Digital Fairness Act could kill Gaming.

If you haven’t seen already Supercell’s CEO Ilkka Paananen just shined a light on something that could be catastrophic for our industry.

The “Digital Fairness Act”, if voted in, could kill one of Europe’s ONLY tech success stories, Gaming.

Like he’s says, you’ve all heard of Clash of Clans, Candy Crush, Minecraft, The Witcher right?
All global hits.
All made in Europe.

Now imagine a law that treats every in-game coin, gem, or token like a bank transaction.
That’s the Digital Fairness Act.

If it passes, every player action = a legal process.
Pop-ups. Confirmations. Cost warnings.
Basically, turning gaming into a tax return.

And for what? Added bureaucracy? As I parent I monitor and restrict all of my children’s gaming time and exposure, so does 98% of parents in my opinion. So if this is about child safety I think they’re going about it wrong.

Just think of the impact this could have on:

Free-to-play models? Dead.
Innovation? Choked by red tape.
Studios? Either downsizing, closing or leaving Europe.

This isn’t protecting anyone.
It’s politicitions doing something else to punish success.

Games aren’t banks; they’re wonderful ecosystems that fund creativity and culture and give people escapism from the mundane parts of life.

Let’s not regulate the fun out of one of Europe’s few thriving industries.

If you’re in games, I implore you to #StandWithIlkka and protest this future policy change to our great industry, let’s not stifle creators and success with policy and BS.