Legal Trends in the Gaming Industry
The gaming industry, i.e. the video game industry, is one of the fastest-growing industries both globally and locally.
However, to be able to play WoW or Resident Evil or any other video game for that matter, the game went through several stages, each with specific legal challenges. Understanding and overcoming these challenges is also crucial for the success of a particular video game.
These challenges include documenting fund investment, drafting appropriate game development contracts, confidentiality agreements, employment contracts, as well as protecting intellectual property, regulating licenses, ensuring safety of infrastructure and players in online environment, compliance with data protection regulations (with a particular focus on protecting minors), creating terms of service for the video game, and more.
As if all this isn’t already complicated enough, new trends in the gaming industry brings new legal challenges.
Artificial Intelligence as a New Player
Generative artificial intelligence is changing the way we live, work, learn, train, and play video games. With advanced assistants and tools, and the ability to generate complex worlds, characters, and narratives, artificial intelligence enables the creation of games that are more dynamic, and better tailored to the interests and styles of players.
While the application of artificial intelligence allows the creation of increasingly complex and interactive games, facilitating game development and transforming the player experience, which undoubtedly pleases both developers and players, for legal professionals this is a new challenge called the EU AI Act.
The EU AI Act is a regulation adopted this year in the European Union as the first regulation that comprehensively governs the development, testing, and use of artificial intelligence. Given the trend of increasing AI application in the gaming industry, developers, testers, and users will need to consider the provisions of the new EU AI Act during the development, testing, distribution, and use of AI systems integrated into video games.
What is my health status during game?
Yes, that is an answer we can actually find out these days. On a global level, the integration of health tech applications and services into the gaming industry is becoming more pronounced.
Technologies like wearable devices that monitor physical activity, heart rate, sleep quality, and other vital signs are becoming more sophisticated. In the upcoming period, these technologies are expected to become even more integrated with gaming platforms, providing players with detailed analyses of their health status and advice for improvement, as well as advice for healthy lifestyle habits.
While integrating Health Tech has its advantages, it also brings challenges from a data protection perspective, especially considering that health data as a special category of data, requires additional conditions for its processing.
To all that, when advanced AI algorithms are incorporated into Health Tech to analyse health data and provide personalized advice, it creates additional headache for privacy and personal data protection professionals.
The Use of Web 3 Technology
Web 3.0 technology, based on the principles of decentralization, openness, and greater user interaction, has the potential to transform the gaming industry both globally and locally.
This technology is expected to bring new opportunities for creation, trade, and interaction within games, providing players with greater control and efficient information exchange on the internet.
As everything else, with its advantages, Web 3.0 technology also brings certain challenges, especially since our legislation regulating this technology (Law on Digital Assets) is insufficient to meet the needs and to keep pace with Web 3 trends and developments.
Conclusion
The upcoming period will undoubtedly be exciting for the gaming industry, with numerous innovations and changes that will shape the future of games, from the increasingly popular virtual reality and cloud gaming to the revolution brought by generative artificial intelligence and Web3 technologies.
If the trend of a growing number of online games and users continues, which is reasonable to expect, it is time for governments to pay more attention to the legal regulation in this area. This would help to precisely define the expected behavior and obligations from those who create games and those who enjoy virtual heroes daily.
