Advertisement

Activision hires lobbyists to advocate on Senate bill researching violence

Activision has hired a prominent lobbying group, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, to advocate on a Senate bill aimed at researching the impact of "violent" video games and programming on children. The lobbying registration form doesn't indicate Activision's position on the bill.

The bill, S. 134: Violent Content Research Act, aims to have the National Academy of Sciences "study the impact of violent video games and violent video programming on children." The study would investigate whether there is a link between violent video games or programming and aggressive behavior.

Singular to video games, it would study "whether current or emerging characteristics of video games have a unique impact on children, considering in particular video games' interactive nature and the extraordinarily personal and vivid way violence might be portrayed in such video games."

This is a separate effort from President Barack Obama's executive order that the CDC research the causes of gun violence, with a specific mandate to study video games.

The Violent Content Research Act was sent to the full Senate on July 30 and has yet to be raised for vote.