"The Netherlands does not take its own game industry seriously. Such a shame." That is the opinion of the industry itself. Because there is talent, excellent education, and successful Dutch games. But now things are going downhill and Dutch game studios are going bankrupt. Just like in other countries, the government should provide financial support, says the Dutch Games Association (DGA).
It is the large American, Asian, and French studios that dominate the biggest game fair in the world in Cologne. With a total turnover of about 200 billion dollars, the game industry is at least five times larger than the global film industry. Plenty of opportunities for Dutch creators, you would think.
"Other countries consider the game industry very important and invest in it," says Jeroen Derwort of the trade organization Dutch Games Association. "It is culture, important for an economy." He points out that countries like Belgium, Switzerland, and Poland have large stands at the fair that are partly funded by the government.
Latest tricks
Derwort sees that those countries use government money to present themselves well and to clearly show what they can do in gaming. "Because a game is also innovation, is employment, is culture. What you do with music and film, you certainly also do with games. And if you look at the Dutch stand in Cologne, also a nice stand, but everything there is self-funded and done by the companies. There is no government support involved."
The fair in Cologne is the flagship in the world of games. There the industry presents its latest tricks to journalists, developers, and more than 300,000 visitors. The marketing budgets are enormous; releasing a flop can immediately mean the end of a game studio.
What do fair visitors in Cologne know about Dutch games:
A game must be a hit, explains Rudy Wijnberg, journalist at Gameliner.nl. "Not always easy, because development can take four years. For example, the popular Grand Theft Auto (GTA) has been worked on for more than thirteen years."
Apart from a few successful games, the Netherlands is not a major player in the gaming world. Game developer Joost van Dongen hopes that his latest creation can change that. He worked on it with ten people for two years. "It is a city builder. That means the player builds a city and must also manage it. The player must make the city beautiful and keep the inhabitants happy to ensure the economy works."
But obtaining financing for development is difficult. Van Dongen: "It is always very risky. You start on something and have to work unpaid on it. Then you go pitching. But that can also take another six months. It is extremely rare that someone gives you money if you only come with an idea. They want to play it, see it. They want to feel it."
Development costs
The lack of investors has already brought down quite a few Dutch studios in recent years. For example, the Amsterdam studio PlayerUnknown Productions recently went bankrupt. Even companies with successful games to their name found insufficient financing to survive. "It has to do with 'what do investors want to put in?' Then there are better alternatives in other countries," says Derwort, who explains that this is partly related to government support for labor costs. "That support exists in countries like Canada, Belgium, Germany."
Van Dongen sees that if a German company develops a game, in many cases half of the development costs are covered by the state. "Then such a game only costs half. Then you naturally prefer to invest money in a German rather than a Dutch company."
Many countries want to cherish the industry. Saudi Arabia goes furthest and invests billions. Last year the country bought Electronic Arts, known among others for the game FIFA (now EA Sports FC). Wijnberg sees this as a sign of future vision. "They really look at which market is growing."
Dutch culture
Game developer Van Dongen finds it a pity that there is not more attention for Dutch games. "Our youth are raised with American and Japanese culture, because that is where the games come from. While games built on Dutch culture simply hardly exist."
Derwort therefore advocates fiscal help from the government. "It concerns high-quality innovative and creative work. We would like to do that in the Netherlands as well. A reduction in how labor is taxed could help. That yields profit if you can compete with abroad."
The Ministry of Economic Affairs (EZ) states that the game industry has exactly the same access to subsidies as other sectors. However, the availability of private capital for all sectors must improve and according to EZ, hard work is being done on that in Europe as well.