Video games as the tenth art form: Fabio Viola on digital creativity

Fabio Viola, a veteran of the video game industry with credits on SimCity, The Sims, and Pac-Man, argues that video games represent a complex and misunderstood cultural expression. He notes that 29 million Italians engage with this art form annually, where modeling, architecture, illustration, music, and narrative converge. Viola highlights that games like Journey, Ico, Assassin's Creed, That Dragon, Cancer, To The Moon, and No Man's Sky have emotionally moved millions. The average player is 37 years old, and women over 50 are a rapidly growing demographic, yet stereotypes persist. Governments from the US to Poland have legally recognized video games as cultural heritage with tax incentives. The MoMA and Smithsonian have included games in their permanent collections, and specialized museums like Vigamus in Rome and Computerspielemuseum in Berlin have opened. Collectors spend tens of thousands of euros on titles. Viola proposes recognizing video games as the tenth art form, following Claude Beylie's classification, to foster cross-cultural contamination and public literacy.