From Policy to Paradox: Diversity Washing, Policy Failures, and the Limits of Authentic Intersectional Pleasure in the European Video Game Industry

Abstract

This extended abstract presents consolidated, mixed-method results from Work Package 3 (WP3: Game Industry Ecosystem) of the Horizon Europe GAMEHEARTS project (Grant Agreement No. 101132543). The project aims to maximise the economic, social, and cultural value of the European Video Game Industry Ecosystem (EVGIE) through structured collaboration with the Culture and Creative Industries (CCI). Our goal is to critically examine the systemic failure of inclusiveness in contemporary game design. We argue that the weak institutional framework and prevailing political and organisational mechanisms foster superficial compliance, commonly referred to as „Diversity Washing". Qualitative data analysis also reveals that practitioners perceive this practice as a manifestation of "artificially imposed" and overly formalised inclusivity, whose primary goal is to meet financial and reporting requirements rather than foster authentic, grassroots creativity. This instrumentalisation of inclusive goals limits the possibility of achieving true intersectional pleasure in game design, while simultaneously perpetuating the industry's image as "low culture" (which it has labelled „Profanum"). Realising progressive values requires not only declarative support but also big and lasting structural changes that enable authentic, rather than formally imposed, inclusivity.