How do policy changes and regulatory compliance at a global level create new opportunities within the games industry? That was the subject of discussion at one of the panels at GamesBeat Next 2025, where I got the chance, as moderator, to speak with some of the experts on the topic.
On the panel were Carla Bedrosian, Chief Legal Officer at Xsolla; Emma Smizer, associate at the Interactive Entertainment Group at Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz; and Diana Ovsepian, partner at Sidley Austin. The panel’s topic was about the challenges and potential opportunities that arise from complying with laws, as well as how companies can evolve and change in response.
Bedrosian noted that there is a lot of global focus on age-gating and other related consumer protection laws, currently directed mostly towards mobile app stores and games. This can, she said, help create new innovations: “You can now steer users off of the platforms and onto your own website, and you no longer have to pay these 30% commission fees. That’s phenomenal, and it came from regulatory change… These regulatory schemes are moving towards opening those markets, and that means more money for game developers.”
The concerns are not merely ethical or protective in nature, as Ovsepian pointed out. “When we think about compliance in the gaming industry, we think about the issues that Carla and Emma brought up. But my background is in real estate, and what often doesn’t get discussed is the real estate and data centers that are needed to power all of these things and all of the regulations that are changing there: Geopolitical concerns, environmental concerns, backlash from communities … there’s a lot to unpack.”
Complying with laws everywhere, all at once
Smizer said that complying with individual laws — such as the Texas App Store Accountability Act — changes the way developers and platforms interact with all users. “App stores have to do this age verification, but so do software and hardware developers. Global compliance is complicated, even just across the states… We’re moving toward a world where you can’t just be willfully ignorant about the age of your users.”
Smizer also noted that age verification and children’s safety online can open up opportunities for third-party companies: “It opens a new market in terms of assisting with content moderation — any vendors that offer any kind of age-assurance mechanisms — and any kind of self-regulatory bodies like the ESRB… those industries that become the support pieces of the industry have a chance to grow.”
Bedrosian also pointed out that developers and platforms have to stay nimble. “The gaming industry in particular, I find has a much easier time pivoting… With all these regulatory changes, I think if any industry can survive and pivot and grow from it, gaming is primed to do so thanks to our DNA and culture. We’re primed for meeting these challenges dead on and growing from it.”