Scandinavia gives $12 mill. to computer games--FunCom wants more
 

Forbruker.no (in Norwegian) reports that the Scandinavian countries have jointly agreed to invest 98 mill. SEK (12 mill. USD) in a program to support the development of computer games. They believe that this will lead to more quality products being available to youths in the Nordic countries.

The money will mostly be spent on direct support for original creative properties with potential for innovation and export, on digital distribution channels, and on localization to improve the availability of games in the Scandinavian languages.

A spokesman for FunCom comments that this is a nice initiative, but that it's not enough money to make games that can compete globally. (However, I don't think the money is supposed to completely fund any games, just support the development.)

Heh. That's pretty funny. As a supplement, it sure is sweet.

Does the article give any indication how many studios might benefit from this?

Wow...that seems great.
Is there any catch? :P

Well, in theory if you depend on government support for the products you make, it gives the government power to control what kind of thing you produce. In practice, however, the Scandinavian governments are pretty liberal, and probably won't put too much pressure on the developers to make something that is vacuously wholesome. After all, Norway provided public funds to support The Longest Journey.

The only thing I would expect is that the games would have to be offered in native-language versions for each country in Scandinavia.

It's good to see governments contributing to something worthwhile every now and then. So long as the industry doesn't become too dependent on it, like the Australian film industry where the only way to get a movie made is if you're a woman looking to seriously explore the issues that a lesbian Aboriginal single mother faces in the modern world, I see nothing but positives to it.

You can make a pretty impressive game with a 12 mil budget.

I wonder if Remedy will get a part of that money.

Though, they don't need any money, those Take2 shares were quite high-priced.

problem is, not all of it will go to one developer

I don't think that's a problem.
Let's just hope it goes to "a lot" developers; developers that have the talent but not the means.

In general, three areas will be supported:

* Development of creative projects that will create new IP's and export possibillities for the nordic countries. Innovation is also mentioned here.
* A localization system which will make it easier to provide games in the native languages of the nordic countries.
* Digital distribution which will ensure a wide range of quality games for nordic players.

As there's a bunch of developers in the nordic countries, I think each one will see a pretty small part of this money, especially as it's supposed to last until 2012. But as Funcom points out, it's a start.

I hope they don't give any of it to soon-to-be-EA-owned Digital Illusions (of Sweden).

Off-topic:
As most of you probably knows, btw, Funcom are working on a new MMORPG entitled The World Online. It's set in a very near future (so it'll almost be a present day-type game), but one where certain conspirasies (aliens, et.c) turned out to be true. There will also be some elements of magic. The game world is based on the real world, and there will be recognizable locations in the game.