Activision, Take-Two and EA shares decline following Trump’s mass shooting comments

Shares of leading US game publishers took a hit on Monday after US President Donald Trump linked two mass shootings to video games.

Making a statement on Monday following separate incidents in El Paso and Ohio, the president said the US government “must stop or substantially reduce” access to “gruesome” video games.

“We must stop the glorification of violence in our society,” the president said. “This includes the gruesome and grisly video games that are now commonplace.”

Shares of Call of Duty publisher Activision Blizzard closed down 5.96% on Monday, while shares of Grand Theft Auto maker Take-Two and FIFA house Electronic Arts declined 5.19% and 4.63% respectively.

In the wake of Trump’s comments, the Entertainment Software Association, the trade body which represents the US video games industry and runs E3, released a statement suggesting there’s no causal connection between video games and violence.

A joint statement from the International Game Developers Association and International Game Developers Association Foundation echoed those sentiments.

“Our deepest condolences and hearts go out to the victims and families affected by the tragic events in Dayton, Ohio and El Paso, Texas. Society has endured too many senseless acts of violence and horrific mass shootings,” it read.

“Blaming video games distracts from the broader issues at hand. There is an overwhelming amount of research that finds there is no evidence linking video games to violence. Video games do not cause violence, and we support efforts to discontinue this misguided information.”