Game development never stops. And neither does VAF|GAME in supporting game developers and their wonderful projects. These are the dates to keep in mind if you want to submit a project for VAF|GAME funding in 2024.
January 17th, 12 PM
Artistic, Entertainment, Serious & Educational Games
GDC might not yet be the first thing on your mind but if you’d like to join the largest gathering of game developers on the planet, now is the time to get moving. GDC will once again take place in San Francisco from March 18 to 22. Together with Flanders Investment & Trade, we’ve got plenty of incentives for you to cross the ocean and make this conference worthwhile.
Just like previous years, Belgium will have a united presence on the Expo floor with a BelgianGames booth. Exhibiting spaces are limited, so if you are a Flemish game company that wants to have the best shot at presenting your products or services during the biggest b2b games event in the world, this is by far the best offer you’ll get. Pricing is a bit different than last year. Flanders Investment & Trade has pricing models for SME’s and special prices for companies that never participated in GDC. Here are the options at a glance:
Product Sample Booth: €2000,- regular price and €1800,- for newcomers
Your own exhibiting space (approx. 3 sqm) with a table and chairs, screen, locker and personal branding.
All logistics are taken care of. You just have to show up to do your business.
Essentials to beat that jetlag, such as (good) coffee and soft drinks, are provided for.
Exhibitor staff passes for you and your colleagues.
A one-time 25% discount on a conference ticket of your choice.
Access to Meet2Match to schedule meetings upfront.
Your company name and logo in the GDC exhibitor database.
Basic Package (meeting point): €750,- regular price and €500,- for newcomers
Use of meeting rooms on the BelgianGames booth (first come, first served).
Essentials to beat that jetlag, such as (good) coffee and soft drinks, are provided for.
1 Exhibitor staff pass to access the Expo floor.
Access to Meet2Match to schedule meetings upfront.
A one-time 25% discount on a conference ticket of your choice.
There’s also the option of booking a larger space on the joint booth (6sqm). Check all options below.
We’re well aware that the trip across the Atlantic is expensive and that San Francisco isn’t the cheapest place on earth to spend the night, but keep in mind that Flanders Investment & Trade can offer you a refund up to 50% of your travel & accommodation costs. Please make sure to fill out the necessary paperwork (link in Dutch) in advance to do so.
We’re crafting plans for a cool network/showcase event and will share more details at a later time. What’s important now is securing your place on the booth as soon as possible and at the very latest before Nov 15th.
The presence of the #BelgianGamesIndustry at GDC24 wouldn’t be possible without the joint effort of these organisations with a heart for games: thank you FIT & AWEX!
In your mind, a deadline in 2024 might seem far away but it isn’t. Creative Europe launched a new call to support video games and immersive content development and you have until January 24th 2024 to get your submission in. Whispers of experienced studios told us you need quite a bit of preparation time to get your submission right so don’t procrastinate of you’d like to get a chance at securing these funds. After passing an eligibility test, the video games will be judged by independent experts on overall quality, relevance, project management and distribution. Final results will be announced in June 2024.
Creative Europe Media call at a glance
What? An EU funding call to support videogames, XR and audiovisual content development on any digital platform (pc, consoles, mobile, AR/VR…)
How much? There’s a total budget of € 7 million. Grant applications are maxed out at € 200.000 and the contribution can’t exceed 60% of total development costs
For whom? Applicants must be located in Europe and the production or development of video games, entertainment software development or audiovisual productions should be their main activity
Applicants need to have released an eligible videogame on the market between 01/01/2020 and 1/3/2022
What projects? Eligible projects require a strong narrative component and must have a commercial drive
You can submit online until January 24th 2024 17:00 CET
You’ll know whether or not you receive funding in June 2024
VAF|GAME announced the results of the second funding call for this year. Read on to know who will kickstart this year with some well deserved VAF|GAME funding.
Artistic Games
Godspear Games secured €17.304,- to develop the prototype of their title ROOT.
Brainbugs will be able to develop a vertical slice of Robots, Puppies & Aliens with the support of €89.500,-
Congrats to everyone who succeeded their submission and received valuable support. The calendar of all VAF|GAME submission calls in 2024 will soon be online. Keep an eye on our socials so you don’t miss out on anything.
The upward trend we’ve been seeing in the market data of our beloved #belgiangamesindustry is steady. The Belgian game sector in 2022 shows solid growth, both in terms of number of companies and jobs. The forecast for the videogame sector is positive. Grab the main takeaways of the survey below or download the full report right here.
Number of companies in games in 2022
Annual turnover in games in 2022
FTE in games in 2022
With an increase of 21%, the Belgian game sector grouped 133 companies in 2022 and has never been bigger. These companies accounted for a turnover of €85 million and employed 1085 people, which is 16% more than in 2021. The slight drop in turnover from €88 million in 2021 to €85 million in 2022 is still a corona residue as some development pipelines experienced delays. However, as we look at the pre-corona figures (€70 million in 2019), there is not much to be worried about. Moreover, both the increase in number of companies and the hiring figures show that a lot of new videogame releases are coming, which should ultimately result in turnover growth.
Compared to 2021, overall turnover went down 3% to €85 million but grew 21% compared to pre corona year 2019
FTE count growing 16% to 1085 up from 935 in 2021
East Flanders remains province with most game companies
XR, browser and mobile platforms are less used by our studios, while console and streaming grow their share
Switch is most popular console platform, followed by PlayStation and in third spot Xbox Series S/X
Entertainment games remain by far the largest category of developed games in Belgium
In terms of geographical spread, both Wallonia and Brussels count more companies than last year. However, the majority of Belgian videogame companies is still based in Flanders (67%).
Due to a huge influx of new companies, the number of companies older than 5 years drops from 56% in 2021 to 47% in 2022. In Flanders 46% of game companies are older than 5y, which is significantly higher than the Belgian 27% and an indication of a more mature ecosystem in Flanders.
Only 13 out of the 133 companies can be considered small, midsized or large which goes to show that our industry is still fragile, especially when you contemplate that 90% of our companies consist of max 10 people. The number of solo companies grew remarkably compared to 2021 which proves Belgium has a fertile breeding ground for startup videogame companies.
Fight that post-summer depression and join the companionship of fellow gamedevs at the next FLEGA café! We teamed up with the great peeps at VAF and gameforce to bring you games, fresh beers and sodas. Filling the room with awesomeness is your job 😉
The café is free but you need to register. Once registered, head over to the gameforce entrance desk (Brussels Expo) on September 30th at 6PM, grab your wristband and off you go!
Natascha Rommens 
22/11/2023
