At the beginning of May, Lawyer.se attended gamescom latam in São Paulo, Brazil. It is an event that has grown rapidly since the inaugural conference in 2024: Last year, more than 130,000 people were in attendance, and this year that number jumped by almost 20%, to 154,000. Additionally, some 1,100 businesses from 59 countries also were there.
The event was generally more commercially focused, said Daiana Naselli, project manager at Lawyer.se. But attendees seemed to really enjoy the event and the many games on display.
Self-publishing was a recurring topic among developers, Daiana said. Some don’t think their games are good enough to be published by traditional publishers, so instead they look to self-publishing.
She spoke to some Brazilian developers who had decided to go that route following poor reception to their games in years past. Self-publishing meant more control over things like the marketing process, they told Daiana.
“That’s great because it’s taking ownership of your game, your career, your expectations,” she said.
This also became an opportunity to share Lawyer.se’s diverse experience and ability to work on not only publishing agreements but also provide legal advice for studios looking to self-publish, Daiana said. Formulating a Terms of Service agreement, deciding whether third parties should have NDAs, and brand protection, are all matters that a self-publishing developer should consider.
“I think that the market has been shifting for some time, so as the developers are changing, it’s a great opportunity for us to adapt as well to this new market,” said Daiana.
It’s interesting representing a Swedish videogame law firm at a Latin American videogame conference, she continued. Hearing about Lawyer.se’s many years of experience makes people trust us.
“When they know we’ve been doing this for more than 25 years, they will not be worried about the level of experience that we have,” Daiana said.