EU Proposal Would Pressure Devs To Make 'Near-Perfect' Game

[kleinluka]

Oh Europe, when will you learn....

Source: http://gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=23647

May 15, 2009

Report: EU Proposal Would Pressure Devs To Make 'Near-Perfect' Games

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A new European Union proposal aimed at providing quality guarantees to consumers could unfairly constrain the creative work of game developers, the BBC reports.

EU legislation's Sales and Guarantees Directive provides a two-year guarantee on consumer goods, but video game software has historically been exempt. The concern for the video game industry is that allowing games' inclusion under the directive may create gray-area opportunities for abuse -- consumers could seek to reject products based on subjective flaws rather than actual quality failures.

"On the one hand there is the risk of abuse, but on the other it's not a good enough reason to say basic consumer protection should not apply," insists a spokesperson for the commission.

Beyond that, though, Richard Wilson of trade body Tiga is concerned that the pressure on developers to keep pace with new tech is already a challenge to the game industry, and that an obligation under law for games to be "near-perfect" could massively reduce creative risk-taking.

"They have to be careful not to stifle new ideas," Wilson told the BBC. "Consumers need good quality products - that is only reasonable - but if the legislation is too heavy-handed it could make publishers and developers very cautious."

The Business Software Alliance, which represents a wide variety of software companies, also disapproves of the proposal. "Digital content is not a tangible good and should not be subject to the same liability rules as toasters," said a spokesperson.

[Zyn]

There's more wacky stuff going on in the EU than that : http://werebuild.eu/

[Hourences]

It is whacky, but it is our own fault. The industry knew that unless we came up with a system ourselves, the EU would step in. Everyone ignored the issue for years, they made it worse in fact by coming up with copy protection tools that just plain suck. We screwed our own customers, and now we just get the price for that really.

And this likely won't pass anyhow.

[2d-chris]

I don't like the very idea and giant waste of money that the EU is, however, some parts I kind of agree with. This can't be good news if it passes for the PC gaming industry Perhaps it's a good wakeup call.

[Gloglebag]

It's a good first step, but it lacks understanding of the industry.

[Jetsetlemming]

Does this apply to DD or just to retail? Since PC gaming's moving towards almost pure DD anyway, I would think the effect would be to more hurry that process than anything.

Even without that though I think the effect's being exaggerated a bit. It's not saying buggy games can't be released or must be recalled, just that buyers can get a refund, putting programs and digital products at parity with other consumer products. I can't really fault giving a consumer the ability to not be stuck with a bad product.

[2d-chris]

Yeah but honesty is a thing of the past.

[Furyo]

The only thing I see in that is an added incentive for developers and publishers to maintain quality support for their titles months and years down the road, instead of shoveling crap down the consumer's throat releasing a title at full price one day, reducing it 50% 3 weeks later and pushing it off the shelves two months later to make room for their latest software.

Only good things from a consumer standpoint, and aside from the extra cost on the publisher's side, also good things for us developers as a whole. You guys need to realize that while this is a proposition, it'll be amended by tons of nice footprints regarding the extent of that support warranty, like "Can only be applied if consumer's hardware does not exceed release day required specs, etc etc etc"

[sarge mat]

The EU also trying to fine Microsoft for shipping Windows with Internet explorer......

[BaRRaKID]

I really hope this proposal gets accepted, I'm tired of developers rushing software releases, and releasing more and more games with critical bugs, that make consumers loose faith in the industry. I strongly disagree with the BSA spokesperson saying that "Digital content is not a tangible good and should not be subject to the same liability rules as toasters", it's absurd, just because it's "digital" doesn't mean it's quality shouldn't be assured, the consumer still pays for it, and he has the right to demand something that at the very least works. And choosing a toaster as an example is rather funny, because if my toaster brakes, since they are so cheap, i wouldn't even send it back to warranty, i would just buy a new one. A game is far more expensive and if it doesn't works, i will probably download a pirated copy instead of buying a new one.

But i think that the big problem here is that if this turns into a law, it would mean that software would stop being classified as a service, and start being classified as good, that means that instead of owning a license to the game, you would actually own the game (yeah in case you didn't know, you don't actually own any of your games), which would also mean that you would've the right to rent, resell, borrow, and private copy the game, among other rights that come with owning a good. And then it all comes down to the same 'ol problem, piracy and DRM systems. If this happens, almost all DRM systems could be considered illegal, since they strip away rights from the consumer, so no more activation limits, hardware locks, and all that other crap.

So you see it's not just about the creativity like they try to make you believe in that article, in reality it's all about the money as usual.

[kleinluka]

Barrakid, you make an excellent point about games potentially being turned into goods and into owned property rather than licensed services. I didn't think about that.

Scary! But I'm sure while drafting a law like this they wouldn't forget about something as huge as this.. (I hope!!)