Sales of computer games are continuously increasing in Germany. 2023 was filled with PC games and console games turnover of more than 3.7 billion euros. The market for smartphones and tablets is particularly booming: Daddlers bought items, skins or coins in the games via in-app stores for almost three billion euros.
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The same data protection restrictions apply to the industry in this country as, for example, to social networks. However, there are also strict youth protection regulations. And games are no longer (only) bought in stores, but mainly via platforms such as Steam, Playstation or the Google and Apple app stores. A lot of data is generated both when purchasing and when using it.
Consent obsolete
Prof. Christian-Henner Hentsch podcasting on the interpretation matter
In c’t’s data protection podcast, a legal expert and stakeholder explains the perspective of the German games industry: Prof. Christian-Henner Hentsch is a professor for copyright and media law at the Cologne Research Center for Media Law at the TH Cologne, and is also responsible as head of law and regulation for the Association of the German Games Industry “game” all internal legal questions as well as legal policy issues.
Hentsch gives an insight into the industry and explains which parties are currently operating there, from platforms to publishers to indie studios. Because advertising space in games is rarely sold, game providers generally do not require consent to collect data. In this area, everything is regulated via the purchase and usage contracts. This also includes the processing of personal data generated while playing.
The platforms themselves would accumulate a lot of data, but this would only be passed on to publishers and developers to a very limited extent, says Hentsch. But of course the players are monitored in order to optimize the gaming experience and sometimes also to find suitable places where someone might be particularly interested, for example, in accelerating the progress of the game with additional purchases.
Episode 108:
Here you can find all previous episodes:
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