Activison hires lobbyists to act on Senate violence bill

Activision has hired top law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld to lobby as an advocate in the upcoming Senate bill, calling for a study of the impact of violent video games on children, according to a report in The Washington Post.

Lobbying records filed in the last few weeks reveal that lawyers handling the account include Arshi Siddiqui, a one-time senior policy advisor and counsel to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Ryan Thompson, whose brief includes handling "legislative affairs and crisis management" for tech companies.

The proposed S.134, Violent Content Research Act was introduced in Congress last year by West Virginia Sen. Jay Rockefeller, following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, in which 26 children and teaching staff were murdered by gunman Adam Lanza. Since the shooting, the role of violent video games has come under renewed political scrutiny, with President Obama separately calling for research into the role of media and real world violence.

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld was founded in 1945 by Richard Gump and Robert Strauss, a former United States ambassador to the Soviet Union and Chairman of the Democratic National Committee in the 1970s. The company, listed as one of the top 20 law firms by The American Lawyer magazine, has offices in 15 cities around the world.

Activision's brands include the valuable Call of Duty first-person shooter franchise. A Polygon request for comment, emailed to Activision earlier today, was not answered.