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Milan culture chief reluctantly says Brexit could benefit Italian games market

Milan culture chief reluctantly says Brexit could benefit Italian games market

There's an opportunity for Milan and Italy as a whole to establish themselves as some of the best places in Europe to make games thanks to Brexit.

That's according to Filippo Del Corno, council member for culture of the Mayor of Milan, who when asked whether the impact of Brexit on the UK may potentially offer an opening for Milan and Italy to establish themselves as premier European games development destinations, said that there is an opportunity. 

Despite the benefits that might come from this, however, Del Corno says he is not happy overall about Brexit and what it means for Europe as a whole.

"I think so, but we have a lot of work to do," Del Corno said.

"Brexit could be a wonderful opportunity, but to be honest I don't think it's a good thing for anyone. I would be much more happy with the UK being in Europe and it's impossible to consider the UK as being part of Europe, because from a cultural and historical perspective, it is. So of course, Brexit can be an opportunity from an economic point of view but I don't feel very positive about it. I was very sad when I read about the election results. The history of Europe would be very different had the UK not done what it had done especially during the Second World War. We are in a very bad moment right now with the new fascist movements we have in Italy and Germany. The UK was the country which decided to make us free from fascism during World War Two.

"Brexit is an opportunity for Milan, especially. Milan is growing and just becoming a more important city with an important role in the creative industries, as well as from an economic point of view, Brexit is a strong opportunity for us. It is sad to say because we have a strong relationship with the Mayor of London and he's a brilliant person. But competition is competition and so Brexit creates an opportunity for us."

Our chat with Filippo Del Corno was part of a press trip organised by Italian games trade body AESVI. In addition to Del Corno, we also spoke to Mario and Rabbids maker Ubisoft Milan, indie firm Ovosonico, Racing specialists Milestone, 505 Games parent firm Digital Bros and B2B and B2C VR developers, Forge Reply. Earlier in the year we also sat down with AESVI chief Thalita Malagò to see how the country plans to grow its games market.


PCGamesInsider Contributing Editor

Alex Calvin is a freelance journalist who writes about the business of games. He started out at UK trade paper MCV in 2013 and left as deputy editor over three years later. In June 2017, he joined Steel Media as the editor for new site PCGamesInsider.biz. In October 2019 he left this full-time position at the company but still contributes to the site on a daily basis. He has also written for GamesIndustry.biz, VGC, Games London, The Observer/Guardian and Esquire UK.