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Minor Protection Laws

Non-Profit Status of German E-Sport Threatens to Fail due to Harmful Mechanics

The depiction of realistic kills, gambling-like mechanics and purchasable advantages are preventing the politically agreed recognition of the non-profit status of e-sports in Germany. This is the result of a response from the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs to an enquiry from GamesMarkt. The Ministry insists on a definition of e-sports that fulfills youth protection requirements but is practically incompatible with the actual practice of e-sports.

Pascal Wagner07.03.2024 09:01
Lisa Paus Groß
The Ministry of Family Affairs, led by Lisa Paus, is opposed to the non-profit status with fundamentally understandable concerns that could nevertheless have a lasting negative impact on the definition of e-sports. Laurence Chaperon

For more than a year, there was silence on the issue of the non-profit status of e-sports discussed at federal level in Germany. The parties and ministries actually wanted to have found a compromise by the end of 2023, yet the decision is still pending. At the end of 2022, the discussion revolved less around e-sports in particular and more about conflicts over definitions of social organisations between the SPD and Greens on the one side and the FDP on the other, as GamesMarkt research showed at the time.

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