Physical copies sales in #Europe are still pretty good, despite all the digital sales and accessibility. Surprisingly, conservative Russian Players chose The Last of Us, PT II as their most popular game last year.

New EU directive in action: Steam started to show 30-day lowest price to fight sale offer scams. Not everywhere yet, but it's a good starting point.

Here's how the scam worked: companies can raise the price before the sale and apply fake discount. And it will look like a good offer even if it was even cheaper a few weeks ago.

New rules will force online stores to show 30-day lowest price, so fake discounts will no longer attract buyers.

But Steam is already limiting such price changes to 2W before any sale.

#Europe #Steam #News

Europe adopts its first major Artificial Intelligence Act:

Companies will not be allowed to identify faces, intelligence services will not be allowed to predict crimes with AI, companies will have to mark all AI-generated content, their AI Models will have to be verified for legal sources, and finally, for each big AI case companies will have to provide documents to prove safety for health and the environment, democracy and human rights.

One more thing Bloomberg noticed: AI will not be allowed to screen CVs (resumes) of candidates.

SOURCE

#Laws #Europe #EU #AI #NeuralNetworks

If you live in Europe, you can now uninstall Microsoft Edge from your Windows 10 and Windows 11. No extra software needed, just go into apps, right click, uninstall (or use the old Control Panel for it).

I love the EU 🇪🇺

#Microsoft #Europe

Another thing that EU customers will see now is Google Chrome asking to pick their default search engine on startup. The order of engines is randomized to make people really decide if they want to stay with Google (or not).

The same will happened to modern Android phones — users will have to confirm they want Google services.

#Google #Europe #Legal #Internet

#Apple is under investigation for violating European regulations and will face a fine up to $38B.

Among other rules, companies now have to ALLOW USERS to install custom apps and remove the default ones.

Apple instead allowed other companies to add their own stores but they still have to pay huge onboarding fees and certain revenue shares. European authorities assumed these rules are absolutely not what the law requires. They launched an investigation that will end in Spring of 2025.

For the first violation the fine is up to 10% of revenue or $38B, but it will double for the second one and may lead to other limitations.

#Hardware #Europe

Remember #Unity promised to become better for the developers and leave all creepy practices behind, *wink-wink*?

It seems, that they are now spying on you with #AI, and they only inform customers in #Europe since they have to due to local laws.

2024 was a tough year for Don't Nod:

First, Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden and Jusant sold poorly despite fairly good critics and players reception. And then Don't Nod delayed Lost Records: Bloom and Rage and tried to focus more on Life is Strange: Double Exposure.

Because of that their market cap fallen drastically (losing 70% of the value over the year). Now they requested Euronext to suspend shares trading fully until further notice. What is going to be in the upcoming press release is unclear, but it sounds off.

Their current market capitalization is at 19.55M Eur., which is lower than the budget of their typical game. Since 2018 they lost 93% of value, falling from 32 Eur. per share to just 1.5 and now fully suspended.

#Finance #Business #Europe

It's official: Type-C is now the only allowed charger for portable devices in the EU. Even Apple gave up and now making its phones with USB.

#Europe@GameDEV
#Laws@GameDEV

EU fines EU for breaching EU data protection law

The European Union is fining itself for breaches of its data regulation legislation after it transferred personal data to the US. The German citizen logged into state-owned website via Facebook which eventually violated his personal data storage procedures.

#Laws@GameDEV
#Europe@GameDEV
#WTF@GameDEV

The European Union is banning the use of virtual currencies to disguise the price of in-game purchases.

In addition, banners and ADs can no longer target children and use limited time practices. No more fear of missing out. This change may significantly affect the revenue of Fortnite and Roblox.

#Europe@GameDEV
#Laws@GameDEV

A bit more on the new European Law, requiring clear pricing in mobile games (and games in general).

#MobileGames@GameDEV
#Europe@GameDEV
#Laws@GameDEV

You still have a chance to participate in Europe and the UK:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIfRLujXtUo
#Legal@GameDEV
#Europe@GameDEV

Stop killing games petition is now 70% full: go support it, if you are a resident of Europe!

https://www.stopkillinggames.com/
#Europe@GameDEV
#Laws@GameDEV

Vice President of the European Parliament Nicolae Ștefănuță has signed the petition for Stop Killing Games

“I stand with the people who started this citizen initiative. I signed and will continue to help them. A game, once sold, belongs to the customer, not the company.”

#Europe@GameDEV
#Legal@GameDEV