The technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) practice at Deloitte, has today announced its predictions for the sector in 2022.

The TMT Predictions report provides a fascinating outlook for the year ahead and includes predictions relating to issues such as the games console market, wearable devices, Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and many more.

It is clear from reading the report that there are a number of legal issues wrapped up in the TMT predictions for 2022, including:

1) The intensifying regulatory scrutiny that will be applied to AI in 2022

The report predicts that 2022 will see a great deal of discussion about regulating AI more systematically and that some jurisdictions may try to ban whole subfields of AI, such as facial recognition in public spaces, altogether. Indeed, this is an issue on which we are already starting to see movement in the UK, with the recent publication of the government’s national AI strategy.

2) The growth of NFTs in sports media

The report estimates that NFTs for sports media will generate more than US$2 billion in transactions in 2022, about double the figure for 2021. Growth on this scale is likely to see greater focus being placed on issues like: intellectual property rights in NFTs; the compatibility of blockchain technology with data protection regulations; and the contracting that takes place around NFTs (both with the technology providers that mint the NFT and with the purchaser of the NFT).

3) The continued health of the games console

Finally, the report also estimates that the games console market will continue to go from strength to strength and will generate US$81 billion in 2022, up 10% from 2021.

What is notable here from a legal perspective is that digital game purchases, including downloads, subscriptions, game passes, and in-app payments, are expected to rise as a share of console software sales from 65% in 2022 to 84% in 2025. The continued popularity (and monetisation) of in-game purchases will do nothing to dampen regulatory scrutiny in this area; with loot boxes - and their compatibility with existing laws and regulations - likely to be particularly under the microscope.  

We are already assisting clients on all of the above issues, so please don’t hesitate to contact us if you would like to discuss any of them further.