SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, July 13 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The countries of the European Union (EU) have certified the growth potential of the video game industry but at the same time warn of financing problems, lack of investment and the absence of tax incentives to stimulate development.
This is the main consequence of the discussion table ‘Institutional support and promotion of the European video game ecosystem’ organized in Tenerife on the occasion of a conference in charge of the current Spanish presidency of the EU.
The Secretary of State for Culture of Croatia, Kresimir Partl, has indicated that the country started with public financing of the sector in 2019 with the aim of “encouraging” entrepreneurship in video games, in such a way that regulations began to be developed to finance production and development.
Thus, he has said that in 2022 the first public contest for developers was launched and with “fruitful results” and in a context in which “there was skepticism” among the film industry, which does receive public financing and did not understand how from the Ministry resources were allocated to video games.
He has said that thanks to this line of aid, a video game was designed on the national basketball legend Drazen Petrovic and finally “it was verified” how progress was being made in the sector and from the world of cinema began to “go hand in hand” with the video game.
However, he has ensured that the current public funds “are not enough” and sees it necessary to articulate a model similar to that of the cinema, which has various sources of financing.
Even so, he has pointed out that Croatia obtained 34 million from EU resilience funds for creative industries, and that included video games, in such a way that a “hub with European funds that works very well” was set up and in the in which the art academy and the training institute for video game technicians participate.
“We try to give a boost to creation,” he stressed, noting that in the last five years video game studios have tripled in the country to reach 65, which in his opinion is still not “enough”, hence has called for a “global European approach” to improve the competitiveness of the sector.
Carlo Penna, deputy director general for the Promotion of Cultural Industries, has pointed out that videogames have already been recognized as an industry by the Congress of Deputies in 2009 and the objective is to integrate them into the rest of the cultural industries with a “holistic vision”.
AUDIOVISUAL HUB
He pointed out that Spain already has an “audiovisual hub” through the Ministry of Economy endowed with 1,600 million until 2025, of which 1,200 million have already been consumed, and there aid for production, marketing and “incubators” since it is “essential ” That there are “facilitators” in the sector before the bureaucracy that is practiced in the ministries. “We are dinosaurs,” she has commented.
Thus, he has insisted that in these incubators mentoring work is carried out, aid for SMEs is managed or information is given on how to request a loan because “there is reluctance from the banks” when it comes to supporting projects like these that “are not tangibles” such as the real estate market.
Penna has also indicated that there are training scholarships to improve entrepreneurship skills since, although they are “booming” companies, they have many “needs.”
He has also appealed to increase the market share given that in Spain alone there are some 19 million video game players and European material is hardly played and to introduce tax incentives, as occurs with the cinema, for example, for what he deems necessary. reach an agreement with the Ministry of Economy.
GAIN VISIBILITY
Skander Morgenthaler, representative of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action of Germany, has pointed out that the German Government began to turn to the sector in 2015 and this year it has moved a budget of 17 million that they hope to increase next year.
He has commented that “there are many studies in the country” but half are very small, although there are federal and local public funds, they are preparing a “new incentive update” for 2024 that includes an attractive loan system for small businesses.
Along these lines, he has not hidden that they want Germany to occupy a “preponderant place” in the video game market, making it clear that “financing is not everything”, and we must also talk about personnel or capital.
“We are not doing so badly in relation to the European average but we are not as well known as in other countries, we do not have that visibility. It is a new industry in the country, we have to create hubs, training, infrastructure, there is still fabric to be cut”, has commented, including other aspects such as “youth protection”, which is the purview of other ministries.
At the political level, he commented that Parliament “gives support” and considers video games to be “an important sector” but “things change” at the ministerial level, so he hopes that the new generations will be “more aware” and also that there will be a greater administrative simplification.
Julie-Jeanne Régnaul, general secretary of the Association of European Film Agency Directors (EFAD), has admitted that “increasingly” the video game sector is supported with public funds because “they are cultural works” and also, up to six Community countries already have tax incentives.
In this sense, he has affirmed that “it is another formula” that adds to public financing, the same as private funds.
Youri Loedts, Director of the Fund’s Video Games section
Audiovisual de Flandes (FAV) has commented that there is a lot of “talent and training” in the universities but when it goes on the market “they don’t know how to market a video game”.
“TURN STUDENTS INTO PROFESSIONALS”
In this way, he has pointed out that public funds “allow students to become professionals” in an environment in which they are looking for their first investors, who “do not like risk” and want to make profits.
For this reason, he understands that “it is necessary to start first with a cultural fund as a seed fund” so that entrepreneurs can develop video games, launch them on the markets and reach private companies helping to “mitigate risks”.
He has indicated that investment in video games has “a lot of risk” but also “a lot of reward” and has assured that if an entrepreneur has money from the cultural fund “they can talk to platforms and distributors and that changes the dynamics, if not, the giants will say they are interested in the video game but they are not going to pay a lot of money”.
He has also commented that loans are granted without consideration because it is a measure to “protect the autonomy and independence of small producers.
“Money is a problem, but if we give it to them, they will be able to focus on skills and intellectual property without having to think about making ends meet. You have to invest in small companies and not leave them to the large multinationals” , has pointed out.
Loedts has also called for “rewarding” the European co-production model, trying to “put video games in stores” and “stopping the European brain drain” that have gone to the United States and China defending, among other things, the European climate , gastronomy and, especially, security.
