Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
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The ESA recently lied through its teeth as it called Minecraft servers "illegal," "piracy," and "black markets," despite Minecraft itself formally sanctioning and permitting player-hosted servers. We dig through the ESA's IRS filings, lobbying history, corporate partnerships, and flow of money to better understand whether (1) the ESA has ulterior motives, or simply (2) there actually are no non-clowns left in the clown car. This follows the recent committee hearing on the California Protect Our Games Act, which aimed to provide some base level of ownership guarantee to players. The ESA opposed it, and the ESA also advocates for both AI and subscriptions.
Watch our coverage of SEGA and the City of London Police coordinating on a raid for game cartridges: youtube.com/watch?v=NU040CTdJI0
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Grab our new Wireframe Mouse Mat V2 on the store: store.gamersnexus.net/products/gn-wireframe-v2-mouse-mat
Grab one of our Copyright Strike T-shirts: store.gamersnexus.net/products/copyright-strike-takedown-black-cotton-t-shirt
Or try out our new ESD-safe stackable CPU trays (sold in sets): store.gamersnexus.net/products/stackable-esd-safe-amd-cpu-tray-holder-am4-am5-6-cpus
Like our content? Please consider becoming our Patron to support us: patreon.com/gamersnexus
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 - Minecraft Servers are Illegal Black Markets
02:32 - Lobbying Money
05:11 - IRS Documents and Questionable Ties
07:50 - WTF Happened
13:27 - What the Bill Actually Does
15:34 - Funneling Money into the Government
17:22 - No Non-Clowns in the Clown Car
20:03 - Conflicts of Interest
22:08 - Steve Loses It
** Please like, comment, and subscribe for more! **
Links to Amazon and Newegg are typically monetized on our channel (affiliate links) and may return a commission of sales to us from the retailer. This is unrelated to the product manufacturer. Any advertisements or sponsorships are disclosed within the video ("this video is brought to you by") and above the fold in the description. We do not ever produce paid content or "sponsored content" (meaning that the content is our idea and is not funded externally aside from whatever ad placement is in the beginning) and we do not ever charge manufacturers for coverage.
Follow us in these locations for more gaming and hardware updates:
t: twitter.com/gamersnexus
f: facebook.com/gamersnexus
w: gamersnexus.net
Our policies, processes, and ethics statements relating to review samples, advertising, travel, errors, and more are transparently and publicly available on this page: https://gamers.nexus/ethics-statements
Steve Burke: Host, Writing, Conduit of Rage
Mike Gaglione: Editing
Tim Phetdara: Editing
Jimmy Thang: Writing, Research
Ben Benson: Writing, Research
SUPPORT US: GET A COPYRIGHT Strike Shirt, Mouse Mat, and more on the store: store.gamersnexus.net
The ESA recently lied through its teeth as it called Minecraft servers "illegal," "piracy," and "black markets," despite Minecraft itself formally sanctioning and permitting player-hosted servers. We dig through the ESA's IRS filings, lobbying history, corporate partnerships, and flow of money to better understand whether (1) the ESA has ulterior motives, or simply (2) there actually are no non-clowns left in the clown car. This follows the recent committee hearing on the California Protect Our Games Act, which aimed to provide some base level of ownership guarantee to players. The ESA opposed it, and the ESA also advocates for both AI and subscriptions.
Watch our coverage of SEGA and the City of London Police coordinating on a raid for game cartridges: youtube.com/watch?v=NU040CTdJI0
Or our Component Mouse Mat on sale: store.gamersnexus.net/products/15-yr-mouse-mat
Grab our new Wireframe Mouse Mat V2 on the store: store.gamersnexus.net/products/gn-wireframe-v2-mouse-mat
Grab one of our Copyright Strike T-shirts: store.gamersnexus.net/products/copyright-strike-takedown-black-cotton-t-shirt
Or try out our new ESD-safe stackable CPU trays (sold in sets): store.gamersnexus.net/products/stackable-esd-safe-amd-cpu-tray-holder-am4-am5-6-cpus
Like our content? Please consider becoming our Patron to support us: patreon.com/gamersnexus
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 - Minecraft Servers are Illegal Black Markets
02:32 - Lobbying Money
05:11 - IRS Documents and Questionable Ties
07:50 - WTF Happened
13:27 - What the Bill Actually Does
15:34 - Funneling Money into the Government
17:22 - No Non-Clowns in the Clown Car
20:03 - Conflicts of Interest
22:08 - Steve Loses It
** Please like, comment, and subscribe for more! **
Links to Amazon and Newegg are typically monetized on our channel (affiliate links) and may return a commission of sales to us from the retailer. This is unrelated to the product manufacturer. Any advertisements or sponsorships are disclosed within the video ("this video is brought to you by") and above the fold in the description. We do not ever produce paid content or "sponsored content" (meaning that the content is our idea and is not funded externally aside from whatever ad placement is in the beginning) and we do not ever charge manufacturers for coverage.
Follow us in these locations for more gaming and hardware updates:
t: twitter.com/gamersnexus
f: facebook.com/gamersnexus
w: gamersnexus.net
Our policies, processes, and ethics statements relating to review samples, advertising, travel, errors, and more are transparently and publicly available on this page: https://gamers.nexus/ethics-statements
Steve Burke: Host, Writing, Conduit of Rage
Mike Gaglione: Editing
Tim Phetdara: Editing
Jimmy Thang: Writing, Research
Ben Benson: Writing, Research
