City Research Online

Abstract

Epic’s battles against app store terms and Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard have created significant interest in how competition law applies to the video games industry. Research into this topic is limited and often focuses on narrow issues. This paper addresses the gap in the literature by offering a broad analysis of the past, present, and potential future application of EU and UK competition law to video games companies. It covers enforcement of the law on anticompetitive agreements, merger control, and abuse of dominance, plus complementary regimes regulating the digital economy. It offers an accessible overview for those without prior knowledge of competition law. For those more familiar with the law, the also paper highlights peculiarities of investigations into the gaming sector vis-à-vis other areas of activity. These include an exclusive focus on agreements that restrict cross-border sales between EU Member States, greater concern for the non-horizontal effects of acquisitions over direct loss of competition between developers, and ambivalence on market definition. Furthermore, the paper identifies several practices by video games companies which have not yet been subject to scrutiny, but could be. In particular, it explores the implications for gaming of the EU Digital Markets Act and UK Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act. While cloud streaming services and mobile gaming are significant beneficiaries of these new regulatory regimes aimed at the gatekeepers of the digital economy, the giants of the gaming industry should be very wary of comparable obligations being placed on their own digital stores.

Publication Type:	Monograph (Working Paper)
Additional Information:	Copyright 2025, the author.
Publisher Keywords:	Competition Law; Antitrust; Video Games; Digital Markets; Interactive Entertainment
Subjects:	K Law > K Law (General)
Departments:	The City Law School The City Law School > Academic Programmes The City Law School > CLS Working Paper Series
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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