Angra do Heroísmo, Portugal, June 26, 2024 (Lusa) - The eGames Lab, a consortium of 22 organisations funded by the Recovery and Resilience Plan, which aims to create a cluster for Portugal's creative video games industry, has created 112 jobs and invested €29.9 million.
"There are already results. It's been over a year in the making. The partners are very satisfied with the results so far. It seems to me that the project leader, Wowsystems, can congratulate itself on its audacity in leading a project of this magnitude," Pedro Cota, from Solvit, one of the 14 companies in the consortium, told Lusa.
The consortium's results will be presented at the first eGames Lab meeting on Monday at the Terceira Island Science and Technology Park (Terinov) in the Azores, where two companies, Solvit and Redcatpig, are based.
According to the consortium, funded by the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), since its launch, the project has created 112 jobs, including 10 in the Azores, and invested €29.9 million, 60% of which in scientific research and technological development activities.
The first game, Waste Rush, has just been released, and several others are in production for international release on PC, consoles, and mobile.
Pedro Cota stressed that the eGames Lab has made it possible to retain talent in this area in Portugal and create the conditions for sustainability in the video games industry after the project ends in September 2025.
"Many of these people, after graduating, are lured by international companies, and the temptation to leave the country is great. This mobilising agenda and this project give us the opportunity to keep people here, create casuistry, create volume and prepare the companies involved for the future," he said.
The businessman also emphasised the efforts made by the consortium's leaders to create an "investment fund, through financial partner institutions, to create new financing mechanisms for the industry".
"Not only does this show the consortium's commitment to the continuity and sustainability of the project, but it will obviously provide a support tool for the partners, and not only that, because one of the aims of the fund that is being created is to support new startups that emerge in this field," he emphasised.
Participation in international fairs has allowed "us to create synergies with operators and organisations that are already in this area, already have their market and know-how".
"We want to develop our partners but also the entire gaming sector in Portugal. We believe that with the visibility that is being created in this area and with the tools that are being created, new companies will emerge and that there will be entrepreneurs who want to develop their products and launch themselves onto the market," he emphasised.
Among the partnerships already achieved, the consortium highlights those established with Carnegie-Mellon University, IT Copenhagen University and the entertainment industry company ID&T.
Protocols have also been established with the Faculty of Human Motricity of the University of Lisbon to promote closer projects between business and academia.
The consortium is made up of 22 organisations, including 14 companies, but not all of them are directly linked to video games, such as Solvit, which works in engineering and telecommunications.
"Most games no longer run on the mobile phones or computers people are using, but on a remote web server. Our role is to optimise these connections between the terminal and the server so that the games are more usable," explained Pedro Cota.
The eGames Lab is made up of 22 organisations: Wowsystems, Fapptory, Yacooba, Redcatpig, Infinity Games, Footar, Walkme Mobile, 4Spiro, Solvit, Jupiter Wisdom, Greener Act, Subtle Nomad, NOS, Dream Expctation, IST-ID, CMF, Startup Madeira, ACIF, APCA, AFTM, PACT and AJEM.
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