Entertainment Software Association of Canada (ESAC) is a not for profit trade association serving the business and public affairs needs of companies in Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 that develop, publish and distribute computer

Computer

A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...

 and video games for video game consoles, handheld devices, personal computers and the Internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

. ESAC's services include, business and consumer research, government relations, and media relations. The ESAC's members include Canada's leading interactive entertainment software developers, publishers and distributors, which have collectively accounted for more than 90 per cent of the $2 billion in entertainment software and hardware sales in Canada in 2009. In 2009, the Canadian entertainment software industry included 247 firms and provided 14,000 direct jobs and thousands more in related fields across the country.

Origins

The ESAC was founded in October, 2004 from the previous Canadian Interactive Digital Software Association as a wholly Canadian entity.

Members

• Activision Blizzard
  Activision Blizzard
  Activision Blizzard, Inc., formerly Activision, Inc. is the American holding company for Activision and Blizzard Entertainment. The company is majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA and was created through the merger of Activision and Vivendi Games, announced on December 2, 2007, in a...
  
  
• Disney Interactive
• Electronic Arts
  Electronic Arts
  Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...
  
  
• Microsoft
  Microsoft
  Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
  
   Canada
• Nintendo
  Nintendo
  is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
  
   Canada
• Solutions to Go
• Sony Computer Entertainment
  Sony Computer Entertainment
  Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. is a major video game company specializing in a variety of areas in the video game industry, and is a wholly owned subsidiary and part of the Consumer Products & Services Group of Sony...
  
   Canada
• Take-Two Interactive
  Take-Two Interactive
  Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is a major American publisher, developer, and distributor of video games and video game peripherals. Take-Two wholly owns 2K Games and Rockstar Games. The company's headquarters are in New York City, with international headquarters in Windsor, United Kingdom...
  
  
• Team One Marketing
• THQ
  THQ
  THQ Inc. is an American developer and publisher of video games. Founded in 1989 in the United States, the company develops products for video game consoles, handheld game systems, as well as for personal computers and wireless devices...
  
  
• Ubisoft
  Ubisoft
  Ubisoft Entertainment S.A. is a major French video game publisher and developer, with headquarters in Montreuil, France. The company has a worldwide presence with 25 studios in 17 countries and subsidiaries in 26 countries....
  
  

External links

• The Entertainment Software Association of Canada http://www.theesa.ca
• The Entertainment Software Ratings Bureau http://www.esrb.org/index-js.jsp
• Kids Internet Safety Alliance http://www.kinsa.net/
• The Entertainment Software Association
  Entertainment Software Association
  The Entertainment Software Association is the trade association of the video game industry in the United States. It was formed in April 1994 as the Interactive Digital Software Association and renamed on July 16, 2003...
  
   [www.theesa.com]
• The Interactive Software Federation of Europe
  Interactive Software Federation of Europe
  The Interactive Software Federation of Europe is an independent federation, representing the interests of the interactive software sector in Europe to the main stakeholders: EU institutions, international organisations, academics, or the general public...
  
  http://www.isfe-eu.org/