The European Parliaments Commission on Culture and Education unanimously adopted a resolution that proposes a vote in favour of the development of a long-term video game strategy or not. This legislation would really help the future of video games and esports industries.
CULT wants to help the European Parliament increase the number of videogame productions in Europe, with funding accrued. The Creative Europe program helped help up to six million games in 2022, but CULT said it was insufficient.
It’s not clear whether the EU will also consider tax breaks in exchange for companies that create or expand games in the territory. These incentives come from different countries like Australia and Canada. Although it’s clear that if the EU doesn’t provide more hospitable for game companies, those companies can seek these incentives somewhere else.
Similarly, CULT said that the European game industry struggled with a talent shortage. They consider this particularly problematic because the games industry is dependent on innovation. To develop talent for the games industry, and for Europe as a whole, the resolution insists that video games should be explored as a teaching tool.
Economically speaking, COVID showed the European Parliament’s (MEP) the value of the video game industry. In the region that had the greatest impact in the crisis, Europe was the largest creative and cultural institution in Europe. This resilientness and the high potential for growth and innovation are why the members of parliament argue for more governmental support and oversight. In a global economy and lack of opportunity, the MEPs turn to video games to grow jobs, the GDP and the cultural footprint of the EU.
Video Games and Soft Power.
MEPs of CULT, among which the committee and former reporteur, Laurence Farreng of France emphasized that both video and esports have the potential to contribute to EU soft power.
The resolution supported a number of initiatives to preserve, promote and promote European values, history and diversity. Some of those include the formation of an European Video Game Observatory to provide coordination of data and recommendations for decision-makers, an archive to preserve the most culturally important games, and the creation of a European Video Game label to help consumers support the EU games industry.
The resolution is to have vast implications for the sports industry.
Some years ago, esports has struggled with determining whether or not to define themselves as a sport. The resolution will settle the debate on the continent esports won’t be regulated as sports by the EU. My colleagues describe the digital component of esports and the fundamental commercial interest of publishers as both separate factors from sports. This likely has a benefit on IP holders who will be able to control more on their esports products than they would otherwise be able to.
Despite this distinction, the European esports industry is still on the right track. The resolution wants to develop a framework which governs professional players’ work, gives professional players a new kind of visa and works further to fight doping and match match fixing.
This effort by the EU and Saudi Arabia’s 38-year investment plan shows that governments worldwide recognize the economic, social, cultural value of videogames.
The whole European Union will vote on the resolution CULTs on its mini-session November 9-10.
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