Games industry breathes a sigh of relief as SOPA/PIPA are shelved
Protests help kill the bills for now
Games industry opponents of the controversial SOPA and PIPA legislation have celebrated the demise of the SOPA and PIPA bills in their current form.
Both bills have been declared flawed by Senate and House of Representative supporters and put on hold while they are re-evaluated.
Even the ESA who supported and even lobbied for SOPA and PIPA despite numerous high-profile members including Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, EA and Epic denouncing the legislation, have dropped their support for the bills.
Joel Kinnunen, the president of Frozenbyte the studio behind Trine said: "We've been happy to see this [result], and while it went a little bit too far in the first place, it's great to see that change is possible if enough people raise their voice."
The folks behind hit MMORPG Rift, Trion Worlds added their voice saying: "The overwhelming rally from the internet-using public has been nothing short of amazing and inspiring. Our hats are off to everyone who contacted their representatives and senators." They did also promise to keep an eye out for and potentially harmful legislation that may arise in the future.
It must be stressed that the shelving of SOPA and PIPA is not the end of the matter. These bills will be taken away, refined and amended and will return and there is still dangerous pieces of legislation like the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, Europe's answer to SOPA, which need the same scrutiny.
Thanks Gamasutra.
