Whether you are a game developer or a publisher, an artwork services supplier or a musician (or something else entirely!), Eaton Smith has a wide range of games-related legal services that can help your business every step of the way. We're proud to be winners of the Best Legal Services Supplier award in the TIGA Games Industry Awards for both 2020 and 2022 and, whilst we hope it goes without saying, we take a lot of pride in providing services to the UK games industry (and beyond!).

Our clients in the games sector range from sole traders all the way through to a global titan, it having 20,000+ employees in its group so the chances are that we can help you. If you are just setting out, we can have a discussion to help guide your early stages and get you going with documents to protect your business and interests. On the other hand, if you are a well-established player and are perhaps looking for fresh lawyers, we'd love to speak to you. We have experience in working with established studios working on large projects, whether developing their own IP or appointed by platform holders for developing their IP. We can help you from an English law perspective across the range of agreements you may encounter or need, from appointments under development agreements to NDAs and subcontracts and from tools and materials licences to motion capture venue and actor agreements.

Our services to developers includes advice and negotiations on publishing agreements that you may be looking to secure, helping you to reach the right deal for your project. We seek a collaborative deal, knowing that the intention is for a developer and a publisher to work together for many years. Our work with publishers helps us to understand what it is that a publisher is looking for in a deal.

The work that we carry out for publishers encompasses a wide range of activities and experience, whether from negotiating publishing agreements with developers to getting games to the shops through distribution agreements, prize promotions to complement a game’s release and plenty in between.

You can read more about the detail of the services we can provide in relation to games, their development and publishing here: https://www.eatonsmith.co.uk/business/services/video_games/

As you will know, development and publishing are all about milestones. It may come as no surprise that we think in terms of milestones too, but our milestones for you are about your business development and progress.

As mentioned above, we can help you at your start-up stage and guide you through this important phase, helping you to concentrate on your game or business development, identifying and supporting your legal needs through this early period.

As you expand, our Employment lawyers can talk to you about becoming an employer and all that that entails, as well as putting together employment contracts and employee handbooks and providing any advice you may need in your journey as an employer.

At some point, you may need to change premises. Our Property lawyers can help you through a property purchase or sale or guide you through lease negotiations, looking to get the best deal for you and your future needs.

Even doing business with the best of intentions, there may be times when our Dispute Resolution team may be needed, whether to assert your rights or to defend a position. Our Dispute Resolution team have a wide range of knowledge in this area and would be pleased to assist, should you find yourself in need of help.

Our Corporate team is very experienced in guiding businesses of all kinds in their constitutional needs. This can be help with the initial structure, through the growth stages where you may be looking for an equity investment (including EIS and SEIS investments) or at the exit stage where you are looking to sell or have been approached by a buyer. We can help to guide you through each important stage in the lifecycle of your business.

We can also help you if you are outside the United Kingdom but need English law contract assistance.

And of course, we want to give you peace of mind on a personal level too. We can help you with a will, a lasting power of attorney (LPA), estate planning or a house purchase or sale, amongst other things.

So, whatever position you may occupy in the games industry and whatever size you may be, if you find yourself in need of legal assistance or documentation, we would love to help you.

If you think we would be the right people to help you in your games business, some helpful points of contact for you here at Eaton Smith are:

• Chris Taylor (Head of Games Services) - Commercial Contracts – christaylor@eatonsmith.co.uk
• Ben Jackson - Corporate - benjackson@eatonsmith.co.uk
• Irina Polyakova or Emma Elmerhebi - Employment - irinapolyakova@eatonsmith.co.uk or emmaelmerhebi@eatonsmith.co.uk
• James Burgess – Property - jamesburgess@eatonsmith.co.uk
• Philip Clarke - Dispute Resolution - philipclarke@eatonsmith.co.uk
• Julie Beales - Wills, LPAs, Trusts, Probate and Estate Administration - juliebeales@eatonsmith.co.uk