EU votes to increase European games investment

Members of the European Parliament have voted to give the continent’s games industry greater backing.

Announced in a post on the organisation’s website, the resolution was to acknowledge how valuable the European video games market is and to come up with means of supporting it in the longer term. There is currently concern that the sector is currently dependent on imports, i.e. game publishing and development from America and other countries.

France’s Laurence Farreng said that more needs to be done to protect European games companies, as well as noting that many are being bought by foreign entities, in part due to the lack of investment from Europe.

“Video games are the most dynamic area of our cultural economy and the only sector that experienced growth during the COVID crisis,” she said.

“Gaming has become a vital part of cultural life for half of Europeans. Yet, we still don’t have a European vision for the industry. Today, in the European Parliament, we formally call to develop a European video games strategy.”

The vote had 560 members in favour, 34 against while 16 were absent.