Well, we're back in lockdown for Tier 4. Looks like the academic year's ending with quarantine again, just like last year. Either way, all work from this period will be conducted from home, meaning some tasks that would be expected simply won't be doable.
An IP (Intellectual Property) is something you create with your mind - such as an artwork or film or game. If you created it (and it meets the requirements for either copyright, a patent or a design), bought the rights to the IP from the creator or a previous owner, or have a brand that cold be a trade mark such as a well-known product name, you own intellectual property.
The current UK copyright law is The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, giving creators or various works the rights to control the ways said material is used. Normally those who authored the work own the rights.
A plethora of ethical issues could occur when creating a GAVFX prodct - a big offender being cultural misrepresentation. This can include stereotyping, blackface (the practice of wearing make-up to imitate the appearance of a black person), whitewashing (in this context, painting people of other colours white), and so on.
Another large topic of ethical issues is symbolism - namely including symbols that, despite adding to the game, are offensive or unacceptable to other cultures. A famous example of this is the Swastika, the ancient religious symbol of Eurasia turned insignia for the Nazis. In other countries, references to Nazi Germany are considered acceptable in the right context - for example, Zoran Lazarević, antagonist of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, gives the following dialogue:
"Genghis Khan, Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, they were all great men. But do you know why they prevailed?" [...] "Because they had the will to do what other men would not. Compassion is the enemy. Mercy defeats us."
Naturally, such words would be unacceptable in Germany, so Hitler was removed from the quotation in their version of the game.
How ethical issues impact development depends on the form of the issue. If it's a case of speech or imagery, they would need to be replaced with more adequate versions by rerecording dialogue or modelling new assets or simply changing an image. If it's a case of a major part of the plot, a rewrite can take a while. Some projects are able to fix these issues in time for the scheduled release, others are held back and delayed for however long is necessary. In some cases, these changes only take place regionally, particularly if it's just one region having a problem. More problems usually mean more of an overhaul and, ultimately, a massive rework globally.