Group known for criticizing violent video games to end operations

An institute that has made a name for itself by criticizing violent video games said it will close its doors by the end of the year.

The president and founder of the Minnesota-based National Institute on Media on the Family said the economic downturn contributed to the need to close the institute and transfer its research and advocacy to other organizations.

"Over the past two years the institute's board of directors has been in strategic discussions about succession and the institute's evolving mission and goals," said David Walsh, a psychologist who started the institute in 1996. "The current challenging economic environment accelerated those discussions making this the right time to begin transitioning the programs to other organizations who share our mission and values."

The institute is perhaps best known for its annual "video game report card," which looked at violence in video games and examined how well retailers were doing in keeping mature-rated video games out of kids' hands. It aimed to be a watchdog for parents concerned about their kids' exposure to potentially harmful media content.

Walsh said in a blog post on the institute's Web site that he will continue to speak and write about "topics related to parenting in the 21st century."

"While this chapter of the institute's work is coming to a close, I am excited to transition the institute's programs to organizations that will continue to foster the same important conversations and bring relevant solutions to parents," he wrote.