From Policy to Paradox: Diversity Washing, Policy Failures, and the Limits of Authentic Intersectional Pleasure in the European Video Game Industry

This extended abstract, a DiGRA 2026 submission, presents consolidated mixed-method findings from Work Package 3 of the Horizon Europe GAMEHEARTS project, which examines the European Video Game Industry Ecosystem and its collaboration with Culture and Creative Industries. Its central argument is that weak institutional frameworks and formalised organisational mechanisms encourage superficial compliance with inclusivity goals, a practice the authors term "Diversity Washing." Drawing on practitioner perspectives, the paper contends that inclusivity imposed to satisfy financing and reporting requirements undermines authentic, grassroots creativity and limits the possibility of genuine intersectional pleasure in game design, while also reinforcing the perception of games as "low culture," which the authors label "Profanum."

The research draws on an 18-month, multi-stage design combining a systematic literature review of 61 academic publications, analysis of 55 industry reports and 18 statistical reports, and nine comparative case studies of games that incorporate European cultural heritage. It also includes a quantitative survey of 1,270 European video game developers collected in 2024, 27 in-depth interviews with industry and cultural-sector representatives, three national and one international design thinking marathons involving 72 participants, and focus group interviews with eight practitioners from Austria, Ireland, Sweden, and Poland.

Qualitative findings identify structural obstacles including outdated legal regulations, unclear sector definitions, and excessive bureaucracy, alongside the high-risk, long-horizon nature of game development that clashes with expectations of rapid returns. The authors argue that these conditions, together with project-based production cycles and precarious employment, disproportionately affect marginalised creators and smaller studios, helping explain why formally promoted inclusivity seldom produces deeper ecosystem-level change. The paper concludes that sustainable, reflective systemic reforms are needed to support genuine diversity and to recognise games as legitimate cultural artefacts.