France mandates French-language replacements for English video gaming words. A streamer must now be referred to as a 'joueur-animateur en direct'.

• France has come up with official terms in French for the video games industry.
• The culture ministry told AFP the terms in French would help people there understand the industry.

France has mandated French-language replacements for English-language terms used by the video games industry.

Agence France-Presse reported on the new words, noting that some of the terms were simple and direct translations from English to French, such as "pro-gamer" becoming "joueur professionnel" and "cloud gaming" becoming "jeu video en nuage."

Other terms, AFP noted, were not such direct translations. "Streamer" has become "joueur-animateur en direct," which directly translated means "live player-host."

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Government workers are required to use the new terms, the AFP reported.

France's culture ministry told AFP that the French terms would help French people understand the gaming industry better than if all the terms remained in English.

It also said that the new terms would allow French people to communicate more easily about the industry, and that it researched gaming websites and magazines to see if there were already French terms for the concepts.

France has become known for its official efforts to promote the French language over what it deems as the potential for its erosion due to English being so widely spoken around the world. In 2020, for example, The Commission for the Enrichment of the French Language announced a list of French alternatives for English-language words including clickbait — for which it recommended using "piège à clics", or "click trap" — and podcast — "audio à la demande" or "audio on demand."