The history of European videogames has been so far overshadowed by the global impact of the Japanese and North American industries. However, European game development studios have played a major role in videogame history, and prominent videogames in popular culture, such as Grand Theft Auto, Tomb Raider and Alone in the Dark were made in Europe. This book proposes an exploration of European videogames, including both analyses of transnational aspects of European production and close readings of national specificities. It offers a kaleidoscope of European videogame culture, focusing on the analysis of European works and creators but also addressing contextual aspects and placing videogames within a wider sociocultural and philosophical ground. The aim of this collective work is to contribute to the creation of a, so far, almost non-existent yet necessary academic endeavour: a story of the works, authors, styles and cultures of the European videogame.

Víctor Navarro-Remesal is a media and game scholar at Tecnocampus, Pompeu Fabra University. He’s the author of Libertad dirigid (Shangrila, 2016) and Cine Ludens: 50 diálogos entre el juego y el cine (Editorial UOC, 2019) and the editor of Pensar el juego. 25 caminos para los game studies (Shangrila, 2020), in addition to many chapters and papers in the field. His research interests are player freedom, Zen-inspired games, Japanese videogames, and game preservation.
Óliver Pérez-Latorre
Óliver Pérez-Latorre is a senior lecturer in game and media studies at Pompeu Fabra University (Barcelona, Spain). He has published articles on videogame analysis and culture in the European Journal of Communication, Game Studies, Games and Culture, Convergence and Social Semiotics. He is the author of El Lenguaje Videolúdico. Análisis de la Significación del Videojuego [The Videoludic Language. Analysis of Video Game Meaning] (Ed. Laertes, 2012).

PROLOGUE
Conflict, negotiation, appropriation, and diversity: The challenge of European game studies (Torill Elvira Mortensen, IT University of Copenhagen)
INTRODUCTION
Euro Ludens: On the Origins, Playing Region, and Imaginaries of the European Videogame (Óliver Pérez-Latorre, Pompeu Fabra University, and Víctor Navarro-Remesal, Tecnocampus, Pompeu Fabra University)
PART I: NATIONAL STORIES
National Games: Spanish Games of the 1980s (Clara Fernández-Vara, New York University)
From Le Vampire Fou to Billy la Banlieue: Genre, Influences and Social Commentary in 1980s French Videogames (Alexis Blanchet, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle)
Finnish Fuck Games: A Lost Historical Footnote (Susanna Paasonen, University of Turku, and Veli-Matti Karhulahti, University of Jyväskylä / University of Turku)
Adopting an Orphaned Platform: The Second Life of the Sharp MZ-800 in Czechoslovakia (Jaroslav .velch, Charles University of Prague)
Cuthbert Goes Cloning: Ports, Platforms, and the Dragon 32 Microcomputer (James Newman, Bath Spa University)
PART II: TRANSNATIONAL APPROACHES
Masterpiece! Auteurism and European Videogames (Mercè Oliva, Pompeu Fabra University)
Playing European Comic Books: The Videogame Adaptations of Asterix and Tintin, 1993-1997 (Manuel Garin, Pompeu Fabra University)
Existential Ludology and Peter Wessel Zapffe (Stefano Gualeni and Daniel Vella, University of Malta)
Europe Simulates Europe: How European Analog Games Frame their own Identity (Antonio José Planells de la Maza, Tecnocampus, Pompeu Fabra University)
Naturalist Tendency in European Narrative Games (Nelson Zagalo, University of Aveiro)
FINAL REMARKS
Conclusions (for now). European Videogames, Europeanness in Videogames (Víctor Navarro-Remesal, Tecnocampus, Pompeu Fabra University, and Óliver Pérez-Latorre, Pompeu Fabra University)
Index