Although high-profile defectors such as Activision and id Software remain absent from the membership rolls of the Entertainment Software Association, the industry trade group has been steadily adding smaller publishers to its ranks for weeks. Following recent news that SouthPeak Interactive and Natsume have joined the ESA, the group announced today that the US branch of 505 Games has joined the fold, bringing its roster to 23 companies.

　　The North American branch of 505 Games was just launched last year, and to date has published only a handful of games including Hotel for Dogs, Championship Foosball, and a line of Discovery Kids pet simulations set to arrive on the Nintendo DS this week. Later this year the company plans to publish IL-2: Sturmovik: Birds of Prey for all major consoles and handhelds. The European branch of 505 Games offers a more diverse lineup of games, including Armored Core 4, Guilty Gear XX Accent Core, and Wild Arms 5.

　　Though Natsume and SouthPeak committed to exhibiting at the ESA's premier trade show the Electronic Entertainment Expo, today's announcement did not mention 505 Games' plans for the show. The official E3 Web site does not currently list 505 Games as participating in the show.