Are video games really a form of culture, Oliver Miescher?

When a mayfly walks across the red carpet and a painting suddenly becomes walk-in, the traditional understanding of culture is thrown into question. Zurich’s high culture still seems somewhat at a loss in the face of the new funding for digital creations. We took the occasion of the Zurich Film Prize being awarded in two new categories to pepper Oliver Miescher from the Zurich Film Foundation with pointed questions.

Oliver Miescher, you are responsible for the ‘Digital Culture’ pilot project. When is culture digital?

OM: We fund digital creations that allow for some form of interaction – primarily video games. However, the term has been deliberately kept broad because we first want to find out exactly what is out there in this field.

And how exactly do you intend to find that out?

We’re trying to identify needs and support not just individual projects, but the scene itself. One focus is on ‘strengthening the ecosystem’. By this we mean that we fund projects which raise the profile of the sector, improve its networking, or help to professionalise it even further. This may also involve (cultural) stakeholders outside the digital culture sector. We are in close dialogue with the sector and continually adapt our funding criteria. This flexibility – and the resulting agility of the funding scheme – is one of the pilot project’s strengths. Funding inevitably always lags behind reality, but we can at least try to keep our finger on the pulse.

You say that 75 per cent of applications relate to video games. Is gaming really culture?

Video games are culture because they are not only a form of entertainment but also play a significant role in society. They foster the development of communities and influence values and behaviours across age groups and regions; they are therefore not merely a pastime, but an integral part of our cultural language and heritage. Furthermore, video games have a major influence on culture and society by reflecting and shaping ethics and moral responsibilities. They offer opportunities to empathise with other people and to experience new perspectives in a playful way.

Who cares about that anyway? A few lonely young men in basements?

3.5 billion people – more than half of all those with internet access – play video games. 45 per cent of them are women, and their ages range up to 60 or 65. If so many people are playing, why aren’t we using funding to have a say in what’s on offer?

Why don’t we just play games from abroad? Are we even relevant in the gaming world?

Many people don’t realise this, but there’s a lot going on in the canton of Zurich in this regard! Across Switzerland, of course, but also by European standards. Major companies are looking for talent here because ETH and ZHdK train qualified game designers. That’s why this funding scheme was set up – to further drive forward a sector in which we are disproportionately successful on an international level.

In the first year of the funding scheme, a total of 98 applications were submitted – as many as you’d actually planned for the entire three-year period.

This is a sign of just how great the need for funding is and how rapidly the industry is growing. A preliminary study assessed the demand in the canton of Zurich and had already identified significant potential, but the huge level of interest has exceeded all expectations and taken us by surprise too.

The grants are awarded in the form of a ‘conditionally repayable loan’. Can you explain that briefly?

If a game is very successful, the applicants repay the grant. This money is then used to support other projects. In the film industry, this is completely normal.

Speaking of which: last week, the Zurich Film Prize was awarded for the first time in the ‘Best Game’ and ‘Best XR’ categories. Why?

The Film Prize reflects what the Film Foundation supports. That, too, strengthens the industry. Incidentally, the winner of the ‘Best Game’ category was ‘Time Flies’, a game about a mayfly that humorously explores the transience of life.

How is the film establishment reacting to the sudden influx of game designers into its ranks?

Very positively and with great interest. The two sectors can, after all, learn a great deal from one another: the film industry can benefit from the digital tools used in video games, for example, to quickly visualise an initial idea. Conversely, the film industry is much better at and more experienced in lobbying.

How else might ‘traditional’ culture benefit from this new area of funding?

I think the working processes are particularly interesting. Game designers seek out their audience very early on and involve them heavily in the development process. It’s not just the game itself that’s interactive – the journey towards it is too!

The danger is that long-established institutions will now include VR headsets in their proposals and come knocking on your door for funding. How do you deal with that?

I’d actually welcome that! Keyword: ‘strengthening the ecosystem’: we want greater visibility for digital culture and a higher level of professionalism. Collaborations can help with this. In any case, you don’t have to be a digital creator to receive funding from us. Anyone who wants to explore the medium can do so. Perhaps by adapting a video game into a theatre play!

We’ve been talking a lot about video games. Can you give us a few more examples of projects that fall into the remaining 25 per cent?

The prototype for ‘Dolls & Trolls’ springs to mind, for example. In it, a protagonist and their friends are attacked by trolls on social media. They transform into anime-style characters and dive into the internet to fight back. Until they discover the algorithm that threatens their lives.
Or the XR installation ‘World in Vibration’, which explores global crises and their impact on people. Drawing on resonance theory, pulp.noir creates digital spaces in which visitors can engage in dialogue with objects using VR headsets or converse and discuss issues side by side with three-dimensional holograms.

What will happen once the pilot project is over? Is there a willingness to firmly embed digital culture in the funding budgets?

That’s completely up in the air. The pilot is designed to work out the ideal funding model for digital culture in the Canton of Zurich; what happens next with the findings is for the canton to decide.

And what are your hopes for the future of the genre?

My vision is that stories will be told differently in future. That you have an idea and only then consider which format is best suited to bringing it to life. And, above all, to ask yourself: Who am I actually trying to reach with this? Perhaps my story will then become a film, a series or a documentary. Or maybe it will become a video game.

Further information about the ‘Digital Culture’ pilot project can be found here. The next public information event will take place on 19 January 2027.

Oliver Miescher is Head of Digital Culture at the Zurich Film Foundation. As a specialist in game design at Pro Helvetia, he brings with him many years of experience and an extensive network. At Pro Helvetia, he played a key role in establishing the game design division and has championed the field at federal level, from securing recognition by the Federal Council through to its permanent integration as a funding department within the cultural foundation. He also serves as part-time Chair of the JazzPop+ Expert Committee at the Aargau Cultural Board.