Updated Mar 17, 2026 by Video Games Europe
The European video games sector, representing a €23.3 billion industry with 90,000 employees and 250 million players, is actively lobbying to shape the EU's Green Transition Consumer Directive.
Video Games Europe supports the two-year commercial guarantee benchmark and the EU 2019/771 definition of 'durability,' which protects manufacturers from liability regarding piracy-related damage.
The industry opposes a blanket ban on software updates that reduce functionality, arguing that such restrictions could hinder legitimate service termination and inadvertently increase energy consumption.
The sector urges regulators to remove 'social impact' from the directive and rejects a mandatory Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) methodology in favor of flexible, science-based assessment tools.
Industry representatives argue that durability-guarantee information should be disclosed on product detail pages rather than immediately before checkout to prevent consumer distraction from other essential rights.
The 2023 position paper leverages data from 2020, noting a 22% growth rate for the sector and highlighting that 54% of the 250 million European players regularly use consoles.
The European video games sector, representing a €23.3 billion industry with 90,000 employees and 250 million players, is actively lobbying to shape the EU's Green Transition Consumer Directive.
Video Games Europe supports the two-year commercial guarantee benchmark and the EU 2019/771 definition of 'durability,' which protects manufacturers from liability regarding piracy-related damage.
The industry opposes a blanket ban on software updates that reduce functionality, arguing that such restrictions could hinder legitimate service termination and inadvertently increase energy consumption.
The sector urges regulators to remove 'social impact' from the directive and rejects a mandatory Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) methodology in favor of flexible, science-based assessment tools.
Industry representatives argue that durability-guarantee information should be disclosed on product detail pages rather than immediately before checkout to prevent consumer distraction from other essential rights.
The 2023 position paper leverages data from 2020, noting a 22% growth rate for the sector and highlighting that 54% of the 250 million European players regularly use consoles.