French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday announced the creation of an “International Video Game Festival” in France, declaring video games a “cultural exception” of the republic.
Macron made the announcement speaking at the Sommet Lumière, an international cinema and audiovisual conference hosted by France at the medieval town of Saint-Paul-de-Vence and co-chaired by Macron and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung.
The French president said he firmly believes that video games are part of culture and that they should “in fact, be part of France’s cultural exception” just as cinema and other forms creative expression are.
“So, we will create an international video game festival, conceived from the outset as a major global gathering of creativity, innovation, gamers, and the industry,” he announced.
“France’s major global video game successes highlight the richness of this creative output, which is, after all, an industry in its own right. We need to give it greater recognition and succeed in winning everyone’s support,” he continued.
French broadcaster BFMTV noted on that Macron’s goal appears to be the creation of a video game event comparable to Gamescom, a international festival hosted every summer at the German town of Cologne and whose 2026 edition took place in late August.
Unnamed sources affirmed to BFMTV that the project for a video game festival was started by Macron and the French National Centre of Cinema (CNC), seeking to attract major international publishers and branches. The broadcaster pointed out that specific details on the planned festival, such as its financing, have not been disclosed — particularly given the fact that Macron is set to leave office in May 2027.
Multiple French outlets pointed out that Macron’s new remarks in the support of video games stand in contrast with criticism that the French President espoused against gaming earlier this year. Per Le Monde, Macron stated during a February interview with the digital outlet Brut that he believes video games “condition” young people.
“When you spend hours playing a video game where you take out everyone, including Fortnite… Cool. That’s not what life is about. Because it distorts, if I may say so, your relationship with violence, and it conditions you. I’m in favor of families playing their part,” Macron said during the February interview, according to Le Parisien.
France’s President Emmanuel Macron (R) looks at a video game on a smartphone presented by his creator, as he meets with Congolese artists at the French Institute in Luanda on March 4, 2023. – The French President is in Kinshasa on the fourth and last leg of an African tour. (LUDOVIC MARIN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
The French President’s remarks were reportedly met with fierce backlash from France’s gaming community, including its National Video Game Union, who rebutted Macron’s statements by asserting scientific studies over the past 20 years “show that there is no correlation between video games and violence.”
Macron personally addressed the February controversy and “misunderstandings” through a lengthy social media post in which he affirmed he has “always supported video games.” At the time, the French President stated that he has supported the participation of French developers and gaming teams, noting the country can be very proud of France’s influence in the gaming ground.
“What I announced at Brut, in response to that teacher who was shouting her anger, isn’t a ban on video games: it’s the launch of a scientific, collegial effort to face reality head-on. Calmly, lucidly, and with all stakeholders, “Macron wrote at the time. “It’s our responsibility to ask researchers, scientists, and clinicians to evaluate the impacts, untangle misconceptions, and shed light on the public debate.”
“That’s exactly what I’m doing: I’m opening a serious, informed, and calm debate, which I want far from shortcuts, he continued, and concluded, “You can love video games, be proud of them, and at the same time look without taboo at certain practices and their effects.”
The French president accompanied his text with a copy of the “Ah sh*t, here we go again” meme from the 2004 video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
Last year, Macron used his personal Instagram account to publicly congratulate French video game developer Sandfall Interactive over the success of their debut video game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 after the game hit one million sold copies. Macron praised the game as “one of the best-rated games in history, and yes, it’s French.”
Months later, Macron congratulated Expedition 33 for becoming the first French video game to win the Game of the Year award at the 2025 edition of The Game Awards.