GAME - Law & Business

Episode 11 - Connotations of a Veteran Start-up Studio / Thomas Gravgaard.

Thomas is a Hyper-optimist, working on multi-player turn-based technology building games that utilize possibilities of digital - board games with additional layers. To be available on mobile and web. Together with three other industry veterans, Thomas is currently building the start-up studio, Glitchfjørd Games, leaning into Scandinavian cool vibe. “Mobile space is stale!” - Thomas has the desire to avoid free-to-play mechanics, such as battle-pass, lootbox, etc. Instead he is considering the “friend pass”, that offers more virality options.  Recent cases on anti-trust opening the market: * USA, April 2025: https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/epic-apple-court-order-2025-injunction/ [https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/epic-apple-court-order-2025-injunction/]  * Australia, August 2025: https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/australia-court-rules-partly-against-apple-google-epic-games-lawsuit-2025-08-12/ [https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/australia-court-rules-partly-against-apple-google-epic-games-lawsuit-2025-08-12/] Thomas mentions an epic “Rolemaster” pen and paper 15 hours’ session to kill a deadly Manticore. Check out the system:https://ironcrown.co.uk/rolemaster/ [https://ironcrown.co.uk/rolemaster/] Some home computers from 1980’s mentioned in this episode: * Sinclair ZX80 and ZX81: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZX80 [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZX80] , https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZX81 [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZX81] * Lambda 8300 (ZX81 clone) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambda_8300 [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambda_8300] * Commodore Amiga https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga]

Episode 10 - Chopping up your games lawyer – with Dario Rahimic

In this GAME Law & Business episode I have the pleasure of talking with Dario from Chop Chop Games about gems, music and legal issues.  Prior to the recording we agreed that Dario should prepare some games-related legal topics to discuss in the session - without telling me before. I think this format worked out quite well, and I hope you will enjoy listieng to our thoughts on questions about phone controller liability, IP paradoxes, Image Rights and AI. Thank you for listening. Please contact me to share your comments and ideas; LinkedIn: Robert Jønsson DAHL, Discord: video.game.lawyer, or email: roj@dahllaw.dk [https://dahllaw.dk/]  Special thanks to DAHL Law firm and Dennis from Podcaster.dk [http://podcaster.dk/] who produced this episode in Aarhus, Denmark.  Recording, editiing, mix and publishing: Dennis G. M. Jensen /Podcaster.dk Composer: Henrik Phalke Møller.

Episode 9 - Community Driven Publishing

In this episode of GAME Law & Business, we continue our Publishing theme and sit down with Alexandar Skronski, the Head of Publishing at Ghost Ship Publishing. With tons of experience in the games industry, Alex shares his journey and insights into the world of game publishing.  During the recording session we discovered our shared common interest for playing the piano. Alex currently enjoys playing low-fi grooves and we plan to meet up for a jam-session. We delve into Alex's innovative approaches to creating awareness within game communities, highlighting how he leverages the passion of both developers and players to build strong, engaged communities. We discuss the importance of supporting developers both in operation and contract-wise to secure fair and successful business for all parties. Finally, Alex shares his vision for the future of game publishing and community building, offering a glimpse into upcoming projects and initiatives at Ghost Ship Publishing. Thank you for listening. Please contact me to share your comments and ideas; LinkedIn: Robert Jønsson DAHL, Discord: video.game.lawyer, or email: roj@dahllaw.dk [https://dahllaw.dk/] Special thanks to DAHL Law Firm and to Victor and Dennis from podcaster.dk [http://podcaster.dk/] who produced this episode. Photos © Christina van Soest

Episode 8 - The Evolution of Publishing Contracts

Guest/Co-host: Allan Kirkeby, Senior Business Developer at EA Dania, Former CEO of Unity Studios, and hosting the IDSU podcast: https://www.idsu.dk/podcast [https://www.idsu.dk/podcast] (in Danish)  Episode Content: In this episode we delve into the world of publishing contracts with Allan Kirkeby. We look into some key components of publishing contracts and talk about how publishing contracts have changed over time to adapt to the evolving industry landscape.   Personal Insights: Allan enjoys listening to 80’s music, such as Depeche Mode, while cooking. He’s also an avid gamer, currently playing Spacemarine II and exploring many indie titles. Robert has an eclectic [=wide-ranging] music taste including contemporary Italian jazz, enjoying artists like Nicola Conte and Antonio Faraò. In the gaming world, he’s currently engaged with Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor.   Quotes and References: Please note our nod to the nostalgic era of old school physical media storage, including CD-Rom, floppy disc, and cassette tape (used as data storage in the 80’s for systems like VIC-20, Commodore 64, ZX 81, ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC). “Come back I can still bite you” - is a quote from Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), and “One Contract to Rule Them All” is a of course a playful reference to Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings.   Future Episodes Teaser: Stay tuned for the next few episodes where we continue to explore the theme of publishing from various perspectives, featuring experienced industry professionals.  Produced in collaboration with Podcaster.dk Recorded by Dennis G. M. Jensen Editing and mix by Dennis G. M. Jensen/Podcaster.dk Music by Henrik Pahlke Møller

Episode 7 - The Indie Dream

From one-man-band to rock star. The creator of Necesse, Mads Skovgaard, has taken the full journey, starting 12 years ago from scratch in every sense, even building his own game engine to support his vision of a fun and interesting game experience. Getting in touch with influencers, building updates, community management, and much more until at one day reaching the front page of Steam to discover that a vast number of players are willing to invest in spending time with their friends in the emergent worlds of Necesse.  We also talk about next steps after growing from indie to indie+ (or true independence), having a team to share your vision with, and how to develop your IP and stories in an emergent world sandbox game.  Thank you for listening. Please contact me to share your comments and ideas; LinkedIn: Robert Jønsson DAHL, Discord: video.game.lawyer, or email: roj@dahllaw.dk [https://dahllaw.dk] Special thanks to DAHL and Dennis from podcaster.dk [http://podcaster.dk/] who produced this episode. Produced in collaboration with Podcaster.dk Recorded by Dennis G. M. Jensen Editing and mix by Dennis G. M. Jensen/Podcaster.dk Music by Henrik Pahlke Møller