Austria's game studies conference FROG - Future and Reality of Gaming will continue independently of the closure of Krems' Center for Applied Game Studies. Natalie Denk will take it with her to Vienna and make it happen in Autumn 2026 with Subotron's Jogi Neufeld.
Austria's biggest game studies conference FROG - Future and Reality of Gaming, was facing demise through the closure of the Center for Applied Game Studies at University for Further Education Krems, who invented and organised the conference at Game City Vienna. But the conference will continue, independently from the university: Denk, former Head of the Center for 14 years, will take it with her and organise FROG 2026 with Vienna game development hub and agency Subotron under Jogi Neufeld.
In a statement to GamesMarket, Neufeld confirmed: "The SUBOTRON association and the University for Continuing Education Krems recognized almost simultaneously that games as cultural assets also belong in the German-speaking world to be researched, discussed, and further developed, and have implemented this over the past twenty years. While the Center for Applied Game Research implemented more than 50 national and international research projects and offered a comprehensive range of continuing education courses in the field of game studies, the SUBOTRON team worked at the grassroots level and invited key players in the scene to Vienna for discussion in over 400 lectures, panels, and workshops. Promoting young talent was a key concern for both institutions: since 2006, the University of Krems has been a pioneer in the German-speaking world when it comes to designing programs at the interface between games and education, while SUBOTRON has been promoting local young talent in the industry with presentations, competitions, and networking meetings since 2005.
The fact that the players are now continuing to work together is part of the game: former center director Natalie Denk and SUBOTRON founder Jogi Neufeld are planning the next edition of the annual FROG (Future and Reality of Gaming) conference in fall 2026. In the run-up to the conference, game jams will be held at Austrian universities in the spring in collaboration with the New York-based NPO Games for Change and an Austrian museum. The prototypes developed will be presented during the conference, can be tested, and will participate in the “Austrian Impact Game Idea 2026” award ceremony.
The new conference date for Autumn 2026 and the location are still under wraps.
Denk has also changed jobs into the development of a serious game for a social enterprise in financial education, Three Coins, based in Vienna. She says: "The closure of the center was an opportunity for me to reorient myself professionally. It's all the more gratifying that my experience in game-based education and game research is also in high demand outside the university sector. In March, I will be joining Three Coins, a social enterprise that has been successfully developing and implementing financial education projects for 13 years. I will be working as a project manager on a new, large-scale project focused on the development of a serious game. I am really looking forward to this new task and the collaboration."
