Using gaming characters in marketing materials just to advertise that we use the games in our business. Is permission needed?

To piggyback on the concerns of the other posters, let me add the following. The characters are likely all protected under copyright and in some cases trademark law. That means there is a very real and time honored legal framework for the owners to come after you. This does not mean that you cannot use the characters per se, what it means is there is a risk that the owners will come after you for infringement.

So visibility of your use is key to evaluating your risk. In practice, if a small video game store used Sonic the Hedgehog in its window display, there will likely be little to no response from SEGA USA. However, if you are planning on wrapping an entire trailer in Sonic related imagery and attending trade shows and the like, I would wager that the risk of SEGA USA sending a "cease and desist" letter is far higher. This could result in great waste and legal costs to you.

So in your case, what I would suggest instead is hiring a local designer to create a video game like character (e.g., a low polygon count 3D rendered generic soldier or generic creature) that conveys the message of video gaming. This is because getting licenses from major game companies like EA can be a costly and time consuming process.

Best of luck with your business.

Disclaimer: This answer is for informational purposes only and does not constitute general or specific legal advice, nor create an attorney client relationship.

Yes. Your use of the game characters would unfairly piggyback on the property rights of others who have invested their time and effort and money to make those characters well known. Your use of those characters in advertising, would imply that the rightsholders of the games (including the games' characters) are promoting your business. That's why you want to use those well-known characters, right? Because you want to attract the fans of those games? Since your intended business competes with the game owners' business, they'd have every reason to take action against you for infringing their rights.

Consult an IP lawyer before you launch your business to make sure your business name, tradename, trademark, domain name, advertising, etc. are structured, named, marketed and protected properly.

Disclaimer: Please note that this answer does not constitute legal advice, and should not be relied on, since each state has different laws, each situation is fact specific, and it is impossible to evaluate a legal problem without a comprehensive consultation and review of all the facts and documents at issue. This answer does not create an attorney-client relationship.

What you're planning on doing sounds like a pretty clear case of copyright and trademark infringement--so to be sure that you avoid a lawsuit, you should obtain the proper licenses from the appropriate companies. Whether or not you choose to do that is a business decision that you should make only after speaking with an IP attorney who can explain the risk you will encounter.