Yesterday we were in Turin to attend the inauguration of the third edition of Round One, an accelerator for the entire export industry organized by IIDEA, a trade association of the video game industry, designed to facilitate intra business opportunities. and outside the sector.
On this occasion we had the opportunity to interview Thalità Malagò, secretary general of the association, to take stock of the situation on the Italian videogame industry, and to talk about esports and metaverses, protagonists of this year’s schedule.
Looking at the program of this edition of Round One you can see two souls, that of the metaverses and that of the esports. Two phenomena, however, which do not seem very relevant. What was this particular combination due to?
This year we wanted to broaden the observation point of Round One without focusing vertically on esports but by broadening our gaze to other areas on which video games can have an impact. The Metaverse is a new frontier on which gaming has already had an effect and we believe that brands, especially those outside the sector, may have an interest in exploring its opportunities with targeted projects. Ours is a transversal program, however, and this year we are talking not only about esports and metaverses but also about music, fashion and sustainability. Focusing only on esports can be an understatement for those unfamiliar with the sector and want to look at video games as a whole.
The esports phenomenon is alive and very interesting to study, but it has been inflated by marketing for a long time, which has ended up giving it too great a responsibility. Now the focus has shifted to metaverses, which on closer inspection is good news because esports can resume their organic growth path. What is IIDEA’s position in this regard?
We agree and the research on esports we have just disclosed confirms it. Although to a lesser extent than in other countries, the phenomenon is also growing in Italy. The economic impact of 50 million euros of total induced activities will not be high but it is still increasing compared to last year, and we are still in a post-pandemic period, which does not allow us to fully exploit the potential of the sector. There is a hard core of companies that have invested in esports and continue to do so, while some teams are also expanding overseas.
There is a small industry at the local level, we would have to take a leap to go in the direction of Spain or France, but the general conditions are still lacking, a system that increasingly encourages brands to invest in the sector. We do ours by organizing, for example, Round One, an event designed to showcase the potential of the sector, and we have discussed with the previous government on how to make it easier legally to organize tournaments and prize events, as well as how to adapt. to the practices of other European countries where the development of gaming has been more consistent.
But this is essentially last year’s program, which suggests that things haven’t changed much in the last twelve months …
Unfortunately this is the case but to obtain certain results it takes time. As for the development of video games in Italy, it took about ten years to make the institutions understand what a huge wasted opportunity it was not to invest in our sector. With tax credit and accelerators we are now meeting the interest of institutions not only at a national but also at a regional level. However, I do not think we will have to wait as long for esports, which will take advantage of the forerunner work we have done so far, despite Covid having slowed down their growth path.
The various Statista and Newzoo foresee a turnover of 2 billion dollars for exports in 2023, which rises to 200 if we consider gaming as a whole. We are therefore talking about a phenomenon, exports, which are worth 1% of the reference market. Hence the question: is there too much talk about esports or too little about video games?
I think we don’t talk enough about video games and esports in general, especially in relation to other traditional forms of entertainment. The real value and social impact of gaming is still not fully recognized and I would not separate esports from video games, which would not exist without them: they are a whole whose parts are difficult to distinguish.
How difficult is it to be secretary general of IIDEA in a country where lobbying activities are being thwarted by constantly changing governments and from which large publishers are withdrawing?
It is true that publishers are reducing their presence in our territory but it is also true that the gaming market is growing in Italy, so even if there is no branch in Italy (or there is a smaller one), this does not mean that publishers do not care what happens in Italy at an institutional level. We continue to have their support, plus support at European level. There is also a growing local industry, in which I have many hopes, which over the years has already given signs of strength: I am thinking of international acquisitions, of those who (and I do not want to mention names and surnames) have developed large IPs that are having success and international resonance. Of course, we are not talking about triple A titles but the world of video games does not live only on those.
Not surprisingly, speaking with some developers during the Press Start, for the first time I heard complaints about the lack of qualified personnel for Italy. We have spent years wondering how to place all the resources that were churned out by the many academic faculties, now we find ourselves in an opposite situation …
This is certainly a good sign. Press Start it is an event that was strongly desired by a group of developer partners who built and financed it, in response to the need to find qualified resources and to recruit new professionals. We created an orientation moment and it was nice to see people in key roles in some companies, come and explain what it means to be a programmer, artist or lead designer, and then meet the students in special meeting areas. The most exciting part, however, was that of the awards: we received over 30 applications in a month from all over Italy and the juries who analyzed the prototypes of the projects that came to us, finding great professionalism.
In closing, a question: there are other IIDEAs in Europe that have objectives that are probably common to yours. How does your coordination at the continental level work?
At the European level there is theISFE, based in Brussels, of which IIDEA is a member. This federation includes the individual associations of the main European countries such as France, Spain, Portugal for southern Europe, and of course Great Britain, Germany, Poland and many others. We are a big family and there is an increasingly important European coordination work; without prejudice to the specific differences of individual nations, there is an ever closer coordination on the major issues of industry.
We are part of the board of this federation and of the group of national associations that meet periodically to take stock of the situation. Collaborations often arise, and we inspire each other by taking the actions of individual territories as an example. And just as the associations put pressure on local governments, ISFE in turn acts on the central government in Brussels. The biggest result achieved by ISFE? So far, the introduction of the PEGI.
#Thalità #Malagò #esports #metaversi #gaming