Case Study: GameCamps
Boosting Baltic game industry co-operation.
Introduction
GameCamps1GameCamps Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/balticgamecamps/ was an initiative to strenghten cross-border ties between the Baltic Sea countries’ game industries. Its express goal was to help establish at least 10 cross-border game companies over the next 3 years, working with no less than 240 aspiring game developers from Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Sweden. GameCamps was co-financed by the EU INTERREG Central Baltic programme.
The Camps
The game camps where held in different participanting countries. Game developers were able to test their development skills at creating games from scratch and their business skills in creating a start-up plan. To realise the events and the attendance of game developers from a variety of different countries, the GameCamps network of Baltic Sea game industry hubs was activated.
Travel to, accommodation, food and mentoring at the camps was provided. Furthermore, game developers based in Estonia, Finland, Latvia or Sweden, were able to attend free of charge.
As an example, one challenge was to build a working game prototype within 48 hours. Afterwards, teams had to pitch it along with a business idea to a distinguished jury of game industry veterans. The best projects were awarded prizes by event hosts and partners. The winning team received up to 10.000€, 2nd place 6.000€ and 3rd place 4.000€ worth of financial support to start a new game company.
The Result
GameCamps was a great opportunity for game developers to meet new people within the industry. They were able to show off their skills and learn about what it takes to create a game from start to finish. GameCamps showed the value of transnational cooperation and the conditions and process that it took to realise these events.
The project had 300+ developers participating at 4 game camps. Many gaming b2b-events attended and several joint companies were established between 2017-2019.