D2.2 - Analysis of the spatial distribution of the video game industry in Europe

The GAME-ER project aims to understand the spatial organisation and clustering dynamics of the video game industry (VGI) in Europe, focusing on local and regional clusters outside major cities. This report responds to the objectives of the GAME-ER project by addressing the following research questions: What strategies can be adopted to overcome current limitations in data availability and industry classification for accurately mapping the video game industry at the European level? Which types of data sources and methodological approaches are most suitable for developing a robust, data-driven framework to identify, geo-locate, and profile video game companies across European regions? In what ways can quantitative spatial analysis contribute to understanding patterns of industrial specialization and the emergence of clustering dynamics in the European video game sector? The report, prepared by UNITO, is the output of T2.2, run between M4 and M18 of the GAME-ER project, whose goal has been the collection of firm level data of companies using a data-driven approach to produce a spatial analysis of video game clusters. More specifically, the objectives of report are: To present the data-driven strategy (rationales, sources, methods and challenges) developed within the GAME-ER project for the identification and geolocation of video game companies operating in Europe. To provide a comprehensive geographical knowledge base on the video game industry in Europe. To carry out a quantitative spatial analysis of the European video game industry at the regional (NUTS-2) level. The main key outputs of the deliverable can be summarized as follow: The data-driven mapping strategy implemented by GAME-ER provides for the first time a spatially representative sample of 4000 companies operating in the European videogame industry, obtained by combining company information through text-similarity matching few but rich and harmonized sources, privileging temporal depth and analytical consistency of data. The company database addresses the measurement challenges revealing the distribution of videogame companies according to their primary Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes. A significant 41.44% of active firms are classified under code 62.01 "Computer programming activities", followed by 25.50% under code 58.21 "Publishing of computer games". The remaining 33% of companies are distributed across more than 30 different primary SIC codes. Notably, the distribution of these codes varies partly across countries. The research highlights significant challenges in obtaining a comprehensive economic overview of the video game sector at the European level. The analysis reveals substantial limitations in using business registers due to the lack of homogeneity and completeness of information sources across different countries. To address these limitations, the GAME-ER project employed alternative proxy indicators more directly linked to video game production. Through the use of metrics of regional specializations, the regional analysis, carried out at the NUTS-2 level, provides a first comparative view of the sector’s spatial concentration and helps identify and characterize 62 European regions displaying degrees of specialization in the video game industry, including those where GAME-ER clusters are located. Note: This deliverable was submitted to the European Commission and is still pending approval