Business

Cost Terms in Contracts: What Do “Out-of-Pocket,” “Direct,” and “Actual” Mean?

By / October 26, 2026

Many folks looking at a contract for the first time will notice strings of words, often adjectives, accompany terms such as licenses (see, for example, this blog entry), limitations on liability (e.g., indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, punitive), and others. Today, we are going to take a look at the meaning of words that often …

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Every Brand Deal Is an Ad: Three Lawsuits Every Creator Should Know About

By / October 16, 2026

Picture a creator on a tight deadline. The sponsored post is due tonight, a trending song fits the post perfectly, the brand’s talking points are sitting in the inbox, and the only thing left is to hit publish. Most creators have lived some version of that moment. This post is for them. Courts, competitors and …

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‘Perpetual’ and ‘Exclusive’: Two Magic Words Doing More Than First Appears

By / September 29, 2026

Contracts are full of magic words, and two of my favorites words are ‘perpetual’ and ‘exclusive.’ In a grant of rights, ‘Perpetual’ speaks to how long that grant lasts. ‘Exclusive’ turns on whether anyone else, including the creator who made the work, can ever use that work again. Each word does a lot more work …

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7 Legal Questions to Ask when Marketing a Game

By / September 30, 2026

Marketing a game is becoming ever more important as platforms get flooded with new games daily. Developers, especially those with smaller marketing budgets, have to get increasingly creative with how they market their games, lest they get pushed to the back of the search results. With great creativity comes great responsibility. There are an infinite …

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Transmedia and Cross-Platform Adaptations: What Game Devs Should Know Before Granting (or Receiving) a License

By / September 8, 2026

My favorite board game, Agricola, has been turned into a mobile game app twice. The first time, Lookout Games had rights in the board game and, presumably, entered into a license agreement with Playdek to develop the mobile app. The result was an excellent adaptation of the board game with a few bugs. Later, Asmodee …

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Why Most Creator Payment Disputes Are Lost At Signing

By / August 20, 2026

Many creator payment disputes begin the day the contract is signed. By the time payment becomes an issue, the work has already been completed, the campaign has gone live and leverage has largely disappeared. Many of those disputes could have been avoided if the payment provisions had received the same attention as the headline business …

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Indemnification Clauses in Game Development Contracts

By / August 26, 2026

An indemnification clause is a provision in an agreement that shifts risk from one party to another. In a game development agreement, it often appears near the end of the document and receives less attention than payment terms or ownership rights because it looks like legal jargon. But when a dispute arises, this clause can …

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What Happens to a Publishing Deal When Conditions Change?

By / July 24, 2026

Gaming is an ever-evolving industry that seems to shift and reinvent itself every day. Big news or changes in industry conditions can directly impact publishing deals, so publishers, developers and content creators will want to look at any deals they have in place (or that they’re negotiating) when that news hits. One event impacting the …

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How to Fight Scope Creep

By / August 7, 2026

Here’s a common scenario game studios may be familiar with: a contractor and studio meet, decide they want to work together, and then begin a short evaluation period so both can test the working relationship. The evaluation goes well and they agree to continue. A few extra requests get added here and there. Weeks later, …

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