The Economist (20210116) by calibre

Author:calibre
Language: eng
Format: azw3, mobi, pdf
Tags: news, The Economist
Publisher: calibre
Published: 2021-01-15T06:58:25.705000+00:00

Steady eddies

Perhaps Europe should be happy for its businesses to be niche players in a world dominated by American and Chinese firms. Being owned by others is not the end of the world. Asset-stripping in the creative industry is a dumb idea: there is little point buying a creative company, then firing everyone. True, the quality of jobs in gaming can be overstated. (At its worst, it can be well-paid grunt work, ensuring that a horse’s digital testicles shrivel in the correct manner on a chilly day.) But video games are a growing industry and, crucially for a bloc with increasingly divergent economic prospects, relatively well spread across the continent. As long as some jobs and investment stay, why should anyone care?

Yet this attitude jars with the goals of Europe’s leaders, who are desperate to make the union a proper superpower. The EU has proved capable of regulating businesses, but incapable of helping to build them. It should start by paying future-proof industries more attention. Instead of being cherished, sectors like video games are forgotten: eclipsed by traditional industries, which have the ear of national politicians; dismissed as too nerdy by the luvvies who give the creative sector its clout. If a more dirigiste Europe is inevitable, then the EU should at least focus its efforts on industries with a bright future, rather than helping older ones cling on. Much like the haphazard launch of “Cyberpunk 2077”, Europe’s video-game sector is still a success, but it has the potential to be a lot better. Unfortunately, in the minds of Europe’s lawmakers, 20th-century industries on which the continent built its wealth—cars, chemicals, banks—are still king. Unless that changes, come 2077, there may be no eddies to go around. ■

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