Esports Industry Annual Report 2019 by Nielsen and AESVI (Italian publishers and developers association)
Insight was in Milan to witness firsthand AESVI and Nielsen release of the Italian annual report on Esports.
As it was expected, the Esports sector growth is steady and very interesting also in Italy, which now counts 350.000 Esports’ avid fans and 1.2 million fans, registering, respectively, a 35% and 20% growth from 2018.
You can read the complete Esports Industry Italian Annual Report 2019 here.
Games Industry Law Summit 2019 - Vilnius
Insight was in Vilnius for the 5th edition of the Games Industry Law Summit, where the firm was asked to present the Italian update on the regulatory framework applicable to the videogame industry. The conference, which is always amazingly well-organized, was also a great opportunity to hear valuable insights from our colleagues coming from every part of the world, offering a global picture of the regulatory framework related to the videogames industry.
If you want more information on the conference and maybe you want to mark the dates of the 2020 edition, click here.
Soft talk on Gaming, Interactive Entertainment and Esports organized by MediaLaws
Insight together with Alessandro Coni, expert in sports law, and the young proplayer and head of Rocket League e-Sports of the University of Manchester Esports Society, Alessandro Samaja, talked about Esports at the third session of the soft talks organized by MediaLaws. The event was a great opportunity to talk about the Esports ecosystem, to explore the legal issues underlying competitive vedeogaming, that players entering the industry are likely to face and also to engage with the public in relation to possible development prospects for the Esports industry.
If you wish to know more about the topics covered, a short summary of the event is available here (in Italian).
The article “Esports in Italy: an industry ready to take off (or still in search of its regulatory soul?)”, written by Insight has been accepted for publication
The article has gone through peer review and been accepted for publication in the next issue of the Interactive Entertainment Law Review, which is due in May.
The article analyzes what the authors we refer to as “systemic fallacies” of the Italian legislative and regulatory framework and discuss their potential negative impact on the development of the Italian esports industry. It explores the possibility that those shortcomings may act as a disincentive, given the risk exposure they generate for businesses, to a more vigorous entry of foreign capital and know-how in Italian esports, also questioning the legality and long term sustainability of the quasi-sports federation model being embraced largely in Italy at the “grass-roots” level, in the light of the Blizzard-KeSpa (South Korean) case – a reminder of the existence, unlike in traditional sports, of intellectual property rights to the videogames played in tournaments. The paper then looks at experiences in foreign jurisdictions, from a comparative perspective, in order to tentatively outline possible solutions to resolve the current systemic fallacies.
More than Just a Game V – “The role of games and interactive entertainment in society” - London
The Insight team was in London for the fifth edition of the More Than Just a Game series of conferences developed by Gaetano, which, as usual, gathered prominent legal professionals and researches dealing with Interactive Entertainment and encouraged the most interesting discussions.
Insight was part of a panel and touched upon EU anti-trust issues relating to the use of geo- blocking technology by videogame digital distribution platforms in relation to different transactional models including the commercial agency model. On this occasion Insight spoke about government interference and the increased relevance of regulations in connection with new videogame monetization models (e.g. loot boxes) and esports from an Italian perspective.
The conference was, as always, a success and provided great insights into the latest legal, business, technological and ethical challenges the industry is facing at the global level. It was also a great chance for the entire Insight team to have a taste of niceness and innovative thinking that characterizes videogame industry people.
If you missed MTJG V have a look at IPKAT summary of the key point touched upon by the conference speakers, which is available here.
Welcome on board Aron!
We are thrilled to announce the joining of Aron Park as Chief Technology & Innovation Officer in our Team. Aron, who is passionate about classical music, video games and competitive gaming, has started his career path in the Legal and Corporate Affairs department at Microsoft and since then he has managed anti-piracy, enforcement and intellectual property protection programs also for other industries’ players. He’s been involved with both the institutional and private sectors and as part of his duties he has engaged extensively with judicial authorities and law enforcement agencies across Italy and Europe.
Aron’s mission at Insight is to ensure that the firm, and its video games, esports, new media and technology practice, remains at the forefront of the legal services industry, provide and stimulate innovation, both in terms of processes and technologies adoption, in addition to leading the PR and Social Media efforts of the Insight team. He is also responsible of supporting the Insight TMT team’s legal work, with a particular focus on digital entertainment and esports.
Please click here to read Aron complete profile.
DStars live Event 2019 - Padua
Insight was in Padova, to attend the DStars award live event and meet in person some of the winners of the 2019 and first edition of DStars.
DStars is an award, created by developers to acknowledge and celebrate Italian video game industry professionals. The live prize-giving, besides being the last step (for this edition) of an interesting project, which Insight’s team has been following and supporting since its creation with our talented friends Alberto Belli and Giulia Zamboni of Gamera Interactive, was also a great opportunity to meet some veterans as well as younger talents from the Italian video game industry and hear from them about their ideas and projects.
The event was covered by www.gamasutra.com and a you can read about it here.
For more information on DStars, visit www.dstars.it.
GameRome 2018 - the Rome Developers Conference
Insight was at GameRome. The firm met Italian indie developers as well as international attendees and speakers. It was a great opportunity for Insight to run a workshop on videogame development and publishing deals’ key legal terms and to share with the young developers attending some legal and business “DOs” and “DON’Ts” relating to videogame development and commercialization.
For more details about GameRome , and information about next edition, visit https://www.gamerome.com.
Invest Korea Week - Seoul
Ju Yeon attended the conference organized in Seoul by Invest KOREA (IK), South Korea's national investment promotion agency, which supports the entry and establishment of foreign businesses in South Korea and holds investment promotion activities abroad. Ju Yeon met investors and representatives of Korean companies operating in different fields, from IT to Fashion, Cosmetics and Food.
Insight at the Regional International Conference – “Intellectual Property (IP) in the Digital Economy for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) Conference IP and Interactive Entertainment” organized by WIPO
WIPO invited Insight to the Regional International Conference – “Intellectual Property (IP) in the Digital Economy for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) Conference IP and Interactive Entertainment” held in Bucharest and organized by WIPO in cooperation with ORDA, OSIM, the Romanian American University in Bucharest and Law Firm of Pantea Cezar Marius, to speak alongside Professor David Greenspan, from Santa Clara University, on the role of videogame publishers and developers, legal and business issues relating videogame development & distribution agreements, the US right of publicity and Its EU equivalent right, as well as on legal issues arising with the adoption of new monetization models including “free to play” models, in-game microtransactions and loot boxes.
The event was an amazing opportunity to speak about video game law in front of policy makers from different countries and to hear some really interesting talks on intellectual property law and gaming regulations as these apply to videogames and gambling products and services and on the future of the gaming industries.
You can access a copy of the program here
And read more about the conference here