At a California State Senate hearing on the Protect Our Games Act (AB 1921), ESA vice‑president for state government affairs Jennifer Gibbons told lawmakers that private servers for Minecraft and Call of Duty are "illegal" and constitute piracy, adding that the association has two pending lawsuits against such servers.
Gibbons was reacting to a question from Assemblymember Chris Ward about whether community‑run servers could keep discontinued games alive. She cited the USTR’s Notorious Markets Report, claiming it had singled out private servers, but the report only named sites that enabled outright piracy of titles like World of Warcraft—not ordinary Minecraft or Call of Duty community servers. The official Minecraft website still provides a .jar file for anyone to host their own server.
The Protect Our Games bill failed to secure a majority (four ayes, three noes, four abstentions) and did not pass, though it has been sent back for reconsideration. A Stop Killing Games volunteer warned the ESA’s tactics were intended to intimidate legislators and pledged a stronger lobbying push in future sessions. ESA has not yet responded to requests for comment.
