Reshaping the game - 2026 report
Contractual frameworks in the AI era
Every agreement in the chain - talent, vendors, publishers, storefronts, players - needs AI clauses, and two collective agreements now set the baseline for talent.
Section 6 in three theses
- Collective agreements in the US and Germany set binding AI standards for voice and performance talent: consent, compensation and reporting duties included.
- The AI vendor contract is the studio's main risk-management instrument: licence scope, output ownership, warranties and indemnities decide who carries the training-data risk.
- Storefront contracts impose AI transparency duties that bind earlier and reach further than Article 50 AI Act. Complying with one does not establish compliance with the other.

AI vendor contracts
Fix licence scope, output ownership and indemnities - and remember that no indemnity stops an injunction.

Publisher-developer agreements
AI warranties, liability allocation and delivery criteria for AI-assisted assets are becoming standard
Contacts

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