Summary. Everything that must close before ship, and what happens after.

Phase 1 — Build the rights register

One row per component. This document surfaces nearly every problem below.

  • Engine — license version, revenue thresholds, branding requirements, restricted uses
  • Middleware — physics, audio, networking, analytics, each with its own terms
  • Open source — every component, its license, attribution and source-disclosure obligations
  • Purchased assets — store license terms; does a "single commercial product" limit apply?
  • Commissioned art — present assignment language? moral rights addressed?
  • Music — composition and recording separately; streaming rights; territory; term
  • Voice and performance capture — assignment; likeness; digital replica as a separate grant
  • Third-party brands — vehicles, weapons, products, leagues, real people
  • Fonts — desktop license versus embedding license
  • Platform agreements — certification, commercial terms, technical standards
  • Assign one named owner to maintain the register

Phase 2 — Close the gaps

  • Engine revenue threshold modeled into the financial plan
  • Music streaming rider negotiated, or a streamer-safe audio mode built, or tracks replaced
    • Grant covers end-user recording, transmission, and public performance
    • Licensor will instruct its rights administrators to release claims
  • Asset licenses extended to cover any companion app, port, sequel, or compilation
  • Fonts relicensed for embedding
  • Standalone digital replica consents obtained from performers, with technique described, compensation for creation and use, term, post-term restrictions, and source-data deletion
  • Open source notices file complete and correctly formatted
  • Third-party brand licenses executed
  • Present assignment language confirmed for every contributor, including founders pre-incorporation

Phase 3 — Register the intellectual property

  • Copyright registration for the game — prerequisite to suit under 17 U.S.C. § 411; conditions statutory damages and fees under 17 U.S.C. § 412
  • Registration planned for significant updates
  • Trademark clearance and filing for the title, key characters, in-game brands, in relevant markets
  • Domain and social handles secured before announcement
  • Design patents considered for distinctive interface or hardware elements

Phase 4 — Player-facing terms

  • EULA drafted for the actual product, not from a template
  • License, not sale, clearly stated
  • Virtual items: character, modification and removal rights, season end, and shutdown
  • Accounts and termination: grounds, process, effect on purchased content
  • Refunds, coordinated with platform policies and statutory withdrawal rights
  • Prohibited conduct: cheating, exploits, unauthorized software, account sales
  • Dispute resolution with an acceptance record supporting enforcement
  • Changes to terms: notice and re-acceptance where material
  • Privacy notice matching actual data practice
  • Read as a player would read it by someone outside legal

Phase 5 — User content, modding, and video

  • User content license granting only what the business identified: hosting, display, distribution, marketing with attribution, sublicense to infrastructure providers
  • Moderation, removal, and account-termination effects addressed
  • Whether players may monetize creations
  • Modding policy published — what may be modified, monetization, third-party IP, anti-cheat interaction, right to change
  • Video policy published — non-commercial and monetized gameplay permitted; no game distribution; no pre-release builds; no misrepresenting affiliation; embargoes; takedown reserved; music position noted

Phase 6 — Item shop review

Walk the actual flow on a real device.

  • Real-money cost displayed, not only premium currency
  • Currency bundles divide evenly into item prices
  • Odds disclosed for any randomized mechanic
  • No cash-out path or tolerated secondary market — introducing one changes the gambling analysis; see 31 U.S.C. § 5362 and 31 U.S.C. § 5363
  • Purchase confirmation resists accidental buys
  • Second confirmation above a threshold
  • Parental controls tested with an actual child account
  • Spending limits available
  • Subscription auto-renewal disclosures and cancellation flow compliant
  • No dark patterns: pre-selected options, obscured decline, confusing currency layering — 15 U.S.C. § 45

Phase 7 — Minors

  • Determine whether directed to children under 13, or actual knowledge of such users
  • If so: verifiable parental consent under 15 U.S.C. § 6501 and 16 C.F.R. Part 312
  • No advertising or analytics SDK in a child-directed game — persistent identifiers are personal information
  • Neutral age gate that does not pre-fill an adult year
  • Defaults for minor accounts: voice chat, contact from strangers, profile visibility, profiling
  • Age assurance approach documented with its limitations
  • Advertising placement and creator promotion reviewed

Phase 8 — Content infrastructure

Required if the game hosts anything a player creates — including screenshots, usernames, and profile images.

  • DMCA agent registered with the Copyright Office; contact published
  • Notice and counter-notice procedures published
  • Repeat infringer policy with strike tracking and actual terminations under 17 U.S.C. § 512
  • Community guidelines, public, with examples
  • Internal enforcement guidance
  • Moderation tooling with decision logging
  • Appeals process, staffed if offered
  • Reporting flows for harassment, impersonation, illegal content
  • Subpoena and legal process intake
  • Process sized to what the studio can actually run

Phase 9 — Anti-cheat

  • Document exactly what the anti-cheat collects and why
  • Disclose it; kernel-level software warrants specific disclosure
  • Security review of the anti-cheat component
  • Ban process, evidence standard, and appeal path defined
  • Policy on purchased items in banned accounts, published
  • Chargeback coordination with platform and payments

Phase 10 — Platform certification

  • Rating obtained, matching shipped content; re-rating plan for content updates
  • Third-party notices file complete and correctly presented
  • Age gating and parental controls consistent with platform requirements
  • Purchase flow meets platform disclosure and odds requirements
  • Store data declaration matches actual SDK behavior
  • Accessibility requirements met
  • Prohibited content standards reviewed (differ from ratings and from law)
  • Trademark and branding requirements met
  • Regional legal text and requirements addressed
  • Certification legal checklist run two weeks before submission

Phase 11 — International

  • Classification requirements in markets where it is a legal prerequisite
  • Randomized-mechanic restrictions per market; shop configurable by market
  • Consumer withdrawal rights per market
  • Age verification and design code obligations
  • Data localization and transfer requirements
  • Content restrictions (symbols, gambling imagery, drug references, political content)
  • Local publishing partner or distribution license where required
  • Localized legal text reviewed for accuracy, not just translated

Phase 12 — Launch week readiness

  • Refund approval authority and threshold decided in advance
  • Moderation surge capacity planned
  • Legal intake and triage running before launch
  • Cheat enforcement posture decided
  • Plain-language explanation of the terms prepared
  • Community managers briefed on what they may and may not commit to
  • Legal escalation path published; on-call named

Phase 13 — Live-service calendar

  • Every season or update: new items and mechanics reviewed; odds disclosures updated; no new SDK added
  • Every patch: no new third-party component without a license check
  • Monthly: moderation consistency sample; appeals backlog; chargeback and refund trends
  • Quarterly: rights register reconciled to the build; terms compared to practice
  • Semi-annually: platform certification requirement changes
  • Annually: full rights audit; copyright registration for accumulated updates; minors design review; localized text review
  • On content update: ratings re-classification where required
  • On market launch: local monetization, content, and consumer law review

Phase 14 — Acquisition readiness

  • Rights register complete and current
  • Chain of title: present assignment from every contributor, including pre-incorporation founders
  • Publishing agreement: ownership, reversion, change-of-control effects
  • Third-party licenses cover sequels, ports, and adaptations
  • Digital replica consents on file
  • Open source bill of materials; no copyleft reaching proprietary code
  • All terms versions with acceptance records
  • DMCA infrastructure with repeat infringer termination data
  • Monetization compliance record and any regulatory contact
  • Litigation and demand letter history
  • Data practices matching disclosures
  • Live-service commitments made to players, including by community managers

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