The DSA and dematerialised games: what it really changes (and what it does not)
The Digital Services Act (DSA), Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, is regularly invoked in the debate over players' rights. It is a powerful piece of legislation, but its scope is often overestimated. Let us take stock of what it really changes for dematerialised games.
What the DSA actually imposes
The DSA governs online intermediaries and platforms, which includes the large game stores and marketplaces. In particular, it imposes on them:
- transparency of terms and conditions and of recommender systems (art. 14 and following);
- the prohibition of deceptive interfaces, the "dark patterns" that manipulate your choices (art. 25);
- transparency of online advertising and mechanisms for reporting illegal content.
In practice, the DSA can therefore address the way a store presents its terms to you, pushes you to accept, or sells you content, the moments when consent is manipulated.
What the DSA does not do (contrary to a widespread belief)
The DSA is not the text that protects you against the unilateral modification of a licence agreement, against the removal of a game you have bought, or against the impossibility of reselling it. Those questions fall under other texts:
- Directive (EU) 2019/770 on digital content (conformity, modification);
- Directive 93/13/EEC on unfair terms;
- Directive 2011/83/EU on consumer rights (withdrawal).
Confusing the DSA with these texts is the most frequent mistake in the debate. The DSA disciplines the platform and its interface; it is consumer law that governs the contract and ownership.
Why the DSA matters nonetheless
Because it was designed to constrain giants that have "the power of a State": fines can reach up to 6% of the worldwide annual turnover of the platform concerned (and periodic penalty payments of up to 5% of the average daily turnover for each day of delay). This striking power is precisely what classic consumer law lacks. For players, the challenge is to ensure that the same requirement applies to the video game giants, and to reinforce it with the future Digital Fairness Act.
See: your consumer rights.
Official references
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