French President Emmanuel Macron has announced the establishment of an international video game festival. The vision is to view video games as a cultural and creative realm alongside cinema, building a global event that encompasses creation, innovation, players, and the gaming industry.
President Macron revealed the plan on September 7 during his opening address at the 2026 Lumière Summit in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France, which he co-hosted with President Lee Jae-myung. The Lumière Summit is an international event bringing together governments and key figures from the film, broadcasting, and video game industries to discuss the future of moving images.
He described gaming as "one of the major creative forms of our time," where images, text, music, design, and technology intersect. He further emphasized that games are part of culture and should be included under France's "cultural exception," which has historically applied to film and other creative works.
He explained that the new festival would be designed "from the outset as a major global event for creation, innovation, users, and the industry." He added that the global achievements of French gaming demonstrate that video games are both a creative art and an industry, underscoring the need to highlight this more broadly.
This initiative is one item focused on the gaming sector among the international cooperation plans introduced by President Macron at the summit. However, the official name of the event, dates, location, and organizational structure were not disclosed during the announcement.
