Esports and the Digital Services Act: Functional Classification of Gaming, Tournament and Streaming Services
Vol.20,No.2(2026)
Electronic sports (eSports) have developed into a complex digital ecosystem combining competitive gameplay, private governance, live broadcasting, user communication, monetisation, and platform-based audience interaction. This article examines how the EU Digital Services Act (DSA) applies to that ecosystem not as a sectoral regulation of eSports, but through the DSA’s functional categories of intermediary services, hosting services, online platforms, and very large online platforms. The article argues that the central legal difficulty is one of functional segmentation meaning that the game itself, player accounts, in-game communication tools, user generated content (UGC) workshops, tournament portals, live chats, streaming interfaces, and recommender systems may attribute different legal labelling. Streaming platforms and public UGC infrastructures present the clearest cases of platform regulation, while publishers and tournament organisers require more careful analysis because many of their functions may be ancillary, closed, or attributable to the provider rather than to recipients of the service. The article therefore maps the boundaries ofDSA applicability in eSports and identifies specific compliance questions concerning moderation of live events, statements of reasons during short-lived competitions, public fan interaction tools, minors in competitive environments, recommender systems for eSports content, and the relationship between DSA obligations and private integrity governance.
electronic sports; video games; Digital Services Act; minors; design
153 – 184
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