Nordic Game Program seems to work, leader claims

[jonaz.dk]


“Again we set a new record in the number of applications for our development support”, says Erik Robertson, director of the Nordic Game Program. At the March 1st deadline, 92 applications had been received.

At last week’s Independent Games Festival, Nordic development support projects were recognized. Playdead won two awards for their game “Limbo”, which was granted Nordic development support in 2006 and 2007, while Press Play were awarded for “Max & the Magic Marker”, a Nordic support selection in 2008.

In all, Nordic game developers brought home four of the nine IGF awards. “It’s great to see these projects getting some well deserved acclaim”, said Jacob Riis, Communications Director of the Nordic Game Program, while at the IGF. “Not only is it good for the individual companies, it’s good for the Nordic region and for our gamers at home, but also for all the players in the world that want good games.”

Erik Robertson does not hesitate to draw conclusions. “It seems that our support is needed, reaches the right parties, and helps them secure a well-deserved position on the global games scene. Imagine what we could do with more and continued funding.”

The grant ceremony for the first round of development support in 2010 will take place during the Nordic Game 2010 conference, to be held in Malmø, Sweden on 28-29 April. Here the potential award winners of the future will be presented.

Additionally, Press Play CEO Rune Dittmer will appear among the more than 50 speakers to talk at the conference. Register today at www.nordicgame.com.

The Nordic Game Program was launched in 2006 and is now in year four of six. It focuses on making Nordic electronic games more readily available to Nordic consumers. The funding scheme and the Nordic Game conference are important parts of that process. Read more at www.nordicgameprogram.org.

[simonmoeller]

Jeg synes faktisk vi ser at de støtteordninger virker. Muligvis skal der stilles andre krav til deadlines eller forarbejde, men NDS ordningen og Nordic Game har hjulpet mange.

[Anders Højsted]

IGF-priser er fantastisk god PR for et spil og god PR for de nordiske støtteordninger. Udfra en kunststøtteordning er det den perfekte anerkendelse.

Playdead og Press Play fortjener også alt mulig vind i sejlene og held & lykke.

Jeg vil dog vente med at give min ubetingede godkendelse af ordningerne indtil jeg har set at de skaber økonomiske levedygtige spilfirmaer.

A.

[egenfeldt]

Serious games er selvfølgelig lidt en outlier men igennem tiderne har vi også fået lidt 'kritikerroste' priser, desværre er det langt fra nogen garanti for kommercielle viable produkter (hverken med eller uden PR:-).

Men krydser fingre for Limbo & Press Play.

[simonmoeller]

Jeg synes hele tanken omkring "kunststøtte" er lidt misforstået - jeg ville, som jeg også lidt læser Anders, gerne se mere fokus på forretningsmodeller og hvordan man rent faktisk kan få en fornuftig forretning samtidig med at der bliver produceret spil af høj kvalitet.