Lobivopis wrote:
If you think SE wouldn't pull out of the UK because they would loose money you thought wrong. Square Enix canceled plans to release FFXI in South Korea because of their laws regarding virtual property in MMORPGs.
It's true that they could pull out, but I think it highly unlikely.
There's a big difference between cancelling plans to move into a region, and pulling out of a region you are already established in.
It's far, far less expensive for them to simply comply with the DPA than it will be to cease support for a profitable business. That carries with it considerable cost in terms of redunancy and administration, and the threat of any legal costs brought against them by disgruntled employees losing their jobs on the grounds that the business was profitable. This also looks bad on their ballance sheet and in the press, and that wont impress the shareholders at all.
They would also have to cease XIV because of the same risks. It's company policy which is the problem, not just FFXI.
If they comply with the DPA they will never get fined. All in all, it would be very bad business sense to cease operations rather than comply to the few data requests they will receive. All companies that hold UK personal data have to comply to these laws, and it rarely causes real difficulty to any of them. The DPA exists for a reason - SE have behaved badly, and they need to shape up. That's true not just of the UK, but globably.
A version of the DPA exists in many countries besides the UK. We might all be surprised just how many regions they are in breach of it in for all we know.
Well done Tai.