Pleased to announce 'Wig-Indies' - a new initiative which continues our long-running commitment to supporting incredible new games businesses of tomorrow. Free legal consultations, indie packages, flexible fee models and more – all offered by people that love and play games.

*Repost from Jan 2024* I've been working with indie studios as a games lawyer for nearly a decade. For anyone taking recent events as a chance to start up their own studio, I hope these legal tips help. Good luck out there!

Disputes regarding indie game IP ownership are unfortunately common. Indie dev often starts between friends, where noone wants to talk business. But it's not that complicated - set up a company, put the IP in that, and get agreements with contributors. It'll be worth it.

VIDEO GAMES DEALS - a 🧵 I spend 75% of my working life negotiating games deals. They’re complex, messy and completely non-standardised (i.e. great fun), which often results in an inconsistent use of deal terminology.

I’m not across the details, but it sounds like what Google has done here is what it’s supposed to do under DMCA - i.e Take down content on receipt of notice If the other party contests, the content goes back up UNLESS the party submitting the complaint litigates within 14 days

AAA game budgets... New court filings indicate three Call of Duty games cost between $450m - $700m to develop *each*. That covers initial development costs and post-release content, but not marketing. Those were for games in 2015-2020, meaning latest entries are likely even higher.

Ever heard of a "pay or play" clause? e.g. "Composer shall receive, on a pay or play basis, the sum of [AMOUNT] as fee for all composing, producing, recording and performance of the Score." It basically means that you have to pay the other party, even if they never actually provide the services!

Ever heard of a "pay or play" clause? e.g. "Composer shall receive, on a pay or play basis, the sum of [AMOUNT] as fee for all composing, producing, recording and performance of the Score." It basically means that you have to pay the other party, even if they never actually provide the services!

Why having a lawyer review any agreement is necessary. This stuff is real…

Dev funding is recouped from Net Revenue. Dev funding is recouped from Dev’s share of Net Revenue. Spot the difference? Those two extra words can result in a dev potentially never seeing a single penny from their game, even if it’s a success.

75% of my professional life is advising on commercial deals like these. Publishing deals are notoriously complex, inconsistent and (on the whole) poorly written. I have NEVER seen a publishing where I’d recommend a dev signs the first draft.

Hello! I’m a video games lawyer / business advisor in London. I want to help good people make awesome games. Let’s connect! 👋👋