Video games are treated differently, though, primarily because they exist on a screen rather than a board. “A video game under copyright law is an audiovisual work, which gives a public performance right to the copyright holder,” Dallas attorney and Law of the Game blog author Mark Methenitis explained in an interview with Ars. “Under the public performance right, the copyright holder is allowed to say when, where, or whether something is publicly performed, meaning displayed in front of a group of people larger than, say, at your house.”
In other words, if you want to put on a Street Fighter tournament and charge people to watch, Capcom can make you get a license for the “public performance” of the game. In fact, that is exactly what Capcom does with for-profit tournaments.
via Why Nintendo can legally shut down any Smash Bros. tournament it wants | Ars Technica.