This report presents the findings of the Gaming Clusters Across Multiple European Regions (GAME ER) project, with specific reference to Task 4.3, Historical Development of the Clusters. The project examines six regional case studies – Dundee (Scotland, UK), Turin (Italy), Brno (Czechia), Lyon and Bordeaux (France), and Fundão (Portugal) – each representing a distinctive context in which the video game sector has developed outside dominant capital-city ecosystems. The work investigates the historical evolution of local video game industries in order to trace how regional clusters have emerged, consolidated, and transformed over time. By identifying the socio technical, economic, and cultural conditions underpinning their formation, the study offers robust historical evidence that clarifies the main factors driving the establishment and subsequent growth of these clusters. The research design comprises two complementary phases, both grounded in established methodologies in media-historical scholarship. The first phase entailed systematic archival and documentary research, carried out across corporate and public repositories with the support of all project partners. This phase established a consolidated historical foundation for each participating cluster. The second phase centred on the collection of oral testimonies through semi-structured interviews with stakeholders identified by local partners. Between 5 and 10 interviews were conducted in each cluster, following a common template developed by the task leader and adapted to local circumstances. The combined outputs of these activities are presented in Deliverable 4.3, which offers a comprehensive historical reconstruction intended to inform broader analyses of European video game-production ecosystems. The analytical process adopts a thematic analysis approach, following the shared framework developed within GAME-ER Working Package 3. This framework ensures consistency across the six case studies and promotes a balanced methodology that incorporates both inductive and deductive analytical reasoning. Such an approach enables detailed, context-specific interpretations while also supporting meaningful cross-case comparisons, thereby revealing broader trends as well as distinctive dynamics that have shaped the formation, development, and evolution of the clusters.
Costalunga et al. (Sat,) studied this question.