PARIS -- First there were the 19th century impressionist painters. Then came the existentialists and the Nouvelle Vague filmmakers. Now, 21st century video-game makers represent the latest artistic genre deemed worthy of state patronage and support, the French government says.
Earlier this month, French Culture Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres inducted three game designers into the prestigious Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of Arts and Literature) as chevaliers, or knights: Peter Molyneux (Populous and Black & White); Eric Viennot (Missing); and Antoine Villette (Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare).
And at the beginning of this month, France signed into law generous tax breaks for video-games made on French soil. (Final approval by the European Commission is pending.)
For some French officials, games are beginning to serve as an outlet for France's creative energies, but will need nurturing and state patronage to flourish.
"The creation of video games is an excellent and intelligent way of harnessing the potential of technologies that are ahead of their time in order to substantiate the richness of French culture," said Patrick Ollier, president of the committee on economic affairs, the environment, and territory at the Assemblée Nationale (French National Assembly), in an e-mail.
Ollier said the tax incentive "represents the best way to harbor the innovative vitality of France's creative juices, by inciting small enterprises to create imaginative works that take advantage of tomorrow's technologies."
With the tax breaks, the French games industry now falls under the elite auspices of the "exception française." Loosely defined, the term applies to the country's refusal to leave its country's arts to the whims of laissez-faire capitalism.
Already, France's radio stations are subjected to quotas limiting the amount of airplay for non-French music. The film industry benefits from generous stipends and quotas, which explains in part why the industry is one of the largest in the world, behind the United States and India.
Likewise, video-game makers, often with less financial backing than their U.S. and Japanese counterparts, need help from the French government to survive financial crises such as the dot.com bust, said Stéphane Natkin, author of Video Games and Interactive Media, a Glimpse at New Digital Entertainment.
Natkin is also a professor at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers, where he is director of the ">graduate school of games and interactive media.
"It's important that video games become part of the 'exception culturelle,'" Natkin said, "with a system in place to finance and support the creation of video games, as a modern-day equivalent of government support that helped save French cinema after the war."
France has had a substantial impact on video-game culture around the world, especially in proportion to its population of 64 million people. France is home of Ubisoft, one of the world's largest and fastest growing game makers.
Well-known games made in France or with French input include Among the Test Drive Unlimited (Eden)," King Kong (Ubisoft)," Fahrenheit (Quantic Dream), Alone in the Dark -- The New Nightmare (Darkworks), Trackmania (Nadéo), Top Spin (Pam), Paradise (White Birds), and Dofus (Ankama), according to the French Agency for Video Games.
Paris serves as the venue for the annual Electronic Sports World Cup, which is one of the world's largest video-gaming tournaments.
Ironically, though, France's contribution to video-game culture around the world often does not seem very French-like. King Kong, for example, takes place on a long-lost island and in New York, and was based on the recent Hollywood hit movie.
"I don't think people who play games care where they come from," Pachter said. "There may also be a commonly held misinterpretation that all games are made in the United States and Japan, while Ubisoft shows that is not true."
Despite France's official patronage and the new law, some point out that in actual dollar-and-cents terms, France's video-game makers remain at a disadvantage.
According to Yves Guillemot, Ubisoft's CEO, developers fare better in Canada, where they benefit from tax breaks, and in the United States, where payroll, social security and other taxes tend to be a lot lower than in France.
"The support of the French government is an important move and we are very happy that it is doing this, but other countries do the same thing and to a larger extent," Guillemot said. "France's weakness is also that it has to seek approval for (tax break measures) by Europe. "
Not all video-game makers will necessarily benefit from France's tax-break incentives, either. Only video games with "cultural content" will qualify.
"The games must have a narration of some kind and a scenario written in French with elements of adventure or simulation games," said Marc Herubel, an adviser to the culture ministry. He cited Fahrenheit and Missing as games that would have probably qualified for the tax break.
And among some of France's intellectual elite, such as professors of art theory and history, video games also have a long way to go before they are taken seriously, some say.
"Intellectuals in France who defend the traditional culture like the cinema, literature and music, etc., generally don't care about video games and say they have nothing to do with culture," said Frank Beau, a consultant and writer who specializes in new media and the video-game industry. "On the other end, the intelligent set who defend video games in France are usually involved in psychology and social sciences, and they tend to favor role-playing games. "
The ranks of the chevaliers already honors Michel Ancel for Rayman and Beyond Good & Evil, Shigeru Miyamoto for Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda, and Frédérick Raynal for Alone in the Dark and Twinsen's Odyssey.
