We continue summing up the results of 2025 with top managers and experts from the gaming industry, as well as those closely related to it. Next up is a conversation with the managing partner of i-Legal Natalia Yurkova, CEO Maria Ordovskaya-Tanaevskaya, and head of the digital law and TMT practice Alina Tankova.
How did the year 2025 turn out for your company? What achievements were made, and what challenges arose?
Natalia: The year that is ending was a period of rethinking, changes, and professional growth for our company. We navigated it alongside our clients, keeping pace with global changes: legal reforms, business and economic transformations, and significant shifts in public perspectives. All these posed new, sometimes harsh requirements for speed and adaptability.
Specifically, I want to highlight that we underwent a company restructuring, bringing in new strong leaders: CEO Maria Ordovskaya, a specialist in corporate law and taxes; Alina Tankova, head of the digital practice; and Ailana Utnasunova, who leads the corporate law and M&A practice. This cohesive team has long worked together and has brought a fresh perspective to processes.
Among the key achievements is the growth in client trust and recognition of our expertise. In 2025, we entered the “Law-300” ranking in five categories, a strong testament to the quality of our work. We are particularly proud of being among the top in intellectual property, largely due to successful cases in game development. Looking back at the plans for 2024, we can say that we met those challenges.
In anticipation of 2025, we aimed to expand our range of services in intellectual property protection, foster closer collaboration with representatives of the game development sector, and enhance our expertise in the application of artificial intelligence and its regulatory aspects.
What key changes occurred in the legal support of gaming companies over the past year?
Maria: Over the past year, we noticed changes in the very approach to legal support for gaming companies. These changes affected not only the content of our consultations but also operational and business processes within our firm. The transformation is based on adopting the same agile methodologies as the game development teams. This allows us to stay in sync with clients and follow industry standards for speed and flexibility.
Changes in the legal framework, especially in the regulation of user data, refunds, and content, forced us to become more integrated into the development processes. Lawyers now often become part of the product team, assessing risks at each stage of a game's life cycle.
What issues did gaming companies most frequently approach you with in 2025?
Maria: The gaming industry has long transcended standard tasks and become a space of complex, multi-faceted solutions. In 2025, we received an increasing number of inquiries for special, refined approaches that reflect contemporary industry challenges and best practices. We have very few standard queries; behind each inquiry is a genuine story, the ambition of teams, and the determination to move forward despite any obstacles.
Our head of the digital practice, Alina Tankova, brings extensive experience and expertise in this area and highlights three main directions:
Regulation of user relationships
Companies have tightened data protection requirements, block procedures, and refund protocols, aligning with the global trend towards increased transparency and safety in the digital environment, especially for children. For instance, European CPC Network initiatives stimulated demand for user agreement audits.
In Russia, 2025 saw an increase in data protection regulations and a rising need for audits of information storage and processing procedures. A separate trend has been legal support for specific user claims: challenging blocks, refunding in-game purchases, including expenses by minors. This shows that companies strive not just to provide template responses but to act within the legal framework, balancing user interests and their legal rights.
Revising creative processes and game mechanics
Each year, there is a more noticeable growth in interest towards games with crypto elements, where each case becomes unique: it is important to not only innovate but also carefully balance between creativity and the risks of volatile regulations.
Simultaneously, developers are thoroughly examining if a project borders on being a gambling game – the status of which can determine the product's fate in many countries. For one client, we conducted a thorough audit of a game with elements of crypto trading and "gambling" by researching the regulations in more than thirty jurisdictions, including half of the U.S. states.
It's also important to note the integration of AI. Automation processes, content generation, and creating new interaction forms pose complex societal questions. This involves ethical and legal boundaries in AI use, and safeguarding the interests of all participants. Professional legal support thus becomes critically important at every stage — from development to implementation of such technologies.
Concerning the "eternal" questions of creativity that teeter on the edge of legal territory, they often involve the legality of using real locations, personalities, and characters, as well as quotations. For some reason, many developers sincerely believe that if their game popularizes culture — be it the Hermitage halls or metro stations — they can freely use these objects. But that's not the case. Reproducing interiors or personalized elements often requires permission, and concepts like "freedom of panorama" have subtle restrictions. For example, you can illustrate the Eiffel Tower, but its nighttime illumination is copyright-protected.
There are no template answers here — each case is unique. Together with designers and creative directors, we seek solutions that not only protect the project but also enhance its originality. How to make a reference recognizable without being held hostage to other's copyrights? The answer often arises at the intersection of law and creativity, where legal frameworks themselves become tools for new and interesting discoveries.
Tax matters
Last year, plans were announced to change tax legislation, notably lowering the threshold for VAT payments under the simplified taxation system. We closely monitored this process as it affected us as well. Therefore, in this matter, we can be of help not only by informing about the impending 2026 changes but also through our practical experience in transitioning to VAT payments.
Additionally, I would like to focus on new challenges and trends. There's been interest in collaborating with domestic platforms like "VK Games." VR projects that are hard to label strictly as games have made it to our personal top. Their unique ideas and emphasis on IP and protection from the start really captivate us. Without going into details, we can say for sure — legal support provides a strong competitive advantage here.
What legal risks, in your opinion, were underestimated by gaming companies in 2025?
Maria: One of the gravest mistakes we see while working with gaming companies is the severe underestimation of securing intellectual property rights at early stages. This pertains to relations with authors and the use of third-party assets. Unfortunately, this leads to protracted legal disputes, financial losses, and even the risk of a project freeze or complete halt due to legal issues.
Finally, companies are not always prepared for sudden changes in the regulatory agenda, like the case with bans on certain symbols. A notable example is the ban on "satanic movements" in Russia, where companies faced the necessity to analyze and even adjust storylines, visual elements, and gameplay mechanics in already released products.
Our recommendation: embed legal flexibility in the game's script and structure, regularly audit for compliance with local legal requirements, and prepare a substantiated legal stance in advance for potential claims on sensitive content.
An emerging risk is content created using AI. The legal status of such content and the datasets used for its training remain unclear. However, initial legal precedents and regulatory trends worldwide already signal that ignoring this topic can be dangerous.
What challenges can you identify related to the AI-ification of games?
Natalia: The main challenges in integrating generative AI into games are legal. This includes uncertainties regarding copyright issues on generated content and risks from training models on non-licensed data. Additionally, massive user-generated AI content (UGC) drastically increases the risk of intellectual property violations and moderating burdens.
Moreover, global regulations like the EU AI Act or Digital Services Act impose new requirements on studios for transparency and risk assessment. Since our clients are global gaming companies, it's crucial for us to track these trends not only in Russia but worldwide, as they may face certain challenges. Legal norms, especially in the digital realm, often spread like a chain reaction: what is rigorously regulated today in the EU or the USA might appear in other countries, including Russia, tomorrow. Therefore, proactive analysis of foreign cases is key to preparing our clients for future changes.
Which legal trends in working with gamedev will intensify in 2026?
Maria: We see several definite directions. Firstly, lawyers will increasingly become involved starting from the design and testing stages of mechanics, including those related to AI. This is necessary to prevent risks rather than tackle consequences. Secondly, tightening requirements in foreign jurisdictions will force companies to reassess their business structures, increasing demand for the support of such transactions.
We believe that the companies that will lead are those whose lawyers think not as external consultants but as part of the team, understanding both technological and business processes.
What regulatory initiatives do you expect to see in 2026?
Natalia: The central theme will be achieving legal certainty amidst uncertainty: regulation of AI content, practices concerning crypto elements in games, and the evolution of personal data norms.
Overall, we expect 2026 to be a year of legal field complexity yet also structuring in gamedev, providing the market with new guidelines for development and enhancing the quality of both products and companies' internal processes.
We can forecast increased regulation of monetization—transparency of loot boxes, aggressive sales mechanics, and refunds following the EU model. The trend towards strengthening child protection—tightening age ratings and liability for violations—will continue.
Additionally, we expect an expansion of import substitution programs: in line with governmental policy vectors, support for domestic gamedev will persist through grants, infrastructure projects (like the Moscow cluster), and the development of local platforms.
And finally, what strategic steps does your company plan to undertake next year?
Natalia: Plans include continuing structural changes within the company and strengthening the team. One of our priority areas is the AI-ification of our internal processes and the cautious, measured implementation of AI tools in legal practice.
However, no technology can replace the main thing: the ability to listen to the client and be part of their team. We will continue investing in the interdisciplinary expertise of our specialists because a modern lawyer should understand not only the law but also the technological trends redefining industries, including gamedev.
Maria: Undeniably, we will continue to shift the focus from providing individual services to delivering comprehensive solutions encompassing all aspects of the business in addressing client requests. At the core of our ongoing work lies the development of holistic practices and increasing expertise in rapidly changing industries, including the field of innovations, enabling us to offer truly integrated services.