Video games sector: Council to protect its cultural and creative dimension

The Council approved conclusions on enhancing the cultural and creative dimension of the European video games sector.

The video games sector is an integral part of the ecosystem of cultural and creative industries. It interacts with other sectors and has great potential to transmit cultural content and highlight the value of the richness of European creation, heritage and history.

In parallel, the video games industry is a booming economic sector – this is proven by the fact that revenues for the EU video games sector in the EU were 4.3 times higher in 2020 than they were for digital music and 1.8 times higher than for video-on-demand.

The video games sector brings tangible benefits in terms of job creation (especially among young people), the contribution to GDP, creativity, research and development, and innovation. It also represents social diversity and plurality, promoting positive social changes.

Video games represent European creativity and innovation, and more should be done to help the industry grow and remain competitive.

Ernest Urtasun i Domènech, Spanish Minister for Culture

In order to harness the great potential of video games in culture, economy and society, the Council calls on member states to:

• support the creative and cultural dimension of video games, including the use of cultural heritage data in the creative process and the protection of intellectual property rights
• help European video game enterprises to grow, innovate and have access to funding
• attract and retain talent among video game professionals in the European job market
• promote responsible gaming and ensure a safe online environment for video games

The Council also invites the Commission to:

• promote equality in the video games sector to ensure gender balance and equal pay
• encourage cross-border co-productions of video games between member states
• support cooperation with other cultural industries and sectors of the European economy
• boost the competitiveness of European video game companies, in particular SMEs

Background

The Council’s conclusions on video games are approved in light of the European Union work plan for culture 2023-2026, one of the main actions of which is to enhance the cultural and creative dimension of the video games sector in Europe. This is the first-ever set of conclusions to be approved in this topic.