The Many Facets of Culture in Digital Games Policy: The EU Dimension

The European Commission's approach to State aid for digital games reveals a pragmatic evolution in how the EU understands culture, moving from a narrow, film-centred framing toward a more industry-oriented recognition of games as cultural products. The central argument is that the Commission's decisions under Article 107(3)(d) TFEU, which permit aid for cultural purposes, treat cultural and economic rationales as intertwined rather than separable. Culture in this context functions as a flexible concept whose meaning shifts with policy priorities, and State aid policy is best understood as a form of cultural policy rather than competition policy alone.

The analysis traces a clear trajectory. The 2013 Cinema Communication initially excluded games, requiring them to demonstrate market failure, and early decisions such as France's 2006 tax relief case questioned whether games qualified as cultural products at all. Across national schemes, including those of the UK, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Belgium, and Ireland, the Commission first demanded demonstrable cultural value, often favouring artistic or educational titles. Over time, however, it has adopted a more industrial, creative-cluster perspective, most visibly in its approval of the 2022 Irish Digital Games Tax Credit.

The study identifies persistent tensions alongside this shift. Games still face greater difficulty than film in establishing cultural status, and tax incentives risk disproportionately benefiting large studios rather than culturally distinctive local productions. Recent signals, including a 2022 European Parliament draft report proposing a "European Video Game" label and a European Council call to review State aid rules to include video games, suggest growing institutional attention to the sector. The analysis calls for interdisciplinary scholarship spanning EU law, political economy, and cultural policy studies to examine these developments, with further Commission work on the value of games anticipated in 2024.