President Emmanuel Macron has announced the creation of a new international video game festival, framing the initiative as a global event dedicated to innovation, creativity, and the gaming industry. The announcement took place on September 7 during the Lumière Summit in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, an event co-chaired by Macron and South Korean President Lee Jae-myung that gathered approximately 150 leaders from the film, television, and gaming sectors.
The move comes as a formal recognition of video games as a core pillar of French culture. While the specific date and location for the festival have not yet been determined, Macron emphasized the need to grant the industry greater recognition and support, citing recent French successes on the global stage.
The influence of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Sandfall Interactive's Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has been a primary catalyst for this institutional push. The title, which previously dominated the Develop:Star Awards 2026 and won Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2025, received personal praise from the President. This recognition extended to the developers themselves, with 28 members of Sandfall Interactive being awarded knighthoods by the French Ministry of Culture. The studio's ambition to push technical boundaries is evident in its evaluation of a porting to Nintendo Switch 2, despite the challenges posed by Unreal Engine 5.
A broader industrial ecosystem
The festival aims to celebrate a long history of French gaming excellence. The landscape includes giants like Ubisoft, which recently released Assassin's Creed Shadows and Star Wars Outlaws, as well as the efforts of Eric Baptizat to stabilize the Assassin's Creed saga following a turbulent period. Other notable contributions include Stray from BlueTwelve Studio, A Plague Tale: Requiem by Asobo Studio, and titles from Quantic Dream and Dontnod Entertainment.
The Lumière Summit served as the ideal backdrop for this announcement, focusing on AI's impact and new economic models for entertainment. The broader initiative has already expanded into the "Lumière Alliance," with Greece joining the coalition and preparing to host the 2027 summit in Athens.
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