Dutch Game Garden

Last updated
Dutch Game Garden
Company type Private foundation
Industry Video games
FoundedJune 19, 2008
DefunctJanuary 1, 2025 (2025-01-01)
FateClosed amid funding issues
Headquarters Utrecht, Netherlands
Website dutchgamegarden.nl

The Dutch Game Garden was a video game studio incubator in Utrecht, The Netherlands. It was launched in 2008 using funding from the European Regional Development Fund, with the goal of investing in new Dutch studios. The organisation was the largest such program in the Netherlands, it incubated around 130 studios and housed around 150 over its lifetime. [1] [2] [3] Changes to regional funding rules closed down the program in January 2025.

Contents

History

Mark Rutte visiting the Dutch Game Garden in 2014 Mark Rutte in gesprek met verschillende ondernemers in de Dutch Game Garden (14157215606).jpg
Mark Rutte visiting the Dutch Game Garden in 2014

The universities in Utrecht- Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht and Utrecht University 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, 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. [4]

in 2010, the program was relocated to the former ABN AMRO building on Neude square, which offered much more space than the initial venue. Some of the companies then working at the garden were considering moving out of the city in search of larger offices, so the move was intended to keep them present in Utrecht. [5] By 2014 the program had resulted in the creation of 200 jobs and 6 million euros in revenue. [6] The organisation relocated again in 2020, to Europalaan 400, in order to be close to technology start-ups in the Dotslash community. [7]

In September 2024, it was announced that the Dutch Game Garden would close at the end of the year, as the province of Utrecht changed conditions associated with the subsidies that had funded it. [8] [9]

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, [10] and showcases Dutch video games at the international events. [11] [12]

Notable studios incubated

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Utrecht</span> City and municipality in Utrecht, Netherlands

Utrecht is the fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the province of Utrecht. The municipality of Utrecht is located in the eastern part of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Netherlands, and includes Haarzuilens, Vleuten and De Meern. It has a population of 361,699 as of December 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Take-Two Interactive</span> American video game holding company

Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in New York City founded by Ryan Brant in September 1993.

Sports Interactive Limited is a British video game developer based in London, best known for the Football Manager series. Founded by brothers Oliver and Paul Collyer in July 1994, the studio was acquired in 2006 by Sega, a Japanese video game publisher, and became part of Sega Europe. In addition to its work on Football Manager, the studio has also created a number of other sports-management simulations, including NHL Eastside Hockey Manager and Championship Manager Quiz, and is the former developer of Championship Manager.

IO Interactive A/S (IOI) is a Danish video game developer based in Copenhagen, best known for creating and developing the Hitman and Kane and Lynch franchises. IO Interactive's most recent game is Hitman 3, which was released in January 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keukenhof</span> Flower garden in the Netherlands

Keukenhof, also known as the Garden of Europe, is one of the world's largest flower gardens, situated in the municipality of Lisse, in the Netherlands. According to the official website, Keukenhof Park covers an area of 32 hectares and approximately 7 million flower bulbs are planted in the gardens annually. While it is widely known for its tulips, Keukenhof also features numerous other flowers, including hyacinths, daffodils, lilies, roses, carnations and irises.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naturalis Biodiversity Center</span> Dutch natural history museum and research center

Naturalis Biodiversity Center is a national museum of natural history and a research center on biodiversity in Leiden, Netherlands. It was named the European Museum of the Year 2021. Although its current name and organization are relatively recent, the history of Naturalis can be traced back to the early 1800s. Its collection includes approximately 42 million specimens, making it one of the largest natural history collections in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Behaviour Interactive</span> Canadian video game development studio

Behaviour Interactive Inc. is a Canadian video game developer and publisher based in Montreal. The studio is best known for the multiplayer horror game Dead by Daylight.

The Netherlands' mainstream video games market, not taking into consideration the serious and casual games, is the sixth largest in Europe. In 2008, the Dutch market took up 3.95% of the entire European market in total sales and 4.19% in software sales.

Green Man Gaming is an e-commerce portal from the British-based online video game retailer, distributor and publisher Green Man. It has gained 4.7 million users since its release in the year 2010.

NPO FunX is a Dutch public radio station which has been on air since 3 August 2002. The station runs mainly urban music.

Danger Close Games was an American video game developer based in Los Angeles. The company was founded in March 1995 as joint venture between DreamWorks SKG and Microsoft under the name DreamWorks Interactive, with studios in Redmond, Washington, and Los Angeles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Symbid</span> Online funding platform

Symbid is an online funding platform providing access to traditional and alternative finance for small and medium-sized enterprises. Headquartered in Rotterdam, Netherlands, Symbid was founded in April 2011 by Dutch entrepreneurs Robin Slakhorst and Korstiaan Zandvliet as one of the first equity crowdfunding platforms worldwide. Since 2017, Symbid operated under the license of Ilfa Group, that bought Symbid early 2019.

tinyBuild American video game publisher

tinyBuild Inc. is an American publisher of indie games based in Bellevue, Washington. The company was established by Alex Nichiporchik and Tom Brien in 2011 to expand Brien's game No Time to Explain into a commercial release. Building from the success of the game's Steam release in 2013, tinyBuild partnered with DoubleDutch Games for the development and release of SpeedRunners, which landed tinyBuild further publishing deals. Since March 2020, the company has been founding or acquiring new studios to expand. It became a public company on the Alternative Investment Market in March 2021.

Embracer Group AB is a Swedish video game and media holding company based in Karlstad. The company comprises 9 operative groups: Amplifier Game Invest, Asmodee, CDE Entertainment, Coffee Stain, Dark Horse Media, Deca Games, Freemode, Plaion, and THQ Nordic.

My.Games is a Dutch video game publisher and developer headquartered in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Some of the company's titles include War Robots, Rush Royale, Hustle Castle, Left to Survive, Zero City, Warface, and Tacticool.

Greece represents a small fraction of the global video games market, ranking 50th in a list of 100 countries in the consumption of digital products. The country has long overlooked the prospect of sustaining a video games industry, instead placing focus on retail sales of video games. In light of recent actions to encourage production and distribution of digital games, the country's emerging, but still largely fragmented games industry currently consists of over 25 active video game developer studios and several individual creators.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nixxes Software</span> Dutch video game developer

Nixxes Software B.V. is a Dutch video game developer based in Utrecht. It was founded by former demoscene developer Jurjen Katsman in 1999 to port the game Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver to the Dreamcast. In July 2021, the company was acquired by Sony Interactive Entertainment as part of PlayStation Studios to help help bring its games from PlayStation platforms to personal computers. As of 2020, 40% of Nixxes' work comprises game ports, with the remainder being co-development efforts like the production of art assets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Proletariat (company)</span> American video game developer

Proletariat, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded by Seth Sivak and former Zynga industry veterans in 2012. The company was acquired by Blizzard Entertainment in 2022. Proletariat, Inc. has developed multiple independent games and launched its best-known game, Spellbreak in September 2020.

SnappCar is a Dutch peer-to-peer carsharing company based in Utrecht, Netherlands. The company operates in Netherlands and Germany. SnappCar, being a peer-to-peer carsharing company, doesn't own its fleet. The company's service enables car owners to rent out their personal vehicles, while ensuring insurance coverage.

References

  1. ↑ Garden, Dutch Game (6 September 2024). "Dutch Game Garden to close its doors after 17 years as of 2025: End of an era for the Dutch games industry". Dutch Game Garden.
  2. ↑ "Dutch Game Garden- video game industry gets boost with start up incubator".
  3. ↑ "Utrecht is the gaming capital of Europe and that's making millions". IO. 1 February 2020.
  4. ↑ "Utrecht is the gaming capital of Europe and that's making millions". IO. 1 February 2020.
  5. ↑ "Dutch Game Garden expansion". GamesIndustry.biz. 17 February 2010.
  6. ↑ Bailey, Kat (30 December 2015). "How the Dutch Game Garden Helped Remake Video Games in the Netherlands". VG247.
  7. ↑ Garden, Stagiair Dutch Game (5 February 2020). "Dutch Game Garden relocating to Dotslash". Dutch Game Garden.
  8. ↑ "Incubator program Dutch Game Garden is shutting down in 2025". www.gamedeveloper.com.
  9. ↑ Pascoe, Robin (9 September 2024). "Dutch Game Garden to close down after subsidy shift". DutchNews.nl.
  10. ↑ Dutch Game Garden krijgt miljoenensubsidie
  11. ↑ INDIGO in San Francisco – Video
  12. ↑ Playable showcase INDIGO at Gamescom in Cologne
  13. ↑ "De ANTVR op Firstlook - Willie Wartaal laat chicks rollen (video)". Xbox Nederland (in Dutch). 17 October 2015.
  14. ↑ "Excamedia". Top Game Developers. 18 November 2015.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.