Game companies line up for pandemic relief loans
Developers take advantage of a US program that will forgive loans for retaining staff, deadline to apply is August 8
While some corners of the games industry have seen their businesses improve with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, others aren't so fortunate.
As part of its COVID-19 response, the United States launched the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) to incentive employers to keep staff on the payroll, and a GamesIndustry.biz review of publicly released data from the program identified more than 75 game companies who have combined for a minimum of $30 million in loans.
Under the terms of the program, the loans carry an interest rate of 1% and can be forgiven if the borrowing businesses spend at least 60% of the money on payroll. There are no fees or collateral required.
There's still time for developers to take advantage of the program, as the deadline to apply for the PPP is August 8. More information is available on the US Small Business Administration website.
As of June 30, nearly 4.9 million PPP loans have been approved for a total of more than $521 billion loaned. Loans of $150,000 or less made up 86.5% of the loans approved, and 27.2% of the money loaned.
A list of games industry businesses we identified in the PPP data (minus distributors, retailers, and arcade operators) and the dollar range of their loans follows below. At least one of the companies below, Star Theory Games, has shut down since receiving its loan.
$2 million to $5 million
- Turtle Rock Studios
$1 million to $2 million
- Blind Squirrel Entertainment
- Boss Fight Entertainment
- Firewalk Studios (ProbablyMonsters)
- Halon Entertainment
- Interpid Studios
- Iron Galaxy Studios
- Just Games Interactive Entertainment (Kung Fu Factory)
- Manticore Games
- Schell Games
- Smart Bomb Interactive (WildWorks)
- Super League Gaming
- Tripwire Interactive
$350,0000 - $1 million
- Allied Esports International
- Artix Entertainment
- Cauldron Studios (ProbablyMonsters)
- Counterplay Games
- Demiurge Studios
- E-line Ventures (Gamestar Mechanic)
- Esports Arena Las Vegas
- Esports HoldCo
- Filament Games
- Final Strike Games
- Free Range Games
- Grab Games
- Heavy Iron Studios
- Hidden Path Entertainment
- Limited Run Games
- Maximum Family Games (Maximum Games)
- Monster Games
- Otherside Entertainment
- Petroglyph Games
- Phosphor Games
- ProbablyMonsters
- Prophecy Games
- Red Games
- Robot Entertainment
- Snail Games USA
- Squanch Games
- Standing Stone Games
- Supergiant Games
- Twisted Pixel Games
- Uber Entertainment (Star Theory Games)
- Valkyrie Entertainment
$150,000 - $350,000
- 1047 Games
- Academy of Interactive Entertainment
- Addicting Games
- Aksys Games Localization
- Disruptive Games
- DM Esports
- Esports Arena
- Esports One
- eUnited Esports
- Fun-gi Games
- Games for Change
- Hidden Variable Studios
- Intellivision Entertainment
- iThrive Games Foundation
- Lost Boys Interactive
- Mitosis Games
- Mohawk Games
- P1 Esports
- Phaser Lock Interactive
- Pro Esports Gaming
- Red Lens Games
- Revolving Games
- Rogue Games
- Secret Society Games
- Six Foot Games
- Soulbound Studios
- Stray Kite Studios
- Surge Esports
- Thrust Interactive
- Tonk Tonk Games
- Wichita Esports
- Wolfjaw Studios