that our global activities will continue to grow for the foreseeable future as we continue to pursue opportunities in new and existing markets, which will require the dedication of management attention and financial resources.
Our current and future global business operations involve a variety of risks, including:
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slower than anticipated availability and adoption of our games by content creators and developers outside our existing markets;
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the need to adapt to and localize our games for specific countries and cultures;
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the difficulty of maintaining our company culture across all of our offices globally;
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greater difficulty collecting accounts receivable and potential for longer payment cycles;
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burdens of complying with a variety of laws, including costs associated with legal structures, accounting, audits, statutory filings and tax liabilities;
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burdens of complying with a variety of gaming regulations, including costs associated with developing technical builds of, and/or functionality in, our games for different markets;
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changes or instability in a specific country’s or region’s political, social or economic conditions, including in the United Kingdom as a result of its exit from the European Union;
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differing and potentially more stringent regulations relating to privacy and data security and the unauthorized use of, or access to, commercial and/or personal information;
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differing and potentially more onerous labor regulations and practices or strike actions, especially in Europe, where labor laws are generally more advantageous to employees as compared to the United States, including deemed hourly wage and overtime regulations in these locations or the existence of workers’ councils and labor unions;
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challenges inherent in efficiently managing, and the increased costs associated with, an increased number of employees over large geographic distances, including the need to implement appropriate systems, policies, benefits, statutory equity requirements and compliance programs that are specific to each jurisdiction;
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unexpected changes in trade relations, regulations, laws or enforcement;
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difficulties in managing a business in new markets with diverse cultures, languages, customs, legal systems, alternative dispute systems and regulatory systems;
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difficulties in monitoring potential illegal activities, such as fraud;
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increased travel, real estate, IT infrastructure and legal compliance costs associated with multiple global locations and subsidiaries;
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currency exchange rate fluctuations and the resulting effect on our revenue and expenses, and the costs and risks of entering into hedging transactions if we choose to do so in the future;
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restrictions on the transfer of funds, such as limitations on our ability to reinvest earnings from operations in one country to fund the capital needs of our operations in other countries;
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enhanced difficulties of integrating any foreign acquisitions;
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laws and business practices favoring local competitors or general market preferences for local vendors;
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reduced or uncertain intellectual property protection or difficulties obtaining, maintaining, protecting or enforcing our intellectual property rights, including our copyrights, trademarks and patents;
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political instability, hostilities, war or terrorist activities, high crime rates, power failures and outages in certain jurisdictions;
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exposure to liabilities under anti-corruption and anti-money laundering laws in the jurisdictions in which we operate; and