Video Game Law

Moonlighting: who owns what?

Moonlighting and side hustles – whatever you want to call them – come up frequently in the games space. However, it is important to keep in mind some potential issues that can arise – both from an employer’s perspective and from an employee’s perspective. An employer will generally want (and likely needs) to own all …

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What are the legal risks involved with localizing a video game?

The video game industry is a global phenomenon – there are video gamers in every country and in plenty of instances, gamers want to interact with games in their own native language. Localization can be a critical part of publishing a game to help it reach larger audiences. But what is localization and what are …

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What are the legal considerations for collecting data in a video game?

Data collection and analysis have become ubiquitous with modern technology and are pivotal aspects of contemporary video game design. Game developers may collect data for any number of reasons, including anything from wanting to obtain a user’s name, address, and billing information for in-game purchases, to utilizing collected data to catch hackers, or identify areas …

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What is Steam Deck? How will publishing agreements be affected?

There are many opinions on how Valve’s Steam Deck may benefit game developers, especially indie developers, but when we heard the announcement we were mostly concerned with one thing: how will Steam Deck affect publishing agreements moving forward? What is Steam Deck? Valve recently announced a new gaming handheld device called the Steam Deck that …

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Are giveaways on Twitch legal?

Giveaways that are run on Twitch are subject to the same laws as giveaways (which vary from state to state in the United States). We’ve talked about the differences between giveaways (aka sweepstakes) and contests before and what can define a giveaway. So, are giveaways on Twitch legal? It depends If all of the normal …

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