Pay to Play video games

[Empzurg]

I'm thinking of starting a business of offering kids video games birthday parties. This would involve me taking a number of video games consoles to peoples house, maybe a vr setup and letting the children play.

Their are a few companies across the UK doing similar things but one thing I cannot clear up 100% is regarding the licensing laws regarding using the games commercially. My simple understanding is that I cannot charge people to play the games without obtaining license permission from each and every game publisher, which would be a logistical nightmare to achieve. Their does not appear to be a universal license that can be purchased as with movies/music.

I understand this is a breach of the EULA, with video games as it states the games are for your own personal use but how do these other companies get around this (or do they)?

One option I saw was that you are not charging children to play the games but you are charging for your time and equipment but I'm not sure quite how well that would stand up in court!

Anybody got any solutions for this?

[AndyJ]

Hi empzurg,

Yes you are right, virtually video games are sold with end user licences which limit their use to non-commercial settings. And setting up a business in the way you suggest would almost certainly constitute commercial use because if you removed the games from the equation you would have no business model, thus the commercial aspect is the based on the availablity of the games.

I don't know of any scheme which would allow you to get a blanket licence for this. My only suggestion is to contact TIGA to see if they can assist.