French video game policy

French video game policy refers to the strategy and set of measures laid out by France since 2002 to maintain and develop a local video game development industry in order to preserve the European market diversity.

History

Proposals for government support

The French game developer trade group, known as Association des Producteurs d'Oeuvres Multimedia (APOM, now "Syndicat National du Jeu Video") was founded in 2001[1] by Eden Studios' Stéphane Baudet, Kalisto's Nicolas Gaume, former cabinet member and author Alain Le Diberder, financier and former journalist Romain Poirot-Lellig and Darkworks' Antoine Villette. APOM was for established for game developers only, since game publishers were already grouped under the umbrella of the Syndicat des Editeurs de Logiciels de Loisirs (SELL).

In November 2002,[2] the Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin visited Darkworks,[2] and formally asked game developers to submit him a set of proposals,[2] promising to meet again in Spring 2003 to give his feedback.[3][4]

Confronted by the bankruptcies or difficulties of many studios such as Cryo, Kalisto, Arxel Tribe, APOM had to propose short term solutions as well as long term, growth-oriented measures to the French government. Video game professionals responded in March 2003 with a set of proposals, including several options to set up a long term financing system to develop quality video games for the European and international market.

Era of government support

On April 19, 2003, the Prime Minister announced the creation of the Ecole Nationale du Jeu Video et des Medias Interactifs, a national school dedicated to the education of game development executives and project managers. He also announced the creation of a 4m€ prototyping fund for games managed by the Centre National de la Cinematographie, the "Fonds d'Aide pour l'Edition Multimédia" ("FAEM"), and that he would order a report to be drafted in order to determine and to answer the needs of the game development industry with regards to international competition and financing issues.

The report was delivered to the Prime minister and the minister of Finances in January 2004. Depicting a particularly accurate state of the game industry in France, it retained the APOM idea of a tax credit on game production expenses and made other proposals in order to develop the game development industry over the long term. In July 2004, the Finance ministry formed a video game task force to draft the measures proposed by the Fries report. A group of game industry members, led by Romain Poirot-Lellig, joined government representatives led by the Direction du Trésor in this task force from late August to mid-October 2004. The resulting confidential document is submitted to the executive branch of government and, in November 2004, the Prime minister, ratified in favor of a Tax credit on game production expenses.

In 2005, a changed of government resulted in Dominique de Villepin succeeding Jean-Pierre Raffarin as Prime Minister. Although not its first priority in those times of massive unemployment, video game issues, delayed by concerns related to other tax credits under scrutiny in Brussels, are still on the government's agenda. On October 11, 2005, Minister of Culture Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres and Minister of Industry François Loos visited the Montreuil studio of Ubisoft Entertainment S.A. Their visit is shortly followed by the one of Dominique de Villepin on December 9, 2005. During his visit, Mr. de Villepin announced that the government would notify the video game tax credit to the European Commission within the two following weeks.

During the French 2007 Presidential elections, all major candidates pledged to support the video game industry as well as ongoing policies.

On November 23, 2007 French President Nicolas Sarkozy made a speech where he expressed his strong support for the video game industry, underligning the potential for video games to become a major art form in the 21st century. He also expressed his wish that the video game tax credit be approved by the EU Commission and made functional very soon. On December 12, the European Commission approved the tax credit.

Personal recognition for game developers

On March 13, 2006, the French ministry of culture held a ceremony to present Knight in the Order of Arts and Letters awards to three video game developers. Rayman's designer Michel Ancel, Alone in the Dark's creator Frédérick Raynal as well as legendary game designer Shigeru Miyamoto received their medal from the hands of minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres.

French video game companies

References

  1. ↑ "Future Policy and Strategy for Sweden's Film Sector" (PDF). Swedish Film Producers' Association and Film, Väst. 27 November 2008.
  2. 1 2 3 10 propositions de l'APOM (Association des Producteurs d'Oeuvres Multimédia) visant à aider au développement durable de l'industrie des loisirs électroniques
  3. ↑ http://www.itespresso.fr/le-premier-ministre-a-lecoute-du-secteur-du-jeu-video-francais-10087.html
  4. ↑ http://archives.internet.gouv.fr/archives/rubrique6e3b-33718.html

External links

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