"Assumptions that the new bill is needed for blocking are unfounded," said a member of the Duma's working group on video games
Alexander Zhuravlev is the managing partner of the law firm "EBR" and a member of the working group under the Ministry of Digital Development of Russia on video games. He spoke to the newspaper "Kommersant" about the nuances of the bill regulating the gaming industry in Russia. Below are the main points from the interview.
- The Russian gaming industry was regulated even before the creation of the bill "On Activities for the Development and Distribution of Video Games in the Russian Federation." As Zhuravlev pointed out, it is currently governed by laws such as "On Personal Data," "On Information," and many others.
- However, Zhuravlev asserts that games are "a method of conveying meanings." Therefore, specialized regulation is indispensable. It exists in other countries and is sometimes stricter than what is proposed in Russia.
- Banning games is not a panacea and does not help authorities achieve desired results. It leads to the emergence of a gray market.
- Only two games have been banned in Russia in the last 30 years. One of them was pornographic.
- Labeling helps players understand in advance whether they want to launch a game with specific content or not. It is used in various forms worldwide. If Russian descriptors eventually match those of other countries, foreign gaming platforms will not need to introduce anything new, as they have already complied with the bill's labeling requirements.
- They are not planning to introduce distribution licenses for games in Russia. According to Zhuravlev, it is practically impossible to examine all games before they are published in the country.
- The bill mentions game examination, but in a different format. Zhuravlev believes it is intended to be conducted if a developer has incorrectly set the labeling, and someone complains and requests to check the game at their own expense.
- The examination clause is one of the contentious issues in the bill and needs refining. It is unclear who should conduct the examination, how long it will take, whether game sales will be halted during the check, what penalties gaming companies face for violations, whether it will lead to abuses, etc.
- The bill contains several terms, but they also need refinement. For instance, it is currently unclear from the text how video games differ from other IT services, and this needs to be clarified to receive tax benefits. Meanwhile, the term "in-game property" is redundant in the bill. Firstly, its definition is written as if they were regular goods, leading to legal inconsistencies. Secondly, introducing this term at the legislative level changes nothing—the practice of resolving disputes related to gaming items has long been established.
- Zhuravlev stated that many developers are concerned about the clause obligating them to ensure users have uninterrupted access to the game.
- "Hacker attacks, equipment issues, and so on still exist. Besides, no developer will support a game for 50 years. Like any other product, games have a life cycle; some die within a week, while others survive for years. There's also the question of what to do with games that were released before the law comes into force and are no longer supported by publishers or developers but are still available. Regulation should not impose new, uncharacteristic obligations on the industry," Zhuravlev noted.
- Public services are just one of the four methods of authorization proposed by the bill. If a company does not want to add it, it can authorize via phone number, a unified biometric system, or any other secure information system.
- The authorities already have tools to block Steam and other foreign gaming platforms in Russia. However, this is not happening. They do not plan to block them after the bill is passed either.