Speaking at the DICE Summit, Lowenstein hit out at makers of controversial games who don’t defend themselves in the face of critics.

Next-gen.biz reports that Lowenstein raged: "Damn it, get up there and defend [your work]… If you want to be controversial, fine, … that’s great. But damn it, don’t duck and cover when the shit hits the fan.”

Lowenstein then widened his attack to the industry at large. He told the collected audience of games dignitaries that many of them were “sitting on their hands” when it came to the issue of defending the industry form censorship.

“We cannot win the war without an army,” he said. “A lot of people in this room are apparently too lazy to join that army. … Don’t just let other people fight the fight for you, because in the end, we won’t have enough soldiers to succeed.”

Lowenstein didn’t have much praise for the games press either, pointing out that he was worried about the ‘cosy’ relationship the sector has with publishers and developers.

“[The press] needs to take itself more seriously,” he said. “The game industry press … has the ability to push this industry to greater heights and success. … I just don’t think that the games press has done enough for itself.”

However, Lowenstein had a more favourable word for his former employer, praising the ESA for its anti-censorship stance.

He outlined how the ESA had affected the opinion of senators such as Hillary Clinton and Joe Lieberman, who had previously called for curbs on the industry’s freedom.

He said: “That’s progress, my friends. And that’s important progress.”

Lowenstein continued, “There’s nothing that we’ve done in this industry, in this association, ... that's more transcendentally important … than defending your artistic freedom. And it’s not easy.”