Sidste år vedtog den amerikanske kongres at netneutralitet, altså den regulering der gør at internetudbydere ikke kan afgøre hastigheden på din forbindelse til forskellige websteder, skulle forsvinde, og selvom vi i Europa fortsat ikke er blevet påvirket af beslutningen, så kunne det meget vel have konsekvenser for online gaming i hele verden.
Entertainment Software Association har nemlig ansøgt om tiladelse til at slutte sig til en række andre grupper, deriblandt demokraterne, Mozilla, Microsoft og mange andre foreninger og virksomheder, der ønsker at tilbageføre den beslutning der blev truffet sidste år.
ESA ønsker at blive en del af denne gruppe, fordi de mener at beslutningen kan få store konsekvenser for spilbranchen.
"Because the FCC's Order permits ISPs to take actions that could jeopardize the fast, reliable, and low-latency connections that are critical to the video game industry."
I selve ansøgningen leveret til retten fortæller ESA præcis hvordan branchen påvirkes af netneutralitet.
"The FCC's Order eliminates the rules that prevent broadband providers from blocking, throttling, and otherwise interfering with consumers' access to content online. Absent these protections, ESA and its member companies will have no effective legal recourse against broadband provider conduct that impairs consumers' online video game experiences. In particular, broadband providers are now permitted to engage in practices that degrade consumers' traffic. That, in turn, could have significant consequences for the enjoyment of multiplayer online games and cloud-based game play services, both of which require low-latency connections to support rapid and continuous interactivity."