[1][2][3] The French government gives special tax breaks to video game companies.
[6] In France video games have equal status as an artform, alongside more traditional formats, such as painting and theatre.
[9] In 2002, the explosion of the Internet bubble provoked the end of three of the most prestigious French studios in a few months: Kalisto Entertainment, No Cliché and Lankhor.
Between 2003 and 2013, the video game industry in France plunged more than 80% to 240 companies and 4,800 employees, moving from fifth to seventh in the world.
[10] Despite these economic constraints, in the 2010’s, French studios signed more and more contracts with international producers such as Capcom and Sega.
Arkane Studios was founded in 1999 in the city Lyon by Raphaël Colantonio, a former employee of Electronic Arts.
[24] The focus of Quantic Dream is to produce narrative based video games in the format of Interactive Drama.
Ubisoft initially distributed CD audio media, computers, and additional software to farmers and subsequently shifted to publishing video games.
[32] The National School of Play and Interactive Digital Media (French: École Nationale du Jeu et des Médias Interactifs Numériques) (ENJMIN) is a public school located in Angoulême devoted to video games and more generally to interactive digital media.
[36] The school is based in Paris with other campuses located in Bordeaux, Strasbourg, Nantes, and Rennes.
[38] The school implements a weekly rotating schedule with in-class instruction and industry experience at a workplace.
[38] In January 2016, Prime Minister Manuel Valls entrusted two parliamentarians, Rudy Salles and Jérôme Durain, with the task of "defining a legislative and regulatory framework favoring the development of video game competitions in France".
[citation needed] On October 20, 2016, Nasser Al-Khelaïfi announced the launch of Paris Saint-Germain eSports, a section of the PSG, with YellOwStaR, former professional player of League of Legends, as director.
The last edition of the Video Game Festival was held on September 10, 11 and 12, 2010, but the content offered to visitors was very different from that proposed in other years.
On April 12, 2011, Jean-Claude Larue, President of SELL, announced that a space devoted to French creation would be integrated into the Paris Games Week, managed by Jonathan Dumont, founder of the Festival du Jeu Vidéo.
Financial incentives and labels to distinguish games that had a positive image of women were proposed but later dismissed.