APRIL 13, 2008 • The Welt am Sonntag newspaper reported that Hamburg interior minister Udo Nagel proposed a series of national measures to help stem juvenile delinquency, including forcing department stores and marts to turn off video game demo stations during school hours. Nagel cited cases of students who cannot afford to buy console systems that skip school to go play games in stores.
Impact: Compared with markets like the U.S., the U.K., France and Japan, Germany has a very negative attitude towards video games. The Germans love board games and strategy games but view traditional console video games as a bad influence on society. The idea of not letting stores even demo games seems pretty ludicrous but it does indicate how the industry can expect regulation from all fronts as it grows on a global basis.
