arts and Nintendo were all listed as supporters of the bill when it first came into being, but their names have since disappeared from the updated document of allies.

It's like we caused them to chicken out and run. The irony of this comes from Sony when their music group is still apart of SOPA. But of course, there is another member of the ESA that opposes SOPA completely. Epic Games, producers of Unreal, Gears of War, and an upcoming game called Fortnite. Let's see what Epic's Dana Cowley has to say

"Some people have asked how Epic feels about the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). This post is meant to provide answers," said Epic's Dana Cowley. "Epic Games supports efforts that would stop overseas websites profiting from pirating our games, but we have to do that in a way that's compatible with freedom of speech and due process of law. Thus, we do not support the current version of SOPA.

Good show, Dana. Good show. If we were at a beauty pageant and you were Miss Video Game, I would throw you a bouquet of flowers for that performance.

However, even if the companies in question voice their opposition to SOPA, the Entertainment Software Alliance that they are apart of is a supporter of SOPA

As an industry of innovators and creators, we understand the importance of both technological innovation and content protection, and do not believe the two are mutually exclusive. Rogue websites – those singularly devoted to profiting from their blatant illegal piracy – restrict demand for legitimate video game products and services, thereby costing jobs. Our industry needs effective remedies to address this specific problem, and we support the House and Senate proposals to achieve this objective. We are mindful of concerns raised about a negative impact on innovation. We look forward to working with the House and Senate, and all interested parties, to find the right balance and define useful remedies to combat willful wrongdoers that do not impede lawful product and business model innovation.

Exactly. But good luck trying to convince the Congress about this. I heard John Boehner is very stubborn unless he gets his milk and cookies.

Anyway, if you want to do something about SOPA, remember to head to www.demandprogress.org for more information. And don't forget, Destructoid is offering a chance for you to write a letter to the ESA and tell them to withdraw its support of SOPA. Destructoid has some info for doing so at http://www.destructoid.com/hate-sopa-tell-the-esa-and-its-members--218936.phtml

Works Cited:
Destructoid part 1
Destructoid part 2
Destructoid Part 3