Public funding and cultural games: towards a categorisation of video games cultural tests in the EU and beyond

O’Brien, Maria and Webber, Nick (2026) Public funding and cultural games: towards a categorisation of video games cultural tests in the EU and beyond. International Journal of Cultural Policy. ISSN 1028-6632

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Abstract

This article analyses ‘cultural tests’ for video games, developed by EU member states and related others to allow video game companies to receive ‘state aid’ (i.e. public funding) in line with EU laws. Most EU member states provide financial support for the video games industry, and cultural tests are employed to ‘prove’ that higher-value schemes are culturally specific enough to be exempted from competition rules under Article 107(3)(d) TFEU/Treaty of Lisbon. We explore twelve cultural tests for video games across eleven nations – nine EU member states, Norway and the UK – building on our previous work on cultural tests for film and for video games in specific states. We argue that such tests express the views of national governments about what culture is and/or should be, that their intersection constitutes a space where a European culture can be imagined, and that these are tests not only about nation and culture but also about video games as both an industry and a creative sector. Thus, we analyse what cultural tests have to say about the place of video games within culture, both national and European.

Item Type:	Article
Identification Number:	10.1080/10286632.2026.2729078
Dates:	Date Event 2 September 2026 Accepted 15 September 2026 Published Online
Uncontrolled Keywords:	video games, state aid for culture, culture tests, European cultural policy
Subjects:	CAH24 - media, journalism and communications > CAH24-01 - media, journalism and communications > CAH24-01-05 - media studies
Divisions:	Arts > English and Media > Media
Depositing User:	Gemma Tonks
Date Deposited:	21 Oct 2026 13:41
Last Modified:	21 Oct 2026 13:41
URI:	https://www.open-access.bcu.ac.uk/id/eprint/17276

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