UpGAIT Quarterly – Gaming and Immersive Technology Q1 2023 Update

Our UpGAIT series sets out notable gaming and immersive technology related legal developments from the last quarter.

UK ICO consult on draft guidance on ‘likely to be accessed’

The UK’s ICO has drafted supporting guidance documents, and is seeking feedback on the documents on ‘likely to be accessed’ in the context of its Children’s code and accompanying impact assessment.

The ICO is inviting feedback on its draft guidance until 19 May 2023.

European Parliament adopts report on video games

The European Parliament voted to adopt a report which calls on the European Commission to address a number of “problems” in the gaming industry, with a view to improving consumer protection. More than a dozen recommendations were made within the report, including:

• calling on the EC to analyse the impact of loot boxes and prompts to make in-game purchases;
• calling on national authorities to stop illegal practices allowing anyone to exchange, sell or bet on in-game sites and considers that the Digital Services Act may help to mitigate the problem; and
• encouraging games using pay-to-win models to clearly inform players of the feature before they start to play, and to offer a play mode without pay-to-win transactions.

The Interactive Software Federation of Europe and the European Game Developers Federation issued a joint statement, saying the they were “concerned” by the calls for “stricter regulation” and said such regulation will impact funding for games development.

European Commission launched virtual worlds initiative

The European Commission aims to develop a vision for emerging virtual worlds (e.g. metaverses) based on respect for digital rights and EU laws and values and is calling on input from a ‘citizens’ panel’. A call for evidence is “upcoming”. The initiative will describe its vision, address opportunities and societal challenges and announce upcoming implementation measures.

New draft guidelines in China on gaming content

China’s video gaming industry association (The Gaming Publishing Committee of the China Audio-Video and Digital Publishing Association) published draft self-discipline guidelines for the industry, setting out 11 requirements that new game titles must meet before they can be distributed in the region. Games companies in China have until 13 April to respond with feedback and opinions.