The Dutch Game Garden is a video game studio incubator which was launched in Utrecht, The Netherlands in 2008 using funding from the

European Regional Development Fund The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) is one of the European Structural and Investment Funds allocated by the European Union. Its purpose is to transfer money from richer regions (not countries), and invest it in the infrastructure and se ...

. The organisation is the largest such program in the Netherlands.

History

The universities in Utrecht- Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht and

Utrecht University Utrecht University (UU; nl, Universiteit Utrecht, formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2018, it had an enrollme ...

had been offering courses in game development since 2002. The Utrecht city council and Dutch government recognised the potential for the rapidly growing video game sector in 2008, which at the time suffered from a lack of visibility in the Netherlands. The only major studio in the country at that time was

Guerrilla Games Guerrilla B.V. (trade name: Guerrilla Games) is a Dutch First-party developer, first-party video game developer based in Amsterdam and part of PlayStation Studios. The company was founded as Lost Boys Games in January 2000 through the merger of ...

, and so the Dutch Game Garden was conceived as a means to invest in new studios. Many studios at the Dutch Game Garden were formed by former students from games programs at the local universities. By 2014 the program had resulted in the creation of 200 jobs and 6 million euros in revenue.

Events

In 2010, the Dutch Game Garden introduced the INDIGO showcase, an interactive exhibition of the Dutch video games. It has become an annual event in the Netherlands,Dutch Game Garden krijgt miljoenensubsidie
/ref> and showcases Dutch video games at the international events.Playable showcase INDIGO at Gamescom in Cologne
/ref>

Notable studios incubated

Vlambeer Vlambeer was a Dutch independent video game developer based in Utrecht. Founded in 2010, the studio was composed of Rami Ismail and Jan Willem Nijman, and closed down on its tenth anniversary after the two recognized they were moving in different ...

- ''

Ridiculous Fishing ''Ridiculous Fishing'' is a mobile fishing video game where players use motion and touch controls to catch fish and subsequently shoot them out of the sky for cash. The game is known for its developers' battle against a cloned version of their ...

'' (2012) *Abbey Games - ''

Reus Reus () is the capital of Baix Camp, in the province of Tarragona, in Catalonia, Spain. The area has always been an important producer of wines and spirits, and gained continental importance at the time of the Phylloxera plague. Nowadays it is k ...

'' (2013) *

Ronimo Games Ronimo Games is a Dutch video game developer founded in 2007 by former students of the Utrecht School of the Arts. History The team that formed Ronimo Games initially came together under the name of Banana Games,Awesomenauts ''Awesomenauts'' is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game developed by Dutch video game development company Ronimo Games. The game was released for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles in May 2012, and for Microsoft Windows systems i ...

'' (2013) *Digital Dreams - '' Metrico'' (2014) *Active Cues - '' Tovertafel'' (2015) *Wispfire - '' Herald: An Interactive Period Drama'' (2017) *RageSquid - '' Descenders'' (2019)

References

External links

* {{Authority control Business incubators of the Netherlands Video game companies of the Netherlands