The deputies of the 5 Star Movement Case, Barzotti, Orrico, Amato, Fede, Cherchi, Carotenuto e pavanelli have presented a resolution in the Culture and Labor Committees of the House in which they commit the Government to provide adequate regulation of e-sports. Below is the full text of the resolution:
Commissions VII and XI,
given that:
The e-sports or electronic or virtual sports, or video game competitions at a competitive and professional level, are leagues, competitive circuits, tournaments or competitions that typically involve an audience of spectators in which players, individually or in teams, play video games, both in person and online, for the purpose of obtaining prizes or for pure entertainment, according to a specific selection or registration system;
competitions can take place at a professional or amateur level, internationally or locally, in person in a public place or in a studio or on platforms online. The most important tournaments are broadcast in streaming and attract growing volumes of audiences both in attendance and online. - e-sports they are open to all video game enthusiasts, from amateurs to professionals. There are professionals who have made this sport a real job, with a community that supports them and with sponsor who accompany them in their career: the so-called ProPlayer;
the growth of e-sports in Italy and around the world it has gone hand in hand with the increasingly pervasive diffusion of Internet fast broadband and with the technological progress of the world of video games and had an exponential increase during and following the Sars COVID-19 pandemic. The e-sports then they represent one of the markets with the highest growth rate in the world. According to PWC's latest Global E&M Outlook 2022-2026 report, the global turnover of the component Gaming ed e-sports it reached $215,6 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow 8,5 percent in 2026 to reach $323,5 billion. The Gaming is the third content category of Entertainment & Media which consumes the most data, after videos and communications. In Italy, according to the latest findings of 2022, the e-mail marketsports it is worth 47 million euros and involves 6 million enthusiasts of which 45 percent are women;
the sector e-sports Italian, although growing rapidly, However, it suffers from the lack of regulatory regulation since there is no normative definition of e-sports, much less the activity of a video game player. This situation therefore limits the expansion of a sector in full economic growth and growth, creating a brake on the development of the sector. In other European countries (France (in primis)) and in the world (United States and South Korea), however, there are already rules that frame and regulate the activity of player and organizations in this sector;
i gamer present specific problems and needs, linked, for example, to the assimilability of sports and electronic games to traditional sports, but for many other characteristics they face situations common to other subjects who create content to be made available through digital networks: looking, in fact, at way of carrying out the activity, the players are similar to the creators of other content, distinguishing themselves only by the particularity of the content created and made available;
in the statement released by the International Olympic Committee on 28 October 2017 at the end of the sixth Olympic summit, held in Lausanne, it was highlighted that the summit itself had discussed the rapid development of e-sports, which is experiencing strong growth, especially in the youth demographic in several countries, highlighting how the e-sports competitive could be considered as a real sporting activity, considering that the players involved prepare and train with an intensity that can be comparable to athletes in traditional sports;
the classification of this category of workers in terms of employment relationships is made more complex by the presence of a further level of intermediation of activities, represented by the teams to which individual players can belong and which can regulate their relationships with the players themselves with contracts that can define any compensation and further obligations between the parties;
in the United States the figure of gamer has been recognized as a professional sports athlete figure and among the gamer a union was established to guarantee minimum wages, health insurance and pension contributions;
French law n. 2016-1321 of 7 October 2016, which in articles 101 and 102 regulates video game competitions and employment relationships of paid professional players of competitive video games, providing in particular that the provisions of the code of Work;
among the most active states in the sector e-sports there is the Republic of San Marino, which between 2022 and 2023 approved the code of e-sports, the first state in Europe to provide organic legislation on the sector, which includes all the issues that contribute to the development of the market;
on 10 November 2022 the European Parliament approved a historic resolution which for the first time recognizes the value of e-sports and the entire videogame industry, recommending to Member States a "long-term strategy to support and incentivize the sector";
with a historic statement dated 14 October 2023, the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach revealed that he «had asked the new Commission e-sports of the IOC to study the creation of the Olympic e-sports games", thus opening the doors of e-sports within the Olympics;
the memorandum of understanding signed on 14 January 2022 between CONI and the promoting committee e-sports Italy indicates an important progression for the recognition and development of e-sports in Italy. The objective of this memorandum of understanding is to provide support to sports federations and associated disciplines to develop a sector dedicated to electronic and simulated sports within their structures. This means that Italian sports federations will have the opportunity to integrate e-sports among their activities, providing an organizational and regulatory structure for athletes and enthusiasts e-sports. This could lead to greater visibility, regulation and support for e-sports in Italy. A big step forward has been made above all by the International Olympic Committee, which will include virtual sports at the Paris 2024 Olympics. This decision by the IOC attests to the ever-increasing relevance and popularity of e-sports, a sector that now involves millions of enthusiasts all over the world;
Article 2 of Legislative Decree no. 36 of 2021, defining the notion of sport, gives greater power to individual sports federations. This can have a significant impact on e-sports once it is officially recognized as a sporting discipline. The inclusion of e-sports in the list of sports disciplines would entail the application of the entire sports system, including the protections and regulations concerning athletes and operators in the sector. This could ensure greater dignity and protection for those who work in the world of e-sports, including minors who represent a significant part of player professionals;
in this context it is also necessary to consider the possible critical issues related to emerging technologies in the e-sports sector. Particularly on the issue of accessibility and technological disparity, it would be necessary to promote the diffusion of emerging technologies through financial support programs or tax breaks to make technologies more accessible to a wider audience. Furthermore, greater investment in high-speed connectivity infrastructure should be encouraged to ensure fair and reliable access to the networks necessary to exploit emerging technologies;
regarding technologies blockchain and NFT, collaboration between the e-sports industry and companies should be encouraged blockchain to establish standard common rules and rules for the use of NFTs in the sector, also promoting the adoption of solutions blockchain more sustainable from an environmental point of view, to improve the safety of the ecosystem and the quality of video games by decreasing the so-called digital divideee favoring access to fast networks Internet;
with reference to financial resources, it would also be appropriate to imagine forms of public support, such as First Playable Fund already introduced in 2020, to financially support independent video game developers; as well as the promotion of tenders and financing through a platform dedicated to projects Gaming aimed at simplifying bureaucracy and encouraging investments in the sector;
The e-sports, therefore, not only do they have an economic impact because they can create a spin-off with new jobs, but they also represent an issue of social inclusion and equal rights. Legitimizing and regulating it in a clear way can also become a key to attracting young generations to consider new job opportunities,
commit the Government:
to adopt any useful initiative within its jurisdiction, including regulatory ones, in order to:
a) provide adequate regulation to e-sports, adopting clear rules on competition prize money, contract schemes and forms of contractual and fiscal framework dedicated to player professionals, to the professionals of e-sports and to the other professional figures involved;
b) identify end-of-career plans for i player professionals and for their consequent inclusion in the job market;
c) promote the recognition of the profession of cosplayer in the world of art and entertainment in order to guarantee adequate working conditions and related protections, as well as fair compensation;
d) promote, also with initiatives in the school context, greater inclusion of community platforms feminine, breaking down negative phenomena such as bullying online, gender swap, discrimination, also favoring the creation of mixed tournaments;
e) spread education to Gaming in the school and family context, breaking down negative stereotypes through programs that use the Gaming as a training and development activity for children's cognitive skills, possibly including the so-called Gaming in curriculum school, thus encouraging collaboration with schools and universities through tournaments and teams e-sports;
f) create infrastructures that can host competitions and reference centers for students e-sports even recognizing a league e-sports national that can facilitate access to this market and encourage collaboration between operators, federations and public and private operators;
g) provide fiscal measures that can support the development of the sector such as the extension of tax credit to operators e-sports e Gaming, guarantee a correct contractual framework in terms of work and define minimum wages for player and those who work in the sector, develop indicators performance to be included in the social reporting of market companies;
h) recognize video games as an art form and establish one gamecommission that can promote financing aimed at valorising Italian cultural heritage through Gaming.
(7-00178) Caso, Barzotti, Orrico, Amato, Fede, Cherchi, Carotenuto, Pavanelli (M5S)
