DiGRA has an answer.
DiGRA would like to announce the release of a white paper with its recommendations on the use of video game screenshots in scholarly publications. This document, prepared by Professor Greg Lastowka and Greg Olino, provides a legal analysis (and answer) to the following question:
If a screenshot of a video game is used in a work of academic scholarship, will the author or publisher of the scholarly work be required by United States copyright law to obtain permission to include the screenshot in the publication?
This document is available in the “DiGRA White Papers” section of the DiGRA Digital Library.
http://www.digra.org/digital-library/forums/digra-white-papers/
DiGRA hopes this document will prove useful for scholars as they pursue publishing opportunities for their research and scholarly work.
