In 2020, the gaming industry stood out among growing markets. In the US, this industry is bigger than the movies and sports markets combined[1]. The gaming industry grew partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, because people had to stay at home and find different forms of entertainment. Also, market factors helped to boost its growth, i.e., video game devices are less expensive, and there are good quality games that do not require high performance machines. The mobile game industry is now consolidated, resulting in the professionalization of the market as a whole.
In Brazil alone, Game Brazil 2020[2] Survey revealed that 73.4% of the Brazilian public play games: an increase of 7.1% compared to 2019. And, for the first time, the mobile is the leading platform for playing games. With regard to “e-games”, “electronic sports” or “e-Sports”, it is a market which also had an outstanding result in 2020: global market of electronic sports already moves over US $ 1.1 billion per year, according to Newzoo[3] survey. According to it, back in 2018, Brazil was already No. 3 in the world, with 7.6 million people watching professional content more than once a month. Also, the popularity of electronic games is driving traditional sports clubs to this market: Flamengo and Corinthians, Brazilian soccer teams, have already launched several games, such as Free Fire and Counter Strike.
The volume of investments involved in this industry is making startups and large companies to be more careful about the legal safeguards that are necessary to efficiently and safely achieve their market potential. Below, we detail a few important points to be observed by people working in this ecosystem. A few of them are detailed in our article Doing Business in Brazil: Gaming Industry.
E-Sports are merely competitions or competitive game tournaments where multiple players face each other in real time. Currently, there are several live competitions organized by game developers or by the teams themselves where gamers face each other. Also, It is very common for players to broadcast their gameplays. In case of major events, the aspects below should be taken into consideration:
- Players and participants should authorize the use of their personality rights (such as image and voice) for the transmissions;
- Depending on the game broadcasted in a tournament, the developer’s authorization may be required;
- Compliance with the terms and restrictions under the platform’s terms of use for broadcasting the games;
- It may be necessary to pay Authorship rights to government agencies, such as Ecad and Ubem, for music transmission.
As for gamers streaming their gameplay, the market has introduced an important new character: influencer streamers. The moto of influencers is detailed in other parts of this publication. However, within the scope of electronic sports, it may be necessary to consider the application of Pelé Law (Law No. 9,615 / 1998). But beware: its Art. 87-A, sole paragraph, establishes a limitation for the player’s image use: if athletes assigns their image use rights, it cannot exceed 40% of their total remuneration. Also, if an influencer shows any products or brands during transmission, it is important to pay careful attention to the recommendations and good practices for broadcasting online advertising recently published by CONAR[4].
Despite moving large volumes of investment and attracting huge audiences, many of these practices are still new to the Brazilian market and, from a legal standpoint, they raise questions about their enforceability. It is important to highlight that, regardless of the regulation adopted, it should foster a healthier market where all parties involved can profit from its effective, transparent and productive growth.
