EGDF European Parliament election manifesto

jpkaleva EGDF positions, News

ENABLING DIGITAL GROWTH IN THE EU

The European Games Developer Federation e.f. (EGDF) unites 24 national trade associations representing game developer studios based in 23 European countries: Austria (PGDA), Belgium (FLEGA), Croatia (CGDA), Czechia (GDACZ), Denmark (Producentforeningen), Estonia (Gamedev Estonia), Finland (Suomen pelinkehittäjät), France (SNJV), Germany (GAME), Italy (IIDEA), Lithuania (LGDA), Netherlands (DGA), Norway (Virke Produsentforeningen), Poland (PGA and IGFP), Portugal (APVP), Romania (RGDA), Serbia (SGA), Slovakia (SGDA), Spain (DEV), Sweden (Spelplan-ASGD), Switzerland (SGDA), Turkey (TOGED) and the United Kingdom (TIGA). Through its members, EGDF represents more than 2 500 game developer studios, most SMEs, employing more than 45 000 people. 

EGDF is focused on Building a sustainable ecosystem and business environment where autonomous game developers in Europe thrive operationally, commercially, and artistically. EGDF ensures that European game developer studios have a route to the top of the value chain, access to the best talent with the right skills and excellent access to funding. 

CREATE, ATTRACT AND INVEST IN SKILLS AND TALENT

The EU and its member states must invest more in talent building. 
  • The EU must increase its investment in digital skills and widen the scope of its support instruments for non-formal education (e.g. increasing diversity among gamedev club participants). Read more…
  • The EU must support the introduction of formal game development education in the member states lacking it. Read more…
  • THE EU must build specific support instruments for start-up founders with a minority background. Read more…
The EU must remove obstacles to talent attraction:  
  • The Union must act to reduce immigration bureaucracy further and widen its focus on attracting the best games industry talent and their families to Europe. In particular, member states and the Union must shorten the waiting times and lessen red tape for students applying for residence permits to study or to look for a job after graduating. Read more…
  • The Union should make it easier for those workers who legally reside in one EU Member State to move and work in another EU Member State. The Union should introduce rules allowing the admission of third-country workers without a concrete job offer. Read more…
The EU must become a single digital remote work area:
  •  The Union has to carry out an EU-level study mapping all relevant national rules on cross-border remote work from corporate and personal taxation, health care and social security perspectives. Each EU member state should build and provide a one-stop-shop combining all relevant national information and services on cross-border remote work and immigration. Read more…

ACCESS TO FUNDING AND SUPPORT FOR IP CREATION 

The EU must build a digital-ready, fully harmonised copyright framework. 
  • The EU needs a legal framework that keeps human-created copyright-protected content competitive. The EU must carefully balance the protection of artistic authors against their contractual freedom and freedom to conduct business and the protection of the trademark and design rights holders against their freedom to conduct business.  The EU must widen its focus from using copyright-protected works in generative AI training, and in other machine learning technologies, to protecting trademarks and design rights in a digital environment.  Read more…
  • The commission needs to create a specific legal framework for unfair, non-negotiable standard contracts used by AI tool developers. Read more…
The Union must secure access to funding. 
  • The Union must make it easier for member states to introduce public support for their local game industry ecosystem.  The Union should broaden the audiovisual exemption under the General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER) to include video games. Read more…
  • The EU needs to increase Creative Europe Media funding for video game development. Read more…
  • Digital games are an under-exploited driver of innovation, and the Union should give them a clear cross-cutting role in the new framework programme for research and innovation.  The Union should introduce a specific R&D funding instrument targeting the games industry. Read more…
  • The Union must require member states to introduce specific measures to support new emerging industrial sectors, like the game industry,  in their regional smart specialisation strategies. Read more..

CONTINUE THE SUCCESSFUL STORY OF SELF AND CO-REGULATION 

The Union must recognise the role of successful self- and co-regulation. 
  • Due to extremely rapid technological development, strict regulations have become obsolete quickly. This is why self-regulation and co-regulation are the key solutions for guiding the development of the games sector. Read more… 

MAKE EUROPE THE BEST PLACE TO CREATE AND INVEST IN GAMES

The Union must take a global leadership.  
  • As digital markets are, by their nature, global rather than regional, EGDF believes it is crucial for the European Union to try to minimise the fragmentation of the global digital markets. Union must focus on trade negotiations in building joint guidelines and information points for game industry SMEs). The Union must build a Free Global Digital Single Market Area based on data adequacy decisions. Read more…
  • A global solution is needed for digital taxation instead of regional ones to fight the fragmentation of global digital markets. Read more…
  • The union must safeguard European values in International standardisation bodies. 
The union must help the game industry to stop climate change. 
  • The Union must build a legal framework for a CO2-transparent digital value chain.  Data centers, online intermediaries, and other service providers should be transparent about their CO2 emissions towards game developer studios. Read more…
  • The union must invest its research funding in improving server farms’ energy efficiency and carbon neutrality. Read more…
The union needs a telecommunication infrastructure that enables digital growth. 
  • The Union must protect network neutrality, invest in better, high-performing connectivity infrastructures, and secure affordable unlimited mobile broadband for all. Read more…
The Union must protect the fundamental rights of the game developers in the platform and data economy. 
  • Game distribution platforms must respect European fundamental rights. The freedom of arts and expression has its boundaries and must be balanced against other fundamental rights, but all game curation and moderation policies must be transparent. Read more…
  • All game developers using game streaming services or application stores to publish their content and services must have a right to access their user data on those platforms. Platforms must be obligated to provide timely access to any data required to fulfil legal obligations in the EU. Players not should decide if they are ready to share their data with a game developer studio. Read more…
  • Non-professional game developers without a business ID or VAT number should always be able to publish games through gatekeeper platforms. Read more…

Download the EGDF manifesto as a PDF from here: https://www.egdf.eu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/202405-EGDF-EU-election-manifesto-2024.pdf

For more information on EGDF EU policy positions, please visit https://www.egdf.eu/doc/how-to-enable-digital-growth-in-europe/

For more information, please contact:
Jari-Pekka Kaleva, tel: +358 40 716 3640  
Managing Director, European Games Developer Federation (EGDF)
Email: jari-pekka.kaleva@egdf.eu