The Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, has championed this Saturday the role of video games as "one of the very biggest booming industries" and a "key" sector in Spain, committing to maintain his support with own funds once the aid from the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR) concludes.
"Video games are one of the very big booming industries we have in our country", Urtasun has pointed out, highlighting that Spain ranks as the third European power in the sector. Furthermore, he has underlined the strong growth experienced in the last decade, with a turnover that has gone from around 300 million euros to more than 2,700 million, as well as the existence of 22 million users and nearly 800 companies dedicated to video game development.
The minister made these statements during his visit to the Mad Games Show fair, which he defined as a "fundamental meeting for the promotion of a sector that is key" in the Spanish economy.
Likewise, it has indicated that, after the PRTR aid ran out —which have amounted to 22 million euros for the sector—, the Ministry will continue "institutionally supporting" with its own resources.
Urtasun has insisted on the strategic value of this industry, assuring that "it is technology, that it is culture -I want to say it with all my strength- and that it provides a very great added value to our cultural industries". In this sense, he has recalled initiatives included in the signed protocol, such as 'Equal Play', focused on gender equality, and others aimed at promoting sustainable consumption among young people.
"We are going to continue betting" in a "determined" way on the video game industry, he concluded.
