Last week the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage presented a draft of the long-announced ‘Act on financial support for the production of cultural video games’. The proposed act provides the rules of financial support for video game producers by means of tax exemptions for video games promoting Polish or European cultural heritage. The act aims to improve the conditions of the functioning of the video game production market in Poland and to create…
The “Market Guardian Experts” organization (Marktwächter) of the Consumer Protection Association Rhineland-Palatinate (“CPA RP”) announced that it has sent a cease-and-desist letter to two mobile game providers, Outfit7 Limited and Green Tea Games Limited, for an alleged violation of child-related advertisement laws. According to the CPA RP, the two mobile games offer in-app purchases for a price of up to 109.99 Euros and promote them with obtrusive pop-up advertising throughout the game. 1. Summary and provided arguments Outfit7 Limited received a warning letter…
In April this year, the Belgian Gaming Commission (BGC) announced the outcome of its investigation on loot boxes against three major companies from the gaming sector. The BGC found the investigated loot box mechanisms to be in violation with existing Belgian gambling laws by applying a very broad gambling definition (summary and comments here). The BGC also stated that “[g]iven the fact that only four games were examined, the problem might be bigger” and recommended a…
The German consumer association North Rhine-Westphalia (Verbraucherzentrale NRW) announced that it considers numerous terms of service of a leading console marketplace to be in breach with the German law on standard business terms. For this reason, the Verbraucherzentrale NRW sent a cease and desist letter to Sony Europe to stop using the allegedly violating clauses. As an example, the Verbraucherzentrale NRW names clauses which require the user to use his/her pre-paid credit within 24 months to avoid expiration. The Verbraucherzentrale…
One minute ago, at 11 am CET on August 8, 2018, the German classification board (“USK”) announced that it will from now on accept applications for the classification of video games which include swastikas and other so called “nazi symbols”. The decision will most likely be the beginning of the end of an era in which video games which include “unconstitutional” symbols had to be heavily altered for their German release. The decision has significant…
Australia is one of the few countries where video games are still regularly refused classification (RC), even after the R18+ rating was finally introduced in 2013, which allowed for more mature content in video games than the previous highest MA 15+ rating. Additionally, several video game and movie rating decisions are appealed each year to obtain a lower age-rating to be able to reach a broader audience. Recently the Australian Classification Board (ACB) overturned the…
Since the loot box debate peaked again in April 2018 with regulatory enforcement action being announced or taken in South Korea, Belgium and the Netherlands, things have calmed down significantly. Nevertheless, several proceedings, investigations and legislative actions which were initiated during the first loot box peak in October/November 2017 are still ongoing, one of them being the investigation commenced by the French gambling regulator, the Autorité de regulation des jeux en ligne (“ARJEL”). For different reasons, the decision of the…
The worldwide loot box controversy continues. After the Dutch and Belgian Gambling Authorities announced enforcement action on loot boxes this week and the week before, a new loot box bill was introduced in Minnesota, USA this week. The bill joins other state level legislative efforts in the USA which were introduced since the global loot box debate peaked in the second half of 2017. This short summary describes the most notable political and regulatory reactions…
Fan service (ファンサービス): German regultors increasingly crack down on Japanese anime video games | LinkedIn Facts During the last 18 months a significant change of the regulatory practice in relation to Japanese anime games featuring so called “fan service” (ファンサービス / fan sābisu) took place in Germany. Five games were refused classification by the German Age Rating board (“USK”): Criminal Girls 2, Valkyrie Drive: Bhikkhuni, Senran Kagura: Peach Beach Splash, Gal*Gun 2, and Omega Labyrinth…