video game controller Kids with Nintendo Switches. Team battles in Call of Duty. eSports. Wordle. The breadth of these images is the first indication that the gaming industry has grown. While we don't normally think that games and movies are alike, to consumers, major game releases garner just as much hype as Oscar movie premiers. When Red Dead Redemption 2 debuted in 2018, it had the largest opening weekend in entertainment history with $725 million in sales. That is only second to Grand Theft Auto V, which boasts the largest game title release overall with $1 billion in sales over just three days.

You get the point: Gaming is a massive part of the entertainment industry. In fact, the NPD Group reported that in 2020, the gaming industry surpassed the movie and music markets combined after growing around 27%. And with growth comes increased litigation.

As we often see with complex and emerging litigation, there are areas we think present threats to the market's major players, and they are as follows: