France has banned the use of anglicised video game terms like âesportsâ and âpro-gamerâ, instead forcing government officials to use French equivalents.
The words are being changed in an effort to preserve the purity of the language, as the French culture ministry told Agence France-Presse (via The Guardian) that the anglicisms may act as âa barrier to understandingâ for those that donât play games.
âPro-gamerâ is now âjoueur professionnelâ (âprofessional playerâ), whilst âstreamerâ has become âjoueur-animateur en directâ (roughly translates to âlive-player hostâ). âEsportsâ has become âjeu video de competitionâ (or âcompetitive video gameâ) and âcloud gamingâ is now âjeu video en nuageâ.

This stems from regular warnings from France about the reduction of its language from adopted words, which is why a number of gaming-centric terms have been given actual French translations, instead of officials having to use the English language versions instead.
Each change was issued in yesterdayâs (May 30) official AcadĂ©mie Française – the principal French council that focuses on matters regarding the French language – which makes each change binding for government workers.
This follows a warning from AcadĂ©mie Française in February of this year that said the language shifts are a âdegradation that must not be seen as inevitableâ. The ministry says it is doing this to help the French population communicate more easily when talking about video games, by making the terms more accessible to native speakers.
In other news, a fan-made trailer has shown off what the potential Banjo-Threeie could look like. The trailer makes an effort to retain the cartoony visual style of Banjo-Kazooie whilst still giving it a modern and enhanced twist, and there are no plans for it to become a playable game.
The post English gaming terms banned in France in favour of native equivalents appeared first on NME.