Live Streaming Video Games: Fair Dealing Or Game Over?

There has never been a better time for streamers with more than 100 billion watch time hours, over 40 million active gaming channels, and more than 80,000 YouTube Gaming creators hitting 1,00,000 subscribers.¹ The eagerness with which the gaming industry has embraced livestreaming, particularly via platforms like YouTube and Twitch, has been remarkable. In addition to gaming influencers and channels, the rise in popularity of e-sports has cemented the importance of livestreaming as an entertainment commodity. But is livestreaming legal? Permissible?

What's in a game?

Video games come in different forms and styles, and can contain diverse creative elements that are the subject of copyright protection including characters, plot design, visual and graphic designs, sound effects, voice, music, composition. While these diverse creative elements constituted proprietary intellectual property, the theme or the concept of a video game can be protected only in limited