The Entertainment Software Association’s vice president of state government affairs, Jennifer Gibbons, declared private servers for Minecraft and Call of Duty illegal and labeled them piracy during a California State Senate hearing on June 29 [1, 2, 3]. Gibbons said, "They’re illegal. 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" [1].
Gibbons also confirmed that ESA currently has two pending lawsuits against private servers that operate outside official platforms. She added, "We consider it piracy. We have lawsuits, two pending lawsuits, against private servers right now, and the United States Trade Representative (USTR) in their Notorious Markets Reports on counterfeiting and piracy has named some of these big private servers as a notorious market" [1].
The USTR’s Notorious Markets Reports have identified some large private servers as centers of piracy, reinforcing ESA’s legal actions [1, 2, 3]. However, the nature of Minecraft private servers is disputed. While ESA asserts private servers are unauthorized and illegal, Minecraft’s official site encourages players to join verified community servers that meet safety and community standards [1]. Assemblyman Chris Ward noted at the hearing that "Minecraft is currently hosted by community servers, Call of Duty [has] community servers, so it’s an option that is out there, in existence here today" [1].
California state senator Caroline Menjivar questioned if these illegal servers operate like "the black market of videogames" during the hearing [2]. Some sources note that USTR’s Notorious Markets Reports specifically target servers that allow users to bypass subscriptions or operate counterfeit content, rather than typical community-hosted Minecraft servers supported by Microsoft [2, 3].
Despite these differences, private Minecraft and Call of Duty community servers remain active and widely used [1, 2, 3]. ESA’s legal efforts and government scrutiny continue amid this divided landscape.
The California Senate hearing examined the Protect Our Games Act, and further legislative actions or court rulings related to ESA’s lawsuits may develop following this session [1, 2, 3].
