Gameware.at-Indizierung: Exklusiv-Interview mit dem österreichischen Online-Shop

Yesterday, the Austrian online shop Gameware.at announced that the Bavarian Commission for the Protection of Children against Media abuse has filed a lawsuit for the complete shutdown of the website. In an exclusive Interview, we talked to Gameware's Chris Veber about possible legal steps as well as the probable economic repercussions.

Videogameszone.de: How does gameware.at respond to the indexing petition?

Chris Veber: We've called our lawyer and are appealing, of course. The reasons for the appeal are the breaches of the competition law and the equality policy. There remain hundreds of other websites within the EU and over thousand worldwide which cannot be indexed. In addition, this is violating the freedom of expression and wrong specifications from the KjM, since we are not sending our products out to minors and do not have videos showing violence at gamesware.at. We are not breaking any Austrian laws.

Videogameszone.de: Which economic consequences would an indexing of the website have?

Chris Veber: The economic consequence would be the a hushed up Gameware.at. No one would be able to find us on Google, the advertisements would be gone, no magazine would be allowed to mention our name. We would have to wait for the impact, but not being mentioned at Google could become a problem.

Videogameszone.de: How high is the demand for adult-games at gameware.at in general?

Chris Veber: Adult-Games are like blockbusters in the cinema. One does the highest sales with action titles, seldom role-playing games, real-time strategy or MMORPGs.

Videogameszone.de: How many of your customers are Germans?

Chris Veber: About 80 percent of our customers are Germans, as Austria only has 8 Million inhabitants.

Videogameszone.de: The discussion about "Killerspiel" (an ongoing public discussion on egoshooters) is heating up again as we approach the election. What about Austria? Are there political suggestions in order to ban adult-games?

Chris Veber: In Austria the last comment on that topic came from the FPÖ. Their chairman Heinz-Christian Strache approves indexing adult-games, ironically he also approves the right to keep and bear arms for every Austrian.