EA CEO John Riccitiello last year was among the more vocal members of the games business to voice concern about the Supreme Court reviewing California's violent games law. Riccitiello noted that publishers might have to ship numerous versions of the same title: "...we could end up with state level bureaucracies that define what’s marketable in 50 different jurisdictions across the U.S. I can imagine [the government] trying to tell Steven Spielberg ‘We need 50 different cuts of your movie for each state.’ It will screw us up in a real way.”
Now that the Supreme Court has ruled in favor of the games industry, Riccitiello was very pleased of course. He issued the following statement to IndustryGamers:
"Everybody wins on this decision – the Court has affirmed the Constitutional rights of game developers; adults keep the right to decide what’s appropriate in their houses; and store owners can sell games without fear of criminal prosecution.
"Throughout American history, every new creative medium has to fight to establish its rights. Like books and film, videogames have had to face down censors and stand up for creative freedom.
"This was a long, hard, expensive fight, but it pulled together the developers, publishers and fans into a powerful political coalition. There will be other censors, other challenges. But now we’ve got an army in the field to stand up for the rights of game developers and players."
