Flemish Minister of Media announces game hub that should support the game sector – Gaming – News

The Flemish Minister of Media has announced the construction of a Flemish Gamehub. This will be a physical location where Flemish developers can come together to work. The plans for the game hub is one of the 25 points from the vision paper ‘Level Up Flanders’.

The Flemish Minister of Media Benjamin Dalle wants 25 measures that are part of the vision statement provide an answer to the three biggest challenges currently facing the Flemish games sector. These are: raising capital, developing more business skills to attract investors and increasing the international visibility of Flemish productions. In addition, a number of specific measures must ensure that the Flemish games sector can continue to grow.

For example, a Flemish game hub will be created following the example of similar initiatives in Italy, Finland and the Netherlands, where game developers can come together to network and collaborate. What the game hub will look like in concrete terms will be decided in the summer. The hub should actually be there in the autumn.

The budget of the Game Fund of the Flemish Audiovisual Fund will also be increased. In 2022, it will increase to 2.9 million euros through relaunch funds and from 2023 the fund will structurally contain 2.7 million euros. Previously it was 1.7 million euros. The game fund can be called upon by Flemish game developers to financially support the production of games. The vision statement states that this fund can also be used more flexibly.

The Flemish minister sees gaming as ‘a rapidly growing economic and social phenomenon’. Out an annual survey from the Leuven research institute Imec, it appears that 37 percent of Flemish people had a game console at home in 2020. About 54 percent of those surveyed said they game every month.

–