Creative Industries and Territories – A Specific Relationship?

The phenomenon of geographic agglomeration is such a reality in the creation industries that some cases, like Hollywood, have offered fertile fields of analysis for researchers. Yet the particularity of these industries has hardly been taken into account in research on the subject. This article examines the specific characteristics of creative industries in relation to the question of geographic clustering. Based on the case of videogames in Ile-de-France, and through an inductive interview approach, it highlights three main results. It relativizes the notion of cluster by showing that videogames’ playing field consists of several spatial scales related to the various activities they involve. It highlights the relative unimportance that immediate proximity has for the firms, and the fact that the relevant scale is the metropolis. Finally, it shows that the question of proximity is hardly specific to creative industries, which relativizes the importance of creativity in their territorial dynamics.