Christophe De bont 
02/01/2018
Hello and welcome to 2018! We survived the influx of food and drink during the holidays and are eager to make this year just as memorable the last. Ready? GO!
Let’s kick things off with some interesting details (link in Dutch) about the new and improved VAF Game Fund. The Flemish government has greenlit the new management agreement for the next four years. As you might recall, the resources of the organisation will be boosted yearly with one million. This brings the total year budget to 1,73 million, of which 1,385 million will be used to support game creation and promotion.
According to Minister of Culture, Youth, Media and Brussels Sven Gatz this investment will provide the opportunity for our games industry to truly flourish. “The time has come to develop, with the proper resources, an integrated games policy that’s both efficient and future proof. This management agreement will be the cornerstone for that policy.” Read the full statement here (link in Dutch).
The new management agreement introduces some welcome improvements:
- The maximum production budget for a project will be raised to € 250 000
- VAF supported productions will finally be able to get support for promotion
These changes will take effect as of the next call in September 2018. This means for the current call (submission deadline January 22!) old regulations still apply, but that doesn’t mean you should postpone your application. On top of that, starting January 22, the Game Fund will be stewarded by freshly appointed game coordinator and former FLEGA blogger Youri Loedts.
The news about the extra resources was already picked up by national mainstream media. Both VRT and De Morgen (links in Dutch) published a piece on their website.
We’re very happy with the strengthening of the VAF Game Fund and we’re highly confident that the new game coordinator, along with the extra funding resources can play a crucial role in nurturing our local games industry.
