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Gamers aren’t usually the first demographic that politicians are thinking of when they run for election, but maybe French president Emmanuel Macron will lead the way.
France is in the midst of its presidential elections which will determine who runs the country for the next five years. The final vote will take place this Sunday (24 April) and pits current president Macron against opposition Marine Le Pen. Competition between the two has been tight. In the last round of voting, where all candidates were eligible to receive votes, Macron received 27.8% of the votes to Le Pen’s 23.1%.
Funnily enough we don’t have footage of the French election, but you can see our interview with Jesse ‘JLINGZ’ Lingard on what it’s like to buy an esports team in the video below.
France is one of the gaming industry's leading markets with over half the population self-identifying as gamers. In an interview with Crypto and technology website BigWhale, Macron expressed how he would invest in the gaming market if he were re-elected.
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“We are currently getting back into the global game of technology and if we continue to pursue the right policies, we can win it. For one simple reason: we have the best talents. Our duty is to create the environment that encourages them to stay in Europe.”
He admits he’s not a “very active video game player”, but recognises that French companies such as Ubisoft, Quantic Dream, and Voodoo, make the country “powerful” in the gaming industry. These are the reasons he wants to invest more in gaming going forward.
“That is why I also want us to have a strategic approach to continue creating the right conditions to promote France as the country for video games. We have adapted the video game tax credit - we want to make it permanent and continue to work on financing and training to locate and attract productions in our country.”
The biggest promise he made though, was a desire to host more esports tournaments in the future.
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“Finally, I'm not forgetting esports; another field of French excellence with teams like Team Vitality or Karmine Corp. In this respect, we have a historic opportunity: the 2024 Olympic Games. It is up to us to take full advantage to establish a link between the two worlds’ Olympiads by hosting the world's greatest esporting events: CS:GO Majors, Worlds League of Legends and The International of Dota 2. If the French trust me, we will work on it as soon as I am elected. This is also what France's influence is all about.”
So it looks like if Macron wins, more esports tournaments will come to France, because politicians never lie right?