Mojang's Carl Manneh and Jens Bergensten have revealed why the Minecraft developer won't be present at this year's E3 convention in LA, despite having upcoming games 0x10c and Scrolls to show off.
Apparently they have a longer memory than most other game companies that opposed SOPA, the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act that had the internet and tech companies up in arms earlier this year. The Entertainment Software Association (ESA)—the organization that puts E3 on—supported the bill, and that's why Mojang is boycotting the event.
“The organization behind the convention support the SOPA initiative in the US," Manneh said. "We are against it, and have no wish to support those who support SOPA, it’s as simple as that. So we’re not going.”
The ESA did eventually rescind their support of SOPA—but only after the bill had already been dropped by Congress. Apparently for Mojang that was too little too late. I happen to agree.
Is it surprising that more companies aren't boycotting E3? Or is the convention just too important to the industry and gamer culture? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter.
[via MCV Nordic]
