MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
A new government-backed games investment fund has been launched in the Netherlands to support the country’s game industry.
Called GameOn, the organisation will target early-stage companies from the Netherlands and foreign firms looking to set up shop in the country.
As well as government support, the fund will also receive assistance from the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency, which will work with GameOn to attract foreign game firms to move their business to the region.
GameOn will be launching the first Dutch Game Fund this quarter with €10m available for companies. Further funding rounds are also planned for next year.
“The games industry is evolving rapidly, with games companies and infrastructure providers constantly tweaking their content and business models to get an edge in the grab of the elusive consumers,” said GameOn funding partner Reinout te Brake.
“The industry is highly democratised and the current distribution models and game development tools make it relatively easy and inexpensive for developers to launch games. But as ‘free-to-play becomes the primary business model, developers also need a strong understanding of how first to get their games discovered and then how to monetise them successfully.
"We have a tremendous pool of talented and creative designers in the Netherlands, but they are mostly working for hire, and so we need to learn and build on our games magnetisation knowledge. Our aim is to bring together people with this monetisation and marketing knowledge along with the financial opportunity and creative talent to achieve explosive growth here in the Netherlands in this crucial sector.”
Dutch PM Mark Rutte added: “Entertainment games are serious business and opportunity is knocking at our door. I’m therefore pleased to support the GameOn initiative, which reaffirms our country’s position as a pioneer in creativity and innovation.”
Visit the official website for more information.
