Under the new funding guidelines, the funds will now be grants rather than credits. These changes were very well received by the industry, especially since the funding guidelines also include content-related adjustments. For example, funding for smaller studios and start-ups will be increased in order to close the gap left by federal funding, which only supports projects with a certain budget amount or higher.
"This round of funding once again impressively underscores North Rhine-Westphalia's strong position as a hub for games and creative tech in Europe. In addition to traditional games funding, we specifically support innovative, hybrid formats such as VR projects – while also taking our social responsibility in the games sector seriously. We are delighted with the wide variety of ideas submitted and congratulate all teams on receiving funding," says Walid Nakschbandi, Managing Director of zhe Film- and Medienstiftung NRW (Film and Media Foundation NRW).
Specifically, three projects received vertical slice funding of almost €260,000. In the area of digital games/immersive content, 22 projects were funded with over €1.41 million. The following commitments were made in detail:
Serious Games/Gamification
- Mathopia by easy pisy GmbH (Bochum): 140.000 Euro
- Mission: Leben retten – Erste Hilfe in VR für Schulen by Weltenmacher GmbH (Dusseldorf): 72.843,53 Euro
- Black Gold by TriTec Entertainment UG (Castrop-Rauxel): 46.217,59 Euro
Digital Games/Immersive Content
Early Stage
- Eternal Eleven by Sluggerfly (Essen): 50.000 Euro
- Lucky Punk by Burrini, Gibbons, Rössig & Vogel GbR (Cologne): 50.000 Euro
- The Last Upload by digital essence GmbH (Cologne):48.262,50 Euro
- Margaret wants to go Home by Fake Lobster (Bielefeld): 48.000 Euro
- The Gravity Complex by JANO 3D STUDIO (Bochum): 45.000 Euro
- RoomZ by LeMoonade Games (Dusseldorf):31.850 Euro
- Demon Defense by Monokel Studio GmbH (Cologne): 23.671,50 Euro
- Monster TCG X by Hensel & Dzinic GbR (Cologne): 12.500 Euro
- Worldlines by Cosmic Mocca GmbH (Cologne): 9.392,81 Euro
Vertical Slice
- Formula Circus by Gecki Studios UG (Düsseldorf): 200.000 Euro
- Media Circus by Papercoda Games UG (Cologne)120.000 Euro
- Bells of Caldur by Laserbread, (Cologne): 88.155,50 Euro
- LIFE by Toe Jam Games (Cologne): 80.000 Euro
- Die Leiden des jungen Wusel by Three Headed Monkey Films GmbH (Cologne): 72.000 Euro
- My Personal Shoah by Ugrekhelidze Rosh Lab, (Cologne): 50.000 Euro
- Kudrun by Pietrowsky & Nitsche GbR (Mettmann) 50.000 Euro
- Project 1890 by Zephyr Games UG (Geilenkirchen): 36.796,50 Euro
- The Job – Der Durchbruch by Cramer & Rudert Game Development GbR (Essen): 34.226,03 Euro
- Self-Simulated: Beyond Vision by Martin Cremerius-Gauer (Duisburg): 20.144,73 Euro
Production
- Electric_Punk by Neonreal GmbH (Dusseldorf): 200.000 €
- Shallow Pond by Nimso UG (Bochum): 100.000 €
- Pineview Drive 2 – Rising Storm by VIS-Games (Frechen): 41.700 €
