Washington - The Entertainment Software Association (ESA), a trade group that represents U.S. video game publishers and developers, announced on Tuesday that founding president Douglas Lowenstein will leave the organization early next year.

The ESA said it has begun a full executive search for a replacement. Lowenstein, who joined what was then known as the Interactive Digital Software Association in 1994, plans to launch a new trade association in the investment industry.

"I have been honored to represent the amazing companies of the ESA, to serve as their advocate and to be part of an industry which is having such a profound and positive effect on our culture and the world of entertainment," Lowenstein said.

The ESA has been in the spotlight recently, for its legal challenges to various laws aiming to restrict the sale of violent and sexually explicit video games to minors. In nine out of nine cases brought over the past six years, the ESA has been successful in having such laws blocked or overturned, often on the grounds that they are unconstitutional restrictions on free speech.

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