The White House today said that President Donald Trump will meet with executives from the video game industry to talk about violent games, a reaction to last month’s shooting in Parkland, Florida that left 17 dead.
“He’ll also be meeting with members of the video game industry to see what they can do on that front as well,” said White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders during a press briefing this afternoon, when asked about the president’s policy on guns.
It’s not clear who Trump plans to meet. One person familiar with executive-level matters in the video game industry, who asked not to be named, told Kotaku this was the first that they or anyone they had spoken to had heard of this meeting.
This is the second time the White House has linked the Parkland shooting to video games, following Trump’s comments last week. The video game industry’s lobbyist group, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), did not immediately respond to a call and email requesting comment.
UPDATE (6:53pm): The ESA says it is not aware of this meeting. Here’s the statement that the lobbyist group sent Kotaku:
ESA and our member companies have not received an invitation to meet with President Trump.
The same video games played in the US are played worldwide; however, the level of gun violence is exponentially higher in the US than in other countries. Numerous authorities have examined the scientific record and found there is no link between media content and real-life violence.
The US video game industry has a long history of partnering with parents and more than 20 years of rating video games through the Entertainment Software Rating Board. We take great steps to provide tools to help players and parents make informed entertainment decisions.