The Online Safety Act is causing some studios to rethink in-game features, says law firm

Studios are reconsidering certain in-game features due to the new rules set out by the UK Online Safety Act (OSA), a top law firm has said.

In an interview published on September 11, 2025, The Game Business spoke to Isabel Davies, a senior associate at London-based law firm Wiggin, which specialises in media, technology, and IP, about how the new OSA laws are impacting game studios.

Brought into force in the UK in July 2025, the OSA is a new regulatory framework that aims to protect adults and (in particular) children from “harmful content,” both legal and illegal, through a set of laws designed to make services with UK users safer, while providing more transparency and accountability about those services.

This covers user-to-user services, which means video game companies releasing titles in the UK that include chat services, user content sharing, or any other features that allow users to interact with one another on the platform must complete a risk assessment, and then complete the relevant “duties” to ensure its platform complies with the OSA.

Davies has already “spoken to some” studios that are now reconsidering implementing user-to-user interaction features, or plan to roll them out after launch, due to these new OSA laws.

A good example of this, Davies said, is studios saying, “let’s get the core game monetisation loop working and then let’s make sure the gameplay is good. And only then invest in clan functionality or chat functionality, etc.”

But, Davies said, some game companies “have got it in their head that the community and social aspect is so core to the game” that the inclusion of user-to-user services is “kind of unavoidable.”

“Some games have been built on that basis,” Davies continued.

Davies also explained that what really “catches people off guard” with the new OSA rules is that there is “no real exemption” for small companies built into the act.

“The regulatory burden is the same if you’re one of the biggest platforms on the planet, or you’re a tiny studio starting up,” she explained.

“If you’re a user-to-user service, you have to do this risk assessment and then complete your safety duties. It will get easier in time. The compliance burden will lessen. Practice will develop. It will get better. But no doubt, this summer has been difficult for some.”

This echoes what Andrew Wailes, CEO and founder of PlaySafe ID, told GamesIndustry.biz in July 2025.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty around the OSA ruling out there, in the games industry and beyond,” Wailes said, just days after the OSA came into force.

“We’ve seen a number of small and mid-sized companies – particularly those behind forums and other community platforms – choose to entirely block UK access.

“Many are struggling with the complexity of OSA compliance, and have misestimated the effort needed.”