Legal
Germany Bans Vague Pre-order Release Dates
The Higher Regional Court of Munich has reached a ruling in a 2016 consumer protection claim. German retailers can no longer list products, including video games, for pre-order with generic phrases like “coming soon” and must provide a concrete date.
French Gambling Regulator Deems Loot Boxes Not Gambling. Yet.
ARJEL, France’s regulatory body on gambling, has just released their 2017-2018 activity report. Although the report criticizes the practice of loot boxes, it ruled that they don’t fall under the legal definition of gambling.
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds Drops Lawsuit Against Fortnite
It was previously reported that PUBG Corp, creator of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, was filing a lawsuit against Epic Games, the creator of Fortnite. Now it seems that the two titans of Battle Royale games won’t be going to court after all.
Bethesda Files Lawsuit Against Warner Bros Over Westworld Mobile Game
Bethesda is filing a lawsuit against Warner Bros. and Behaviour Interactive over a newly-released Westworld mobile game. Bethesda claims that the game is a “blatant rip-off” of their 2015 mobile game Fallout Shelter.
Potential EU Copyright Law Could Hamper Fan Content in Video Games
With a vote of 15 to 10, members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Legal Affairs voted to approve a new, controversial, copyright directive. If made into law, one of the many worrying changes of the European Union Copyright Directive would be requiring companies to monitor user-made content for copyright infringement.
Video Game Industry Protests ‘Gaming Disorder’ Classification
Last December, the World Health Organization (WHO) proposed that ‘Gaming Disorder’ be added as an addictive behavior to the ICD-11, the newest version of the International Classification of Diseases. A non-finalized version came out yesterday, and contains a concrete definition of the disorder. Many in the industry, however, are pushing back against the addition.
Valve Decides to Stop Policing Content on Steam
Valve has had some recent difficulties involving what they allow onto the Steam store. In an official blog post yesterday, they announced just how they’re going to handle policing the store. In short, anything goes, unless it’s illegal or “straight-up trolling.”
PUBG Corp. and Epic Games are Going to Court
The rivalry between South Korea’s Bluehole/PUBG Corp. and North Carolina-based Epic Games is highly evident. Fortnite’s arrival onto the battle royale scene took a good bit of market share from PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. Now, PUBG Corp is taking Epic Games to court over the similarities between the two battle royale games.
We Happy Few Refused Classification in Australia
In an announcement made by the Australian Classification Board, the dystopian survival game We Happy Few has been refused classification. The game has effectively been banned as a result of the country’s ruling.
Supreme Court Decision Could Lead to Legal eSports Gambling
A 6-3 decision in the Supreme Court of the United States struck down a law preventing gambling on sports events. This ruling ends a six-year legal battle over the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992. ESPN reports that this will allow legal sports betting in any states that wants to offer it. However, this could also have an impact on the eSports industry. Gambling over the years...[Read More]
EA Plans to ‘Push Forward’ with Loot Boxes in Future Games
Electronic Arts has caused some major controversy with the inclusion of loot boxes in Star Wars: Battlefront 2. However, in a recent earnings call, EA chief executive Andrew Wilson said they are planning to “push forward” with loot boxes in future games. He also challenged the common complaint about loot boxes being a form of gambling.
World of Warcraft DDoS Attacker Sentenced to Year in Prison
In 2010, European World of Warcraft servers were the targets of a series of DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) attacks. Now, eight years later, the perpetrator has been sentenced to a year in United States federal prison.