Gaming Clusters Across Multiple European Regions

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In the project GAME-ER, we will concentrate on the two regional clusters around Lyon and Bordeaux.

The French video game industry is based on a strong concentration in Paris, but also on the existence of dynamic regional clusters. In the project GAME-ER, we will concentrate on the two regional clusters around Lyon and Bordeaux.

At first glance, each of the two clusters is linked to a historical company.

At first glance, the Lyon cluster was also built based on the presence of a historic company, Infogrames. Infogrames was created in 1983 in Lyon to operate in the video game industry, with development, publishing and distribution activities. It grew rapidly, and embarked on an acquisition policy in the mid-1990s. In 2009, Infogrames took the name of Atari, a brand that the company recovered with the purchase of Hasbro. In 2013, the difficulty in bringing in investors led the company to default. The structuring of the video game industry in Lyon into a cluster took place in three stages. The Lyon Infocité-Lyon Game association was created in 1996 to bring together, in two clusters, players in information technology and digital entertainment. It is supported by the city of Lyon, the Rhône-Alpes region and the Rhône department. This organisation is a pioneer in France. In 2004, the association represented 215 members, 5,500 jobs and 4.5 billion in cumulative sales. 

In 2005, the development of “competitiveness clusters” led Lyon Game to join the Imaginove cluster, certified by the State and dedicated to digital content and uses in Auvergne- Rhône Alpes. In 2019, the cluster, which was unable to reapply for its labeling, ended its activities. In the wake of this dissolution, Game Only was created in February 2019, to represent and support video game companies in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes is a French administrative region located in the south-eastern quarter of France. It was created by the 2015 territorial reform and the merger of the regions of Auvergne and Rhône- Alpes. It has an area of 69,711 km2 and a population of 8 million. GameOnly brings together 131 companies generating €746 million in sales. Ubisoft has obtained public support, as part of future investment plans, to set up a global R&D center in Annecy, which may have a structuring effect on the cluster.