Creative Europe has handed out non-repayable grants worth a total of €3.4m to game developers across Europe.
The UK picked up the biggest portion for a single country, with four studios taking a share of €547,000 in funding. Successful applicants were Revolution Software, The Chinese Room, SFB Games and Italic Pig. The latter developer aims to used the money to make a new game entitled Mona Lisa (main picture).
Studios in the Netherlands and Denmark meanwhile were also awarded €499,000 and €454,000.
The funds are intended to support early development. To be eligible, a game must have a strong narrative component.
In response to the news, UK industry trade body TIGA congratulated the recipients, but called on for more flexibility on eligibility.
“TIGA hopes that the Creative Europe funding programme becomes more flexible in the future so that even more games can benefit from its investment,” said TIGA CEO Richard Wilson.
“At present, games have to have a narrative component or be of a particular game genre in order to be eligible for EU funding via the Creative Europe programme. TIGA will continue to promote the Creative Europe Programme, encourage funding applications and work to make the scheme even more effective in the future.”