The video game industry in the Czech Republic has produced numerous globally successful video games such as Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis and the subsequent ArmA series, the Mafia series, Truck Simulator series, the Kingdom Come: Deliverance series, the Samorost series and others. There were 300–400 video game developers and around 30 video game companies focusing on video game development in 2014. In 2017, the country had 1,100 developers and 47 companies.[1] Video games are also considered by some experts to be the country's biggest cultural export.[2] The video game industry did not enjoy a good reputation and was unsupported by the state until 2013, when the Ministry of Industry and Trade started to seek ways to kickstart the economy. By 2014, programs were planned to support the video game industry. Another problem is a lack of video game development specialization at any university.[3][4][5][6][7]
In 2014, Czech video game site Bonusweb made a survey for the best video game developed in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The victor of the survey is Mafia: City of Lost Heaven that received 3866 votes out of 13,143. Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis was second and Vietcong third.[8] In 2019, Games.cz made a list of the 15 best video games developed in the Czech Republic. It was also topped by Mafia: City of Lost Heaven.[9]
The first games were developed in Czechoslovakia during the late 1970s as part of experimentation with Czechoslovak computers SM 52/11 (minicomputer version of PDP-11). These titles lacked graphics and were not meant for wider distribution.[10] Card games were particularly popular. Card games were played through printer due to lack of displays. There were also games based on chances such as electronical version of Rock–paper–scissors. Some games were competitive such as Dělostřelba (Cannonade) in which player had to count the trajectory of his cannon shot to hit his rival. Some games were developed on universities. Some universities taught programming at the time. Games at universities included Chess and Plivátko. The first real-time game was Přistání na měsíci (Landing on the Moon). One of the first games for character displays was Zombíci (Zombies). Players had to run for zombies and stay alive as long as possible.[11]
In the 1980s, the first graphic video games development in the country were mostly part of the Svazarm clubs.[12] The most popular video game platform of the time were ZX Spectrum, Czechoslovak computer PMD 85 and Atari 8-bit computers (mainly Atari 800XE).[12][13] Hobbyists could come explore computing and teach themselves programming. Games developed by members of these clubs include Hlípa and Flappy. Text adventures were very popular, accounting for more than half of the total output of Czechoslovak programmers. Czechs produced games for these platforms even in 1990s when were outdated. After 1989, the market changed, improving opportunities for programmers and gamers alike.
In the 90's, the most known Czech video games are of the adventure type. During this period, the company Vochozka Trading was established, which first distributed games for Amiga computers, such as Světák Bob. The game was not successful; however, in 1994 Vochozka Trading released the first Czech commercial games for PC, two adventure titles – Tajemství Oslího ostrova (Donkey Island) and 7 dní a 7 nocí (Seven Days and Seven Nights). Both were developed by Pterodon and widely regarded as successes. This was followed by adventures like Dračí Historie (Dragon History, the first Czech dubbed game on CD, 1995), Gooka (the first Czech game on Windows, 1997), Horké léto (Hot Summer, 1997) and DreamLand: Final Solution (1999). Games released in the 1990s also include real-time strategy game Paranoia (1995) and RPGBrány Skeldalu (Gates of Skeldal, 1998). Among the most widespread Czech logical DOS games were also Vlak (Train, 1993), Achtung, die Kurve! (1995) and Boovie (1998). The game Polda was released in 1998, this was the beginning of the most popular Czech adventure series.
The first internationally successful Czech game was Hidden & Dangerous by Illusion Softworks, a third person action game released in 1999.[14][15][16][17] More notable games by Illusion Softworks include Flying Heroes (2000), Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven (2002) and Vietcong (2003). In 2008 American publisher Take-Two Interactive acquired Illusion Softworks and renamed it to 2K Czech. The dark adventure Black Mirror from 2003 was a great success abroad, but two more sequels have already been made in Germany.
Bohemia Interactive became the most successful Czech developer with its worldwide bestseller[18]Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis and the series of ARMA games, first released in 2006. The success of Bohemia Interactive is regarded as having overshadowed other independent development studios.[16][19][20]
The video game market in the Czech Republic is currently growing, with a spend of 2.202billion Czech koruna (CZK) across both the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 2011.[21] The corresponding total for 2012 was 2.436 billion CZK, a growth of 10.6%.[22] Purchased video games made up one third of this amount.
The most popular genres among Czech players are action and sports games. The growth of the market is expected with next-generation consoles such as the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One.[22][23]
Video game associations
Czech Games is a community of video game developers in the Czech Republic. It was established in 2001 and since then it has supported video game development beginners. It has its own phorum[check spelling] where developers can share its experience and show their work. The association also organizes Game Developers Session and GAMEDAY Festival.[24]
Video Game Industry Association of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic exists to promote video games in the two named countries. Video game developers, publishers, importers and distributors all belong to the organization. The association also organizes the BOOOM Contest.[25]
MU Game Studies is an association composed of Masaryk University students and graduates. It aims to improve and support video game education at Czech universities.[26][27]
In Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, the title character is sent to save kidnapped Czech scientist Dr. Kio Marv. One part of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, occurred in Prague-inspired city with Czech signs and Vltava-inspired Volta River. One character, Smoke (real name Tomas Vrbada), in Mortal Kombat is also Czech originating from Prague.
In Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, a huge part of the story takes place in cyberpunk Prague, where the mix of modern architecture and historical building is very apparent from each other.
World of Tanks released Plzeň map in December 2015. This update also features Czechoslovak Tanks.[58]
Video game events in the Czech Republic
Game Developers Session is a game development conference that has been held annually since 2003. Video Game Culture figures including Developers have Presentation there about Video Gaming and players can meet Video Game developers for Chat about their project. They can also sometimes try video games that are in development.
Game Access is a game development conference that has been first held in Brno in 2010. Since 2016, Game Access is held annually. It includes speeches of developers from all around the world, Indie Expo where all its participants compete for Game Access Awards, Business Expo and networking events. Since 2017, the organizers included workshops in the Game Access conference.[59][60][61]
GameFFest is a Game Festival held in Prague. Video Game Players can try Video Games for various Platforms and look around a Video Game history Museum. The Festival is a Part of PragoFFest.[62]
The GAMEDAY Festival has been held every May in Třeboň since 2010, part of Anifilm Třeboň. .[63]
The Czech Game of the Year Awards are annual awards that recognize accomplishments in video game development.Awards were part of Gameday Festival until became independent in 2017.[64]
The Booom Contest was held annually from 2011 to 2013. Prizes were awarded in various categories, including Game of the Year, Best Czech Video Game and Computer Game of the Year.[65] It was replaced by Player's Awards for next years.[66]
The Central and Eastern European Game Studies conference is held in Brno as an event designed to allow the discussion of video gaming by academics, journalists, developers and members of the public. It is organized by the Game Studies civic association.[67]
Game Jam Prague is annually held in January as part of almost 200 Game Jams over the World.
Game Brew Plzeň is a meeting of video game developers, graphic designers and business enthusiasts. It has been held in Plzeň since 2015.[68]
Gamer Pie is a video game festival held in Brno.[69]
Miloš Endrle — CTO and founder of Geewa, a company awarded the Red Herring 100 Europe award.
Lukáš Macura — founder and CEO of Cinemax. He is also responsible for Database of Czech and Slovak Video games.
František Fuka — programmer and musician who made video games for the ZX Spectrum during the 1980s and 1990s. Currently working as a film translator, preparing English language movies for Czech release.
Lukáš Ladra — founder and first editor-in-chief of Excalibur, the original Czech video gaming magazine.
2K Czech, s.r.o. was a Czech video game developer based in Brno, founded as Illusion Softworks in 1997 by Petr Vochozka and Jan Kudera. The company was acquired by Take-Two Interactive in January 2008 and subsequently organised under the 2K label, becoming 2K Czech. The studio was merged into 2K's Hangar 13 in 2017. The developer is best known for creating the Mafia series.
Zdeněk Tůma is a Czech economist. From 2000 to 2010, he was Governor of the Czech National Bank (CNB). From 2011 to 2019, he worked in the private sector at the audit and consulting firm KPMG Czech Republic. Since 2019, he has been the chair of the supervisory board of the ČSOB Group.
Unicorn University, formerly known as Unicorn College, is a vocationally oriented private university located in Prague. It was established in 2007 by Unicorn a.s. The institution was transferred under the ownership of Unicorn Learning Centre a.s. in 2009 in which Unicorn a.s. is as a sole owner.
The Game Developers Session (GDS) is an annual Czech conference on video game development.
Jaroslav Kolář is a Czech video game designer and producer.
Jakub Dvorský is a designer and video game creator from Brno, Czech Republic. In 2003, he founded Amanita Design, a small independent game developing studio based in the Czech Republic.
Cinemax is an independent Czech video game developer and publisher. The studio was founded by Lukáš Macura. The studio focuses on computer, mobile and console games.
Daniel Vávra is a Czech video game writer, director, designer and co-founder of Warhorse Studios. He is best known as the lead writer of the video games Mafia (2002), Mafia II (2010) and Kingdom Come: Deliverance (2018).
Paranoia! is a Czech conquest science fiction video game and a clone of Dune II. It was developed by Phoenix Arts in 1995 and distributed by Vision and later by MEC. It is the first Czech RTS. A sequel, Paranoia II, was released the following year.
Czech Game of the Year Awards are annual awards that recognize accomplishments in video game development in the Czech Republic. The awards began as part of Gameday Festival in 2010, but became independent from the festival in 2017. The awards are organised by the České Hry association.
Tajemství Oslího ostrova, known in English as The Secret of Donkey Island, is a 1994 Czech point-and-click adventure video game. Distributed by Petr Vochozka through his company Vochozka Trading in June 1994, it was the first nationally distributed PC game in the country and one of the first Czech games commercially available. A parody of the successful Monkey Island series, the story plays out as if it were a direct sequel to The Secret of Monkey Island, ignoring the continuity of Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge.
Dračí historie is a 1995 DOS-based adventure game developed in the Czech Republic by NoSense. It was the first Czech game to include dubbing and was released on CD. The game was last updated in 2006. The dubbing was also translated into Polish and subtitles were translated into English and German.
Světák Bob is a 1993 Czech adventure game developed by Bohewia and published by Petr Vochozka for the Amiga system.
Belegost is a 1989 Czech text adventure for the ZX spectrum and Atari ST. It is considered part of the textovka genre—the Czechoslovak text adventure industry.
Léto s Oskarem is a 1998 Czech adventure game authored by Pavel Širůček and distributed by Vochozka Trading.
Horké léto is a point-and-click video game. Developed by Czech studio Maxon, it was published in 1998 by JRC Interactive. A sequel, entitled Horké léto 2, was developed by Centauri Production and published in 1999 by JRC Interactive. A third game Žhavé léto 3 ½ is an action/adventure/driving game developed by Centauri Production and CINEMAX, published by Akella in 2006, which although unable to use the characters and titles of the first two games was related and rounded off what was effectively a trilogy. Žhavé léto 3 ½ was published in English, Spanish, French and German as Evil Days of Luckless John and in Russian as Сорвать Куш.
Boovie is a 1998 Czech puzzle video game by Future Games for MS-DOS released in early 1998. It came out on CD-ROM in January 1999. It is based on two games: Boovie (1994) and Boovie 2 (1998) for ZX Spectrum from the same authors.
Lurid Land is a 1997 puzzle-platform game developed by Illusion Softworks.
Alžběta Trojanová is a Czech journalist and television presenter. Trojanová is known for cohosting the video game television program Re-play from 2011 to 2019.
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