'They're Illegal' — ESA Says Private Minecraft Servers Are 'Illegal' in Stop Killing Games Hearing

The ESA has made the head-scratching claim that private Minecraft servers are "illegal," arguing that they're considered a form of "piracy" in a recent hearing. During a California State Senate hearing over the Protect Our Games Act (a Stop Killing Games bill that would force game publishers to ensure games remain playable if servers are shut down), Assemblyman Chris Ward was questioned by the committee about how feasible it would be to keep games running on private servers if official support concluded. Ward noted that both Minecraft and Call of Duty utilize community servers, meaning it's a solution that already exists in some cases. However, ESA’s VP of State Government Affairs, Jennifer Gibbons, objected to his claim and stated that these are not officially sanctioned servers. In fact, according to Gibbons, they're illegal. “They’re illegal,” Gibbons responded. “They are not in any way affiliated with Microsoft. Microsoft, for Minecraft, has gotten a lot of criticism because of those community servers not employing the same safety standards that Microsoft does on their Minecraft servers.” Gibbons was asked by a committee member if private servers are akin to a "black market" fo