Spanish government confirms €6.5m grant for indie devs
More funding available following news that €2m grant had been scrapped, reviving a market that lost 30 studios last year
Spain's indie dev scene is to receive a welcome boost in funding after the government announced a €6.5m grant for the sector.
The funds are aimed at games companies with a turnover of less than €2m per year. Eligible developers that have been operating for at least six months can apply for up to €150,000.
The grant was announced by Spanish developer association DEV, according to local newspaper El País (as spotted by Polygon). Full details on how to apply will be revealed in February.
It follows news that a proposed €2m grant from the European Union was cancelled. El País' sources have since claimed these funds were never going to be scrapped entirely, they had merely been delayed.
The previous €2m grant was reportedly lined up for around 20 developers in the region. It's unclear whether these studios are automatically approved for the new funds, or whether they need to reapply.
News of the funding coincided with the release of a white paper by DEV on the state of the Spanish games industry. The nation's games firm generated €621m in 2017, a year-on-year increase of 21%.
The DEV also reports 30 games developers closed last year, while a further 90 have yet to generate revenue - presumably the latter are some of the many start-ups that account for much of the Spanish developer scene.
In total, the nation is home to 450 games companies, including Rime developer Tequila Works and The Red Strings Club creator Deconstructeam. However, due to the 30 closures, this is down from 480 in 2016.
It's hoped the €6.5m grant will help grow smaller and newer firms, keeping more revenue within Spain. The DEV observes that 2% of games companies take 50% of gaming revenues, and many of these are from abroad.
Investors are also reportedly reluctant to support new studios. This is in part because the "explosion of small independent studios" is attributed to the excess of graduates. With limited vacancies at established firms, many young developers opt to form their own companies.