Bigger than sport: the enhanced games and the commodification of telehealth, testosterone, and dependency

Much of the existing discourse surrounding the Enhanced Games has focused on its potential to undermine traditional sporting values by permitting and promoting the use of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs), thereby challenging established anti-doping frameworks. However, as the Enhanced Games continues to expand its brand, a broader agenda has emerged, specifically, the incorporation of telehealth services into its platform.

This study aims to critically examine the Enhanced Games' role in facilitating access to testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) through its emerging telehealth services.

A qualitative content analysis was conducted of the Enhanced Games' official website, with a specific focus on its telehealth offerings. Drawing on Cooper and Waldby's (2014) concept of the bioeconomy, in which human bodies become sites for pharmaceutical accumulation and capital generation, we examine how the Enhanced Game's seek to exploit this notion.

Findings indicate that the Enhanced Games leverages sport as a vehicle to market TRT. This underscores its ambitions to extend beyond the sporting arena, positioning the organisation as a commercial actor within the broader biomedical, wellness, and longevity sector. Their telehealth advertisments explicitly promote testosterone products, signalling a shift and bluring boundaries between sport (performance enhancement) and society (longevity, wellness, optimisation).

In light of the over-prescription of testosterone through telehealth services, the Enhanced Games may serve as a powerful force towards expanding that market. These developments raise important concerns, particularly regarding the risk of physiological dependency resulting from prolonged use of exogenous testosterone. The commodification of TRT under the guise of sport and health optimisation calls for critical reflection on the ethical, medical, and regulatory implications of such practices.