2023-09-18 23:20:00
DISPATCH – Saturday September 16, Emmanuel Macron wrote a long mea culpa on Twitter, returning to degrading comments he may have made about video games during the June riots. Accused of political exploitation, it was set on fire by many gamers in the comments.
The rioters “live in the street the video games that intoxicated them,” he said. This rhetoric which makes the link between video games and violence was poorly received. However, the president is seeking by all means to seduce young people, who are themselves sensitive to this subject. He therefore wanted to explain himself (at length) on X (formerly Twitter): “I made the gamers jump,” he says as a primer.
I made the gamers jump.
However, I have always considered that video games are an opportunity for France, for our youth and its future, for our jobs and our economy.
I want to be (more) clear.…
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) September 16, 2023
And to justify his words: ” […] video game codes had been used by delinquents to trivialize violence on social networks. It is this violence that I condemn, not video games.”
Then, it’s a limitless praise that begins with: “Video games are a culture, an entertainment, a spectacle!” Citing major events such as the GP Explorer, popular video games such as Fortnite, or even French creations such as Dofus or Assassin’s Creed, Emmanuel Macron seeks to prove his unconditional love for the sector. According to him, video games “are a field of artistic experimentation, a fascinating learning space, mixing all the arts.” But they are also an “ecosystem with real professionals”, which gives rise to “opportunities for employment and the future, by creating champions, but also engineers, developers, designers and creators. ” Moreover, in his plan for 2030, the president ensures that the development of video game schools holds an important place.
In short, the president knows what he is talking about, and it would not be a question of having the rising stars of the sector as nemesis.
However, this is what is likely to happen, with the reversals not reassuring video game leaders. “You like video games in the run-up to the polls or to generate buzz on big events,” the streamer MisterMV criticized him. Two days earlier, it was microphone of France Inter that the streamer Kameto explained feeling “a little betrayed” by the president. The latter invited him to the Élysée in June 2022, to celebrate e-sport, but Kameto claims to have “seen the turnaround” and the “political recovery” in the months that followed. Especially since this tweet from Emmanuel Macron came on the day when Kameto was organizing a major gaming event.
In the comments, many people made the opposite reproach, deploring too much support for the sector. “You praise video games in terms that we have never heard you pronounce for France. Games which are addictive, time-consuming and which make you stupid. Praise what elevates, not what belittles,” wrote Jean Messiha, for example. Some regret that there were no such apology messages for other social issues, such as pensions or harassment. The famous comedian Rémi Gaillard, for example, took the opportunity to discuss the suicide of the police: “To hope for a response, Myriam Sakhri’s family must play video games?” he quipped. .
In other words, Emmanuel Macron’s usual ambivalence attracts wrath from all sides.
Only professionals in the sector were a little more positive. As reported Numeramathe national video game union (SNJV) welcomed a “message of appeasement […] eagerly awaited by video game professionals and all the players and actresses in our ecosystem.”
Nicolas Vignolles, director of the entertainment software publishers’ union, invited Emmanuel Macron to “walk the talk” during the next edition of Paris Games Week.
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