Activision and Vivendi Break from ESA, Pass on E3; Four Other Companies Pull Out of Exhibition

Soon to be merged publishers Activision and Vivendi will not be attending this year's E3 Media and Business Summit and have withdrawn from the Entertainment Software Association, Kotaku reports.

Moreover, four other companies—id Software, NCSoft, Codemasters, and Her Entertainment—have also decided not to attend this year's E3, which is organized by the ESA, a group dedicated to the business and public affairs needs of game developers and publishers.

Citing anonymous industry sources, Kotaku claims that the withdrawal of the six publishers from E3 was partially due to developer displeasure with ESA president Mike Gallagher. While in the office, Gallagher oversaw the shutdown of ESA's New York City office and a reduction in the organization's lobbying efforts.

Publisher NCSoft said the withdrawal was due to their current development cycle of their games and was not meant to reflect on the ESA or its leadership. Activision, meanwhile, chalked up its departure from the ESA up to "business reasons."

Several of the developers are holding their own events to showcase upcoming products, with Activision putting on a gamers day the week of E3 and id Software's QuakeCon in August.