k-ID launches a solution that helps game developers comply with ever-changing child safety regulations

06.03.2024 - 14:55 / techcrunch.com

Making a video game successful is already hard. Doing so while complying with the growing number of child safety laws and regulations around the world is an almost insurmountable task. A new technology company called k-ID aims to make this process much easier for game makers, by offering a framework that protects publishers and developers against the pitfalls that come with non-compliance, including regulatory sanctions, reputational risk, and other consequences.

Co-founded by CEO Kieran Donovan, an attorney by trade, whose work involved advising tech and gaming companies on global compliance, k-ID is an attempt to turn his understanding of the law and regulations as it related to scaling a game — or even a social platform — into a product. His experience in guiding companies through the regulatory framework and other cultural sensitivities they may not be aware of forms the basis for k-ID’s new solution.

“You get asked the same question time over and time over…and the light bulb goes on and you think, ‘Wait a minute, there’s an opportunity for someone to actually build something for everyone to solve some of these challenges in the kids, teens and parents space,” Donovan tells TechCrunch.

K-ID’s solution was built over the past 18 months, with help from co-founders whose backgrounds also include privacy law, online trust and safety, as well as tech and gaming experience. In addition to Donovan, k-ID’s executive team includes Chief Safety Officer Jeff Wu, a trust and safety veteran who previously worked at Google and Meta; Chief Growth Officer Julian Corbett, who held executive positions at In-Fusio, Take-Two Interactive, Voodoo, and Tencent; Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Luc Delany, previously CEO of the International Social Games Association (ISGA) and Chair of the Mobile Games Intelligence Forum (MGIF); CTO Aakash Mandhar, previously of Microsoft, EA, Immutuable, and others; and soon-to-be Chief Legal Officer, Timothy Ma, previously head of international privacy and Data Protection Officer at Tencent.

Image Credits: k-ID

Part of the challenge facing game developers is that they don’t necessarily even know if kids are using their platform because age verification often includes only a simple pop-up where users indicate that they’re over the age of 13 by typing in a birth date. Historically, game developers may have had to verify the child’s age or request ID to prove the player is not a kid. If they fail, they may have to remove the account. But with k-ID, they could instead customize the game experience to be legally appropriate for a player of that age in that particular market.

“The systems aren’t designed to really identify and then manage the younger users or the more vulnerable users that might be