1. Santa Clara Legal Symposium
Riley Russell, General Counsel
Sony Computer Entertainment

2. Dubious Credentials: Same phone number 18 years
Told Sony not use “PlayStation”
Producer of best selling Sega CD game.
Video game lawyer when there were none
A “dinosaur”
“Smartest man in the room…” (oldest)
History (ex. from a “practicing” lawyer)
A few legitimate legal credentials

3. Two programmers, artist and part time musician
Toe Jam & Earl
$ 300,000
Two programmers, artist and part time musician
L. A. Noire
$ 30,000,000 +
Music, Right of publicity (celebrity, copyright (LA buildings) TM issues, guns,

4. Mobile: Return to our roots
Small Development Teams
Manageable budgets
Large returns (on a percentage basis)
Ease of distribution
Licenses & Original Product

5. Mobile: Return to our roots (Business Issues)
Clutter -- ease of distribution, too much product; too many bad games
Brand market is very much a top 10 or recognizable brand market
Price erosion --- quality erosion.
Development costs. Rising bars.
Like the 1980’s Television Market

6. Legal Challenges
New games same issues as always
(ownership, financing, marketing)
Distribution easier
Licensed product – Retro games.
Rights Holder -- who are they? Where are the contracts?
Developer Royalties -- still exist
Format license
Target machine -- contractual language.
“porting”
Game assets
Music often gating issue. $$$ issue.
Similar problem for advertising & promotions.

7. Future ?
Tablets, Smarter Phones, and Cloud will make mobile gaming richer.
All business models work -- but not for everybody.
Line between games/apps/reality will blur.
Holy Grail of Convergence is Convergence of Content
Industry grows and segments
Like TV in the late 80s
Much harder to remain profitable
Production company not studio models
Game “directors”.
The pie will continue to grow, but cutting out slices will be more difficult.
Lawyers are needed to pick up the pieces

8. Thank you