More Europeans think the negatives of games outweigh the positives - Playing Politics
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More Europeans think the negatives of games outweigh the positives
Burying the lede: Thursday 4th September. After months of waiting, it was finally ready. I walked over to my PC. I hovered excitedly over the download button. And before I knew it, it was in my hands: The European Media Industry Outlook report from the European Commission’s Directorate General for Communications Networks, Content, and Technology (DG-Connect).
Extensive examination: Ok, ok, so the release of a new paper from DG-Connect was never going to make as much of a splash as Hollow Knight: Silksong. But for policy watchers, the paper, which runs the rule over the audiovisual industries that employ 1.3m people across the EU, featured a remarkably chunky section about the video games industry that looked at everything from the size of the consumer games market, to the state of jobs in the sector, and even the tax incentives available across Europe.
Worth a read: For industry newbies, the paper is an invaluable read to understand how the whole games business works in Europe. But after flipping my way through it on a train steaming through the not-so-recently Brexited United Kingdom, it also shows the likely direction of video game policy in Europe: one that emphasises the importance of player and worker rights, as much as business growth.
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