Reshaping the game - 2026 report

Platform law, online safety and media regulation in an AI-driven world

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Storefronts and platform holders already enforce AI transparency by contract, the DSA governs AI-powered player content, and youth-protection regimes strain under content nobody saw before release.

Section 5 in three theses

Platform and storefront contracts, with delisting power behind them, set the binding AI disclosure rules, now that the EU AI Act's 2 August 2026 deadline has passed.
Games with player-created content face DSA hosting duties (Articles 6, 16 DSA, Regulation (EU) 2022/2065), and in-game AI creation tools multiply the moderation load.
Youth-protection and age-rating systems assume reviewable content; live AI generation breaks that assumption, so constrained output is the compliance path.

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Storefront and platform rules - transparency by contract (new for the 2026 edition)

Check the platform rules before the AI Act - they bind earlier, and non-compliance risks delisting.

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The DSA and AI-powered UGC

If players create and share content in your game, you may carry hosting duties - and in-game AI tools multiply what players can create.

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Youth protection and the rating problem

Filters, age gates and rating systems all assume content someone has seen before release - agentic AI breaks that assumption, so constrain what it can generate.

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Next: Contractual frameworks in the AI era

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Contacts

Dr. Simon Hembt Counsel, Germany

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Oliver Belitz Partner, Germany

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