ROMANIAN GAMES INDUSTRY REPORT - RGDA

 
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ROMANIAN GAMES INDUSTRY REPORT - RGDA
ROMANIAN
GAMES
INDUSTRY
REPORT
2019
ROMANIAN GAMES INDUSTRY REPORT - RGDA
C O N T E N T S
INTRODUCTION                    EDUCATION SYSTEM
                                FOR GAME DEVELOPMENT
THE   GLOBAL   GAMES   MARKET
                                C   H   ALLEN   G   E   S AND
EUROPE   AND THE                O   P   PORTU   N   I   TIES FOR
GAMING   INDUSTRY               T   H   E ROM   A   N   IAN GAME       1

                                D   E   VELOP   M   E   NT ECOSYSTEM
THE ROMANIAN GAME
DEVELOPMENT INDUSTRY
                                ROMANIAN GAMES
                                RELEASED IN THE
LOCAL INDUSTRY
IN FIGURES                      PERIOD 2017 - 2019

LEGISLATIVE ENVIRONMENT         ROMANIAN GAME
INFLUENCING THE                 DEVELOPMENT
GAME DEV INDUSTRY               STUDIOS LISTING
ROMANIAN GAMES INDUSTRY REPORT - RGDA
$188.5 Mn   total revenue

                                                                                                           Romanian Gaming Industry is flourishing.       As for geographical distribution, the industry
                                                                                                           In 2018, the consolidated revenue of the       is concentrated around Bucharest, but
                                                                            19.2%   YoY growth

Executive
                                                                                                           gaming industry in Romania reached             during the last couple of years, Cluj-Napoca
                                                                                                           USD 188.5 million, according to data           and Timișoara have attracted a growing
                                                                                                           reported to the tax authorities. Compared      number of gaming companies, thanks to
                                                                            100+
Summary
                                                                                    active studios
                                                                                                           to 2017, the overall market growth             the quality of the univerisity graduates
                                                                                                           was 19.2%, most of the active studios          and the openness to the digital economy.
                                                                                                           registering higher turnover during last
                                                                           6000+    employees              year. The 2018 growth is net superior to       Romania is a market of game developers,
                                                                                                           the 2017 growth evaluated at 11.08%.           the studios that have as main activity game
AUTHORS                                                                                                                                                   development (both original or licensed
Gabriel Vasile                                                               77%    of studios
                                                                                                           According to the RDGA analysis, the            IP),count for 74.2% of the companies. Most
                                                                                    Bucharest based
Andreea Per                                                                                                footprint of the local gaming industry         of the studios are funding their projects
Catalin Butnariu                                                                                           enlarged to overs 103 studios and more         with their own money and only 15.8% of
                                                                                                           than 6.000 employees. The national             the surveyed companies accessed external
                                                                              74%   Development studios
                                                                                                           ecosystem that includes freelancers,           funding, with Angel Investors and Publisher      3
ARTWORK                                                                                                    training providers, educational institutions   funding as main sources. During 2018, at
Octavian Catana                                                                                            and authorities expanded during the last       least 6 studios have managed to attract
                                                                             80%    of studios used
                                                                                                           two years. Nevertheless, the majority          the attention of Angel Investors and
                                                                                    internal funds only
                                                                                                           of the Romanian studios are included in        Venture Capital, with over 2.5 million USD
This Report is provided as general information about Romanian
Gaming Industry and is not intended to replace detailed guidance                                           the small and medium size companies,           capital involved in these transactions.
and planning specific to your business/organisation. The information,
statements and statistics contained in this Report have been prepared
                                                                             67%    of studios have less   67% having less than 10 employees.
                                                                                                                                                          The year 2019 exhibits a good economical
                                                                                    than 10 employees
by RDGA from publicly available material and from discussions
                                                                                                           In terms of revenue and geographical           projection for the local gaming industry.
and forms filled up by industry members. RDGA does not express
an opinion as to the accuracy or completeness of the information
                                                                                                           location the Romanian industry                 Based on partial financial data and
provided, the assumptions made by the parties that provided the              69%    of studios expect      is highly concentrated.                        economic forecasts, 69% of local studios
information or any conclusions reached by those parties.                            revenue growth                                                        are expecting an increase in turnover
                                                                                    in 2019                The top 10 Romanian gaming companies           this year. Aligned to the global trends,
RDGA have based this Report on information received or obtained,                                           accumulating 87.8% of the total local          the Romanian game development
on the basis that such information is accurate and, where it is
                                                                                                           industry revenue, while the companies in the   market offers plenty of opportunities.
represented to RGDA as such, complete. The Information contained in
this Report has not been subject to an audit. To the extent permitted        36%    studios have a         Top 5 concentrate 79.2% of this revenue.
by law, Romanian Gaming Developers Associatian excludes any                         multiplatform
liability arising from the use of this Report either in part or full.               approach
ROMANIAN GAMES INDUSTRY REPORT - RGDA
The role of the Romanian Game Developers    game dev ecosystem in place. And so,
               Association is to represent and promote     we felt a need to upgrade the way we
               the game development industry in            present ourselves as an industry.
               Romania and to create opportunities
               for the local companies in this sector.     This document aims to be the most
               One of the most important things that       comprehensive overview of the game
               we can do as an independent third           development industry in Romania, to
               party organization is to keep track of      date. With the support of most Romanian
               the activity and development of the         companies, we’ve conducted a thorough
               industry throughout the years and           industry survey to extract an accurate
               present such information to the public.     state of how game development is
                                                           done in Romania. The report includes
               We started such a monitoring process        also a history of game development in
               two years ago, when we released the         Romania and general information about
               first infographic on our industry. We       the global industry, for context. Last but

Introduction
               continued the following year, iterating     not least, we’ve included a catalogue of      5
               on the concept and adding more data,        games and companies, which should be
               but not going much further in scope.        helpful for anyone looking to understand
               But in 2019, we’re turning the page.        and connect with local studios.

               The Romanian games industry is at a         We’re fully committed to our organization’s
               turning point. The number of companies      mission and we’ll continue to improve
               has doubled in just a few years and we’re   and update this report in the coming
               now past the 100 studios threshold.         years, as a key tool for the continued
               The first formal educational initiatives    promotion and support of our industry.
               have appeared, public institutions
               have acknowledged the industry’s
               presence, and we have more and more
               Romanian and international investors        Catalin Butnariu,
               looking at game startups. We now have       President of the Romanian Game
               all the prerequisites of a full-fledged     Developers Association
ROMANIAN GAMES INDUSTRY REPORT - RGDA
Market View From The Top Of The World
                                      Gaming has become the dominant                          creative fields, The Entertainment Retailers
                                      cultural environment of our times and                   Association (ERA) said the gaming has
                                      the spearhead of digitalization as one                  become a larger market than video and
                                      of the most important digital industries                music combined for the first time ever.
                                      worldwide, with a revenue exceeding 152.1               Moreover, according to Newzoo’s yearly
                                      billion in 2019 (this value excludes revenue            report, consumer spending on games will
                                      generated from hardware sales), and an                  grow to USD 196 billion by 2022. Games are
                                      almost double digits annual growth (9.6%                available to more and more consumers all
                                      growth compared to last year). On the                   over the world, through a variety of channels
                                      global scale, 2019 various reports show +               including mobile phones, consoles, PCs,
                                      2.5 billion gamers and a constant growing               browsers and cloud streaming. According
                                      average revenue per user (ARPU). A +8%                  to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics
                                      growth for 2018-2019 is also projected by               company, the video games market will be
                                      Superdata Research, with consolidated                   a plus 300 billion industry by 2025, with the
                                      market revenue slightly different due to                appearance of some innovative technology

The Global
                                                                                                                                                   7
                                      overlapping earnings in different game                  like cloud gaming and VR gaming, both
                                      segments. By comparison with other                      empowered by new 5G broadband services.

Games Market                          2019 GLO B AL G A M ES M A R K E T
                                      per device & segment with year-on-year growth rates                                                   PC
                                                                                                                              $35.7Bn
                     $68.5Bn          MOBILE
                                                                                                                                   +4.0% YoY
                                      $68.5Bn                                                     BROWSER PC GAMES
                       Mobile game
                   revenues in 2019   +10.2% YoY                        9%
                                                                             2%
                                                                                        23%               $3.5Bn                   BOXED/
                                                                                  21%                                         DOWNLOADED
               will account for 45%   TABLET GAMES                                                          -15.1% YoY           PC GAMES
               of the global market   $13.6Bn              45%
                                                                                                                              $32.2Bn
                                                                  36%
                                      +5.0% YoY                              32%                                                   +6.6% YoY
                         2019 total   SMARTPHONE GAMES                                             CONSOLE
                   $152.1Bn           $54.9Bn                                     32%
                                                                                               $47.9Bn                © NEWZOO 2019 GET THE FULL
                                                                                                                            REPORT: NEWZOO.COM/
                           +9.6 YoY   +11.6% YoY                                                  +13.4% YoY        GLOBAL-GAMES-MARKET-REPORT
ROMANIAN GAMES INDUSTRY REPORT - RGDA
2019 GLO B AL                                                              Consumer
                                                                                                     GAMES MARKET                                                               Markets
    What does the Gaming                                                                             per segment
                                                                                                                                                                                Around The
    Landscape Currently Look                                                                                                                                                    World
    Like And What Are The Trends
                                                                                                     BROWSER PC GAMES
    Driving These Developments?                                                                                                                                                 From a regional perspective,
                                                                                                     $3.5 Bn                                                                    the 2019 Newzoo report
                                                                                                                                                                                stated that for the first
                                                                                                     -15.1% YoY                                             DOWNLOADED/         time since 2015, the U.S.
                                                                                                                                                          BOXED PC GAMES
    • Mobile gaming is booming with 63.2 billion   • Along with the exponential growth of                                                                                       will be the largest gaming
    USD revenue and expected growth of             gamers, competition at storefront level is                                                              $32.2 Bn             market in terms of revenues
                                                                                                     CONSOLE GAMES                                                              (36.9 billion USD in 2019).
    59%. Currently, all the forecasts show that    increasing, so developers are expecting to
    mobile gaming will account for almost          get higher revenue shares and better deals.       $47.9 Bn                                                     +6.6% YoY     Nevertheless, China is not
    half of the entire market until 2022.                                                                                                                                       far behind with revenues
                                                                                                     +13.4% YoY                                                                 reaching 36.5 billion.
                                                   • 5G and new WiFi 6 standards will                                                   2%
8   • Console gaming revenues reached              clear cloud gaming for takeoff                                                                                                Overall, Asia-Pacific is       9
    38.3 billion and are growing.                                                                                                                                               the biggest segment (47%
                                                                                                                                                21%                             market share), followed by
                                                   • Cross-device will become the new
                                                                                                                             32%                                                North America with a 26.1%
    • PC gaming remained a relevant                standard and, thanks partially to Fortnite’s
                                                                                                                                                                                share of global revenues.
    business with 33.4 billion earnings            successful implementation, consumers
                                                                                                                                                                                Game revenue growth in
                                                   will expect to have access to the same
                                                                                                                                                                                Europe, the Middle East,
    • Global exports attract a bigger              games across PC, mobile and console.                                       9%             36%                                and Africa region (EMEA)
    audience, expected to overcome 1
                                                                                                                                                                                will be slightly lower than
    billion in 2019. Micro-segmentation of         • Technologies like Artificial Intelligence and
                                                                                                                                                                                North America’s. With
    fans is becoming a key element.                Machine Learning are more and more used
                                                                                                                                                                                a year-on-year growth
                                                   for in-game analytics, customer acquisition                                                                SMARTPHONE        of +11.5%, EMEA will
    • The industry is marked by “phenomenon”       and retention, classify player behaviour etc.     TABLET GAMES                                                  GAMES
                                                                                                                                                                                generate revenues of
    games such as Red Dead Redemption                                                                $13.6 Bn                                              $54.9 Bn             34.7 billion USD this year,
    2 with 17 million copies sold in the first     • Cloud Gaming services are growing at                                                                                       representing 23% of the
    12 days and Fortnite, which gained 150+        an exponential rate, sustained also by            +5.0% YoY                                                   +11.6% YoY     total global games market.
    million users worldwide in 2018.               low cost micro-payment systems.
                                                                                                     © NEWZOO 2019 GET THE FULL REPORT: NEWZOO.COM/GLOBAL-GAMES-MARKET-REPORT
ROMANIAN GAMES INDUSTRY REPORT - RGDA
The European Consumer Market

             Europe is an important game consumer        In Europe, there are huge differences
             region but it is struggling to reach the    between the West and the East, both in
             level of enthusiasm of the Asian markets.   terms of markets revenue and gaming
             In Newzoo’s Top 10 Countries by Game        industry profile. According to the Newzoo
             Revenue List, there are five European       report, and supported also by EGDF’s
             countries, consumer market revenues in      (European Game Developers Federation)
             France and UK together reach 9.7 billion    figures, Western countries accounted
             USD, far less than Japan, which boasts      for 25.7 billion in consumer market
             with an 18.9 billion USD market, in         revenue in 2019, with a 12.3% year over
             both cases population with internet         year growth. Going further, Central and
             access being similar (120-125 million).     Eastern Europe generate 4.2 billion USD
                                                         and +7.4% YoY growth in 2019. Football
             Also, Europe has one of the highest         passionate countries like UK, France, and
             smartphone penetrations in the world, so,   Germany dominate the European market

Europe And
                                                                                                     11
             naturally, more than 30% of Europeans       and skyrocket FIFA and PS4 sales.
             play mobile games, according to Goldstein

The Gaming
             Research Europe Games Market Outlook.       At the consumer level, there are 29
             That situation conducted on an increase     western European nations in Newzoo’s
             in micro-studios that are developing        Top 50 Countries by Game Revenue List,

Industry
             games for the mobile market. Due to         and only two from East, with Poland
             the smartphone revolution, more than        ranking 23 (570 mil EUR) and Romania
             60% of all registered gaming companies      47 (approximately 190 mil EUR).
             in Europe are registered in the last five
             years, according to Goldstein Research.
ROMANIAN GAMES INDUSTRY REPORT - RGDA
Eastern                                                                           NewZoo Global Games Market Report 2019

     Europe
                 Population
     2019 Game   352 499 000
     Revenues                                                                              Russia
                 Online Population

                 273 599 000                                                    #1     $1.8Bn
                 Gamers

                 155 559 000
                                        Poland

                                        $596M
                                                           Ukraine
                                                                                           Kazakhstan
12
                                         #2            $203M                                $228M                               13

                 $4.2Bn
                                                            #4
                                                                                                   #3
                 2019 E-EU Revenues
                                                  #5

                 +7.4%
                 YoY Growth 2018-2019
                                                 Romania

                                                 $195M
                                                                       Share of 2019
                                                                     Global Revenues
                                                                                       2.8%
ROMANIAN GAMES INDUSTRY REPORT - RGDA
The European
     Game Development
     Industry

     The EGDF consolidated data for 2018 show           In Central and Eastern Europe, even if       million USD), with 95% of income coming
     that the top 3 countries in terms of industry      the consumer market revenue is still low,    from exports. On the other hand, Poles’
     revenue were Germany with 2.8 billion EUR,         the region exhibits a vibrant video game     spending on video games amounted to
     Finland with 2.1 billion EUR and Sweden with       development industry. Countries like         489 million USD (2017 Newzoo) or even
     1.9 billion EUR (Disclaimer: this is a top three   Poland, Romania and the Czech Republic       PLN 2.5bn (622 million USD) in 2018,
     based on the data collected by EGDF, which         are hosting a relevant number of studios,    according to PMR estimates. So, there is a
     does not include all European countries. The       both global leaders (Electronic Arts, Sony   considerable gap between the combined
     UK is probably in top three but no relevant data   Interactive Entertainment, Ubisoft) and      revenues generated in Poland by gaming
     has been collected by EGDF for the country).       indie developers. The studios from CEE       companies and consumer market value.
14                                                      region employ +20.000 people and work                                                     15
     When it comes to the number of employees,          on some of the world’s most famous           The situation is similar also in Romania
     the largest market is the UK with over             games. One specific aspect is that, in       but the gap is lower. Bulgaria is another
     15,000 employees followed by Germany               almost all countries from Central and        example of fast growth in the games
     with 11,000 employees in the industry.             Eastern Europe, the biggest part of sales    industry. A recent study on the game
                                                        (90-95%) are generated from international    development sector in Bulgaria,
     Overall, Europe is dynamic and somehow             consumers and not on domestic markets.       conducted by the local organization
     competitive in the gaming industry but more                                                     Game Dev Summit, shows that there are
     needs to be done in order for Europe to be able    In Poland, the local game development        around 50 studios, half of which have
     to outrun regions like Asia and North America in   industry has been declared one of the        teams of up to 5 people. 70% of the
     terms of revenue in game development. In the       National Intelligent Specializations         game dev studios are concentrated in
     last 10-15 years more than a quarter of world      and a series of dedicated assistance         Sofia, followed by Plovdiv and Varna. Big
     gaming unicorns were born in Europe names          programs were initiated with the goal of     international players are also interested
     such as Supercell (Finland), King (Sweden/         further improving the competitiveness        in Bulgaria, SEGA and Stillfront Group
     UK), Rovio (Finland), Mojang (Sweden) and          of this sector. According to 2017 Polish     (its most recent acquisition in being the
     Unity (Denmark) being just a few examples.         Game Association data, in Poland there       Bulgarian company Imperia Online) having
                                                        were 331 active gaming studios, which        already operation on the local market.
                                                        generated 1.14 billion PLN (around 284
ROMANIAN GAMES INDUSTRY REPORT - RGDA
Introduction

                           The video games industry in Romania currently comprises over 100 companies
                           and some 6000 people working in this field, which places the country within
                           the top 10 in Europe. But the road to these figures was rather special – it does
                           not exhibit the situation of one or more local companies reaching international
                           success and then the industry being built around those firms. Instead, Romania
                           features an interesting mix of top multinational companies with a significant
                           presence and an active, growing, energetic community of independent creators.

                           Looking back at the history of video game development in the country,
                           we can identify three major periods of time, mostly corresponding
                           with the last three decades, with some partial overlap.

The Romanian
                           Total revenue growth                                                                      17

Game Development             $188.5 Mn

Industry                    $156 Mn
Short History & Timeline    $140 Mn
                            $132 Mn

                             $110 Mn
                                          2014             2015            2016             2017              2018
The Growth Stage
     The Starting Years                                                 (1999 – 2010)
     (1991 – 1999)                                                      In 1999, Gameloft Bucharest was founded, led by former
                                                                        Ubisoft employees. Following a few early successes
                                                                        developed by the Bucharest studio, the company expanded
                                                                        fast, employing a few hundred people by the mid-2000s
     It is commonly agreed that the Romanian games industry
                                                                        and eventually launching a second studio in Cluj.
     was kick-started by the arrival of Ubisoft, in 1991. Despite
     the country’s political and economic instability at the time
     (communism had ended just 2 year before), the French company       Following in the footsteps of Ubisoft and Gameloft, major
     saw an opportunity and opened up a small development studio        mobile publisher Jamdat Mobile opened a Bucharest
     – an investment that would be considered bold by others, but it    office in 2005. The company became Electronic Arts
     eventually paid off, with Ubisoft eventually reaching a staff of   Romania in 2006 and quickly established itself as one
     over 1000 people in two cities over the next couple of decades.    of the top three companies on the local market.

                                                                        Later on, in 2007 another notable publisher to create
18                                                                      a studio in Bucharest was Vivendi Games Mobile; the         19
     As Ubisoft was settling in, several other local pioneers           studio was later acquired by Namco Bandai, in 2008.
     were planting some early seeds as well. Two of the longest
     running Romanian game companies were founded during                During this period, these major publishers have
     this time as well: AMC Pixel Factory – an art outsourcing          released multiple titles which had been fully developed
     company, working in games since 1998, rebranded to AMC             in the Romanian studios, across franchises such
     Romania in 2018, and Fun Labs – founded in 1999, one of            as Red Alert, Harry Potter, Silent Hunter, Blazing
     the first independent full-fledged game companies.                 Angels, King Kong, Mission Impossible, and more.

                                                                        On the independent front, new start-ups
                                                                        included Cluj-based studios Angry Mob
     The mid-90’s also witnessed the birth of the first Romanian
                                                                        Games (2007) and Idea Studios (2007).
     major gaming magazines, Game Over (1996) and Level (1997).
     Those two (along with others that followed) were active
     for several years, with some of their senior staff usually
     transitioning to the game development industry themselves.
Dawn of the Indies (2010 – 2019)                                                                                        Present Day
     At this point the local industry was well          for entertainment) such as, educational
     established and already including thousands of     games, serious gaming, gamification, etc.
     people working in games. The big publishers had
     navigated through the global economic crisis       During this period, some of the independent
                                                                                                             With 2020 on the horizon, the
     and maintained a strong presence in Romania.       studios also recorded important commercial            games industry in Romania is
     As the staff become more experienced, the          releases, such as Solitaire Arena (by MavenHut),         in a healthy position. The
     local teams became more and more involved          Door Kickers (by Killhouse Games), Move or
     in the full production or co-production of top     Die (by Those Awesome Guys) and Frozen Free
                                                                                                                 sector has started a clear
     international AAA franchises (such as FIFA,        Fall (Mobility Games), to name just a few.               shift towards full product
     Assassin’s Creed, Ghost Recon, Modern Combat                                                              development and moving away
     and others). A fifth major publisher, King, also
     opened a studio in Bucharest in 2013, but later
                                                        In 2014, the local industry gained a voice, by        from services / outsourcing.
                                                        collectively supporting the creation of RGDA – The
     downsized following internal restructuring         Romanian Game Developers Association. Later                  The fast growth in the
     and eventually closed down in 2019.                on, RGDA launched the regional games conference              independent sector, an
20
     However, the biggest shift of this decade
                                                        Dev.Play (in 2016), as a means to promote                       organizing body and    21
                                                        the local industry at an international level.
     happened in the independent sector. Several                                                                  educational opportunities
     important independent studios were founded         The second half of the                                  all indicated a full-fledged
     in the early 2010s, such as Atypical Games
     (2011), Mavenhut (2012), Those Awesome Guys
                                                        decade saw the emergence                                          game dev ecosystem
                                                        of several educational
     (2012), Killhouse Games (2013), Greenhorse         programs, both through
                                                                                                                     starting to take form,
     Games (2013), Mobility Games (2013) and            public universities and                                   laying the foundation for
     Amber (2013). The interest in the sector grew at
     an accelerated pace – over 75 new companies
                                                        private initiatives (such                                   the first major Romanian
                                                        as Game Dev Academy),
     were founded between 2011 and 2019. Amber          along with business
                                                                                                                      original IP products.
     saw the fastest internal growth, reaching          / start-up incubation
     almost 300 people by the end of 2018.              or support programs
                                                        (Carbon Incubator and
     As a natural expansion of the sector, some         Gamelab being two
     of these start-ups chose to operate in             notable initiatives).
     games-related fields (as opposed to games
Jamdat Romania                Amber is founded
                                                                          is created –                                                TAG
                                         Ubisoft Romania                  later to            Killhouse Games is founded         releases
           Timeline Of                      releases                      become EA                                               Move or          EA releases
          The Romanian                   Chessmaster 10                   Romania
                                                                                             Greenhorse Games is founded              Die          FIFA 17
         Game Industry
                                                                                                 King Romania is founded                           Dev.Play
                                                                                                                                                   founded

                                                                                                                                 RGDA
                                                                                            Ubisoft Romania                      founded

’90                                                                                                                                                ’19
                                                                                           releases Assasin’s
                                                                                                Creed II

’91 ’92 ’93 ’94 ’95 ’96      ’97 ’98 ’99 ’00 ’01           ’02   ’03 ’04 ’05   ’06 ’07      ’08 ’09    ’10      ’11 ’12    ’13   ’14   ’15   ’16    ’17   ’18

                            Funlabs
                         is created                                                   Bandai Namco                Mavenhunt
                                                                                        founded                   is created
                 AMC
               founded

                                  Gameloft Romania                               Gameloft Romania releases Modern Combat 5
                                     is created                                                                                                       Multiple
                                                                                           Mobility releases Frozen Free Fall                      indie games
 Ubisoft Romania                                                                                                                                      released
 is created                                                                          Killhouse Games releases Door Kickers
                                            Gameloft Romania releases
                                      Price of Persia: Warrior Within
The history of the Romanian games industry shows a very dynamic and
                 diverse sector. According to the RGDA studies corroborated with the data
                 available in the National Trade Register, in 2018 Romania had 103 entities with
                 activities in the field of gaming, spanning from big multinational companies
                 (EA, Ubisoft, Gameloft, Bandai Namco) to Romanian indie studios. 12% of
                 the active companies in the gaming field were set up in 2018, indicating a
                 healthy and fresh infusion of energy and creativity. Nevertheless, 20% of
                 industry players are over 10 years old and 6% over 15 years old; so, with
                 more than a quarter of the companies having a more than 10 years of history,
                 the Romanian games industry shows a high level of business maturity.

                 In the past 15 years, the industry has recorded a relatively constant organic
                 growth rate, with the notable exception of the year 2013, when the number of

Local Industry
                 new companies set up was significantly above the average of the interval.         25

In Figures       Growth in terms of number of studios
                 born per year in Romania (1992-2018)

                 10

                  8

                  6

                  4

                  2

                  0

                      92

                                00
                                    04
                                         05
                                             06

                                                   20 7

                                                      10
                                                      11

                                                   20 2
                                                      13

                                                   20 4
                                                      15
                                                      17
                                                      18
                                                      08
                                                      09
                                                      0

                                                      1

                                                      1
                      19

                             20
                                  20
                                      20
                                           20

                                                 20

                                                   20
                                                   20
                                                   20

                                                   20

                                                   20
                                                   20
                                                   20
Game Developers                                 The analysis of the specific activity and                              Games Launched                                Note: this specific result does not include
                                                     declared focus of the studios in Romania shows                                                                       mini-games for social media, the main
     Dominate The Industry                           that 74.2% of them are Game Developers,                                                                              motivation being their simplicity and the
                                                                                                                            The analysis of the activity carried out in
                                                     with the main activity of the company being                                                                          rapid validation and launch processes.
     The Romanian gaming industry is                                                                                        2018 shows that the local studios were
                                                     game development (both original or licensed                                                                          For example, one company which focuses
     well established, with a large majority                                                                                involved in the launch of about 100 new
                                                     IP), while 12.1% fall within the category of                                                                         exclusively on minigames for social media
     (89.7%)) of the active companies being                                                                                 games, as developers, co-developers
                                                     Service Providers with specialized services                                                                          had in 2018 no less than 140 launches.
     involved with full game development / co-                                                                              and publishers. A significant number
                                                     in QA, localization, arts and development
     development activities or in the publishing                                                                            of studios have multi-year production
                                                     outsourcing. Also, 10.3% are Publishers                                                                              From the market success viewpoint, FIFA
     / distribution of games. A smaller share                                                                               cycles or are involved in complex projects
                                                     focusing on game distribution. Only few (3.4%)                                                                       2019 is the only game which involved
     of companies (10.3%) are focused on                                                                                    and thus do not report annual game
                                                     the local studies are involved in providing                                                                          Romanian teams in its development (EA
     related activities, but not including actual                                                                           launches. The figures show that 10.4%
                                                     tools and infrastructure related support. The                                                                        Romania) and reached the TOP 20 global
     development or publishing of games.                                                                                    of the local studios launched more than
                                                     local gaming industry is mainly concentrated                                                                         best-selling games with over 20 million
                                                                                                                            5 new games in 2018, the majority, 40.4%
                                                     around Bucharest, (a detailed insight on                                                                             units sold. Among the games developed in
                                                                                                                            launched 1-2 games, but 42.3% did
                                                     the geographical distribution is presented                                                                           Romania and appreciated by consumers
                                                                                                                            not launch any game in 2018, being
                                                     in the dedicated section, further below).                                                                            are: Far Cry 5 Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey,
     Involvement in full game development                                                                                   involved in multi-annual projects.
                                                                                                                                                                          FIFA 19 (all three in global Top 20 best sold
26   / co-development activities, or in the                                                                                                                                                                                 27
                                                     Main activity of Romanian Studios                                                                                    games) but also NHL 2019, FIFA Mobile.
     publishing / distribution of games

                                                                                                                                                                          From a go to market perspective, 82% of
                                                                    3.4%                                                                                                  the studios that launched at least one game
                                                                                                         Game Developer     The number of games published                 in 2018 preferred to self-publish their titles,
                                                            12.1%
                                                                                                                            per company in 2018                           while only 11% worked exclusively with an
                                                                                                         Game Publisher                                                   external publisher. A smaller number of
                                                      10.3%                    74.2%
               10.3%                                                                                                                                                      studios (7%) have chosen a mixt approach,
                                                                                                                            50
                                                                                                         Service Provider                                                 self-publishing some of the games but
            89.7%
                                                                                                                            40                                            also working with an external publisher.
                                                                                                         Tools Privider
                                                                                                                            30                                                                                  >5
                                                                                                                                                                                                                4
         Yes    full game development / co-
                                                                                                                            20
                development activities, or in the                                                                                                                                                               3
                                                     Percentage of companies involved in full Game development/                                                                                                 2
                publishing / distribution of games
                                                     co-development activities, or in the publishing /distribution of       10                                                                                  1
                                                     games vs. Percentage of companies focused on related industry
          No    Other related industry activities                                                                                                                                                               0
                (QA, art outsourcing etc).
                                                     activities (QA services, tech, art services outsourcing).
                                                                                                                              0
Self published games by                 Based on the data collected over the             Platforms And                                    The survey also analyzed the intention of
     Romanian developers                     past 4 years, the RDGA industry study                                                             using certain platforms for the next games
     vs. Games developed in                  can conclude that 2018 has not been an
                                                                                              Technologies                                     released (first and second games released
     Romania published by                    atypical year, and this structure of new                                                          during 2018). Thus, in sync with global
     external publishers                     games launches is specific for the local         36% of the Romanian studios that launched        trends, 49% of the Romanian studios are
                                             industry, the consolidated figures showing       games in 2018, had a multiplatform               open to work with any platform available on
                                             similar throughout the period 2016-2018.         approach, but overall around 60% of the          the market. Data show also that PC/Mac is
                     7%                                                                       answers included mobile and 45% PC/Mac.          the target for the upcoming game in almost
             11%
                                                                                              Only a small number of studios focused           60% of cases, but only 12% of the studios
                                             Looking at future intentions, the forecast for
                                                                                              exclusively on a single platform. Consoles,      are focusing exclusively on this platform.
                                             the period 2019-2020 shows the same pattern,
                                                                                              like PS4 and Xbox, have raised an equal          Mobile devices such as smartphones and
                                             48.1% of the studios already launching or
                                                                                              level of interest both in 2018 and in previous   tablets represent a target for the 54% of the
                                             going to launch one or more games in 2019
                                                                                              years. Also, local studios that launched         surveyed companies, with 23% choosing
                     82%                     and 32.7% having concrete plans for 2020.
                                                                                              games last year developed an increased           only mobile as the development platform.
                                                                                              interest in Nintendo Switch, 24% adding
                                Plans to release a new game in 2019 or 2020 (either           this platform in 2018. As a nuance, in 2018,
                                self-published or through an external publisher)              for the local studios that launched more
28                                                                                            games, the second and third product were                                                         29
          Exclusively                                       2%                                mainly dedicated to mobile platforms.
          self‑published                            11%
                                               6%                23%
          Some games
          self‑published,                                                                     One important aspect is          growth of mobile, multiple      (though perhaps this is
          some through an                                                                     that more than 30 games          distribution options on PC      moving at a slower pace
                                                    33%           25%
          external publisher                                                                  intended to be launched in       and the somewhat reduced        than in other western
                                                                                              2019 will be multiplatform.      entry barrier for indie         countries). Virtual Reality,
          Exclusively used an                                                                 The trend highlighted            developers to release games     Augmented Reality
          external publisher                                                                  in survey is that studios        on consoles (especially         and Mixed Reality are
                                     Yes, already release one or more in 2019                 with experience on mobile        the Nintendo Switch).           the more popular new
                                     Yes, planning to release one or more in 2019             will stay focused on                                             technologies, with 26.9%
                                     Yes, planning to release one or more in 2020             mobile, but studios with         In terms of emerging            of studios planning to use
                                                                                              experience on PC will            technologies, there is an       these for future games.
                                     No planning to release any game before end of 2020
                                                                                              go multiplatform. This           interest within Romanian        Blockchain (5.8%) and
                                     Prefer not to answer                                     seems to be a global trend,      studios to follow some of       game streaming (15.4%) are
                                     No, but planning to release one or more in 2020          following the continued          the new industry trends         also among the options.
The platforms Romanian studios published their games on in 2018                     Services and Support
                                                                                                        As stated earlier, the local market includes         design / writing (40.2%). However, the
                                                                                                        multinational companies but also small               range of services delivered from Romania
                                                                                                        indie studios and freelancers. This                  is much wider and includes game testing,
                                                                                                        diversity is also reflected in the profile           automation, localization, voice acting,
                                                                                                        of the companies analyzed. While 70.7%               consulting, according to the chart.
                                                                                                        of companies are involved in making
                                                                                                        games, some 29.3% provide tools and                  For half of the studios that provide tools
                                                                                                        services for game development.                       and services, this revenue represents
                                                                                                                                                             the main source of income. In 88% of
           First Game Released by the studio               Second Game Released by the studio           In terms of services delivered, outsourcing          cases, most clients come from Europe,
                                                                                                        development accounts for 58.8% of cases              but 47% of the studios indicated strong
                                                                                                        (overall, 29.3% of the surveyed studios              business relationships with North
           PC/Mac      PS4         Xbox One        Nintendo        Mobile    Browser      Other
                                                                                                        offer Services and Tools), followed by               America. Asian customers remain a
                                                   Switch
                                                                                                        art outsourcing (47.1%) and creative                 rarity for local service providers.

30                                                                                                                                                                                                             31

           New technologies that Romanian studios are considering adopting for their new games                              The game development services and support market in Romania

                                                                                                                                    Game testing
                                                                                                                                      Automation
                                                                                                                                    Localization
                    VR / AR / MR                                26.9%
                                                                                                                                    Voice acting

                     Blockchain                5.8%                                                                         Sound/Music creation
                                                                                                                         Creative/Desing/Writing
                 Game streaming                       15.4%                                                              Development oursourcing
                                                                                                                                 Art outsourcing
     N/A / Prefer not to answer                                                            63.5%                   PR&Marketing related services
                                                                                                                    Consulting/Business services
              None of the above           1.9%                                                                              Tools/Infrastructure

                                          1.9%                                                                                 Game desing tools
                          HTML 5
                                                                                                        Game development courses/co working space
                                                                                                                                                    0   10        20        30        40        50        60

                                      0       10      20      30      40    50     60      70      80
The Gaming Industry And                                                                             The number of people employed by the Romanian gaming industry has
                                                                                                         a slight increase in 2018 compared to 2017, 50% of companies having a
     The Labor Market                                                                                    similar number of employees, while 27.6% reported a moderate increase
                                                                                                         in personnel and 13.8% a significant increase. Only 8.6% of companies
     With two companies entering the Top 100 most desired                                                reported a decrease in the number of employees, the reductions being
     employers in Romania (a report created by Catalyst in 2019), the                                    moderate in most cases and being recorded by small studios.
     gaming industry is a very attractive work field. These companies
     are seen in social media as offering a very dynamic and modern
                                                                                                         Therefore, in net figures the impact of these cases on the labour force
     workplace. Based on data reported to the Ministry of Labour,
                                                                                                         employed in the gaming industry is insignificant. 2019 brought about
     correlated with the information collected by its own survey,
                                                                                                         an increase in employment, 46.6% of companies having concrete plans
     RGDA estimates that at least 6000 people are working in game
                                                                             Romanian Studios:           in this regard and reporting an increase in the workforce. For 2019, the
     development or related activities in Romania. This includes
                                                                            Increase/decrease in         cases of staff reduction (1%) are only conjunctural or short-term.
     employees but also a large number of freelancers, involved both
                                                                            staffing 2018 vs 2017
     in small individual projects but also as external contractors for
                                                                                                         On BestJobs and LinkedIn, two of the most used public recruitment
     large studios. For example, on www.upwork.com, a well-known
                                                                                 3% 5%                   platforms, there are +100 open positions permanently within companies
     international platform for hiring freelancers, there are at least
                                                                                                         with a gaming profile. The specifics of these jobs range from graphic
     200 individuals with specific skills and experience in gaming
                                                                           14%                           designer, lead artist and front-end developer to anticheating and
32   industry. The situation is similar to other fields of activity: web                                                                                                                        33
                                                                                                         test automation specialists. This shows that the industry is dynamic,
     development, graphics and design, digital marketing, etc were
                                                                                              50%        there are always new projects and HR departments are forced
     the number of active freelancers is relatively high. As a fact,
                                                                            28%                          to use any available channel to reach potential candidates.
     one of the most used freelancers’ platforms from Romania
     has no less than 6138 individuals available for collaboration.

                  Romanian Studios: Changes expected by                                                                        Number of people working per studio in Romania
                     studios in staff numbers for 2019

                                                                                 More or less constant
                      12%                                                                                                                                         Significant increase
                                                     0-10
                                                                                 Mild increase                               43.1%
                                                                                                                                                                  Mild increase
               21%
                                                     11-50
                                                                                 Significat increase
                                67%                                                                                                                               More or less constant
                                                     Over 51                                                                              12.1%
                                                                                 Mild decrease                                                                    Significant decrease
                                                                                                                               34.5%
                                                                                 Significant decrease                                                             Cannot answer at the moment
Geographic Distribution                                                                            Revenues                                        in global industry with over 4.600 people
                                                                                                                                                        throughout the globe, has a strong local
                                                                                                                                                        presence, ranking 3rd in Top 10 of the
     The gaming industry follows the patterns already tailored to areas such as IT and BPO (Business    For 2018, the consolidated revenues of the
                                                                                                                                                        gaming companies in Romania, by revenue.
     Process Outsourcing), which concentrate their forces in Romania’s capital city and major           gaming industry in Romania reached USD
     university centres. This distribution is dictated by the access to qualified resources, both in    182.4 million, according to data reported
     tech specializations and in other creative fields. In Bucharest and Ilfov one finds the offices    to the tax authorities. The overall market      31% of the companies reported a
     of not less than 77% of the studios, including the big ones, which have the largest number of      growth was 16%, most of the active              significant increase in turnover in 2018, and
     employees and implicitly generate the highest incomes. The trend of recent years, however,         studios registering higher turnover in 2018     for 21.4% of the companies participating
     reflected the orientation of the studios towards Cluj Napoca (17.6%) and Timişoara (4%),           compared to 2017. Only 6 companies with         in the study the growth was moderate.
     which together are beginning to gain a representative share. Surprisingly, cities like Iasi and    gaming activity were closed in 2018, but        36.2% of the companies recorded a
     Brasov, quite active in the field of IT outsourcing, are still not chosen as the headquarters of   their share in the consolidated figure of the   constant flow of income in 2018 compared
     newly established studios and also there aren’t any gaming start-ups spawning from these           local industry is insignificant.                to 2017 evolution and only 8.6% declared
     cities. The small studios, which do not depend on the resources of the big university centres,     At the revenue level, the market is heavily     poorer financial results in 2018.
     also work in smaller cities such as: Alexandria, Braila, Arad, Turda. Therefore, Romania follows   concentrated; the top 10 companies
     the patterns of the region (Poland, for example) which indicate a concentration of industry        accumulate 87.8% of the total local             Romanian studios: Increase/decrease of
     players at the capital level and a subsequent migration to the major university centres.           industry revenue, while the companies           total revenue per studio in 2018 vs 2017.

34                                                                                                      in the Top 5 concentrate 79.2% of                                                               35
                                                                                                        the revenues. According to the Major
                                             17.6%                                                      Companies in Romania, 2018 Edition,
                                                                                                                                                                     36.2%

                                          Cluj-Napoca                                                   three companies with gaming activity
                                                                                                        are ranked in the Top 25 largest Software                                  8.6%
                                                                                                        companies on the local market. These
                                                                                                                                                           24.1%
                                                                                                        three companies exceed a turnover of
                                                                                                                                                                             31%
                                                                                                        EUR 128.3 million and employ a workforce
                                                                                                        exceeding 4,000 people, so a strong
                                                                                                        footprint in the local digital economy.

                                                                                                        From the global perspective, out of the              Significant increase
                           4%                                                                           top 20 Game companies by revenue                     Mild increase
                       Timisoara                           77%                                          made by Newzoo, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft
                                                                                                        and Bandai Namco are present on the                  More or less the same
                                                        Bucharest                                       local market, with Microsoft not running             Mild decrease
                                                                                                        activities related to gaming development
                                                                                                        in Romania. Also, Gameloft, a key player             Significant decrease
Top 25 Companies                                                        The year 2019 exhibits a good economical projection for the local gaming industry. Based on
                                                                             partial financial data and economic forecasts, 69% of local studios are expecting an increase
     By Revenue in 2018                                                      in turnover this year. The forecasted growth is significant in 32.8% of cases and moderate
                                                                             for 36.2%. Only a small number (13.6%) of studio expect some revenue decrease for 2019.

     1    Ubisoft Romania                           Romanian studios:
     2    Electronic Arts Romania                 Expected change in total
                                                  revenue in 2019 vs 2018
     3    Gameloft Romania
     4    Ati Studios
                                                                              Funding The Projects
     5    Amber Studio                                     6.9%
                                                     10.3%    6.9%
     6    Super Hippo Games / Nutaku Publishing                               The RGDA industry survey also attempts to highlight the sources of capital when it
                                                                 6.9%
     7    Bandai Namco                                                        comes to new project funding, an important aspect due to the multiannual game
     8    King Games Studio                                                   release cycles and ambitious developments plans. Nearly 80% of the companies
                                                    36.2%                     surveyed used only internal resources for funding projects in 2018, as was the
     9    Quantic Lab                                            32.8%
                                                                              situation in the 2015-2017 period. Only 15.8% of the surveyed companies accessed
     10   Mavenhut
                                                                              external funding, with Angel Investors and Publisher funding as main sources. During
36   11   Fun Labs Romania                                                    2018, at least 6 studios have managed to attract attention of Angel Investors and              37
     12   Those Awesome Guys                                                  Venture Capital, with over 2.5 million USD capital involved in these transactions.
     13   Whyttest
     14   Angry Mob Games                           Significant increase
     15   eRepublik                                 Mild increase
                                                                                              Romanian studios: Source of funding in the last three years
     16   AMC Pixel Factory
                                                    More or less the same
     17   Green Horse Games
     18   Holotech Studios                          Mild decrease

     19   PlayWing                                                                                                                    Entirely self-funded
                                                    Significant decrease                                      15.8%
     20   Atypical Games
                                                    Cannot answer                                                 5.3%                Yes, the company accesed
     21   Idea Studios                              at the moment                                                                     external funding
     22   Greenlink Group                                                                         78.9%                               Prefer not to answer
     23   Dream Primer
     24   WitchHut Games
     25   Killhouse Games
Type of external funds accessed by Romanian studios in the last three years
     Funding the projects
     continued...
                                                                      Publisher funding
                                                                         European Funds
                                                                            State funds
     The most relevant case is Holotech which has raised 2 million
                                                                       Angel Investment
     USD in Series A funding led by SignalFire, a Californian VC
                                                                        Venture Capital
     firm that backs early stage start-ups. Another example is
                                                                             Other grants
     Critique Gaming, with a seed funding of 120,000 euros from
     TechAngels, investment used to launch their first game.                                 0,0 0,5 1,0 1,5 2,0 2,5 3,0 3,5 4,0

     According to the data provided by Dealroom.com, in the
     CEE region, studios from the Czech Republic managed
38                                                                                                                                                    39
     to attract similar investments in 2018, but, in Poland, for
     example, the level of capital is by far higher, overpassing
     45 million USD in 2017, according to the same source.

     Furthermore, a small number of studios accessed European         loans for funding projects. The situation is normal for Romania, a country
     (SME funding Instruments) or Romanian State Grants               where data from the National Credit Guarantee Fund for SMBs shows
     (Startup Nation). Only one Romanian gaming company               that only 15-20% of the total number of small and medium businesses
     is listed at the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB AERO), a          manage to secure financing from banks. By comparison, in the European
     rare approach for the entire local digital industry (not only    Union, 77% of SMEs use bank loans to finance their business.
     gaming but software and IT services also). By comparison, in
     Poland 19 different gaming companies have made a debut           The predominant use of in-house funding sources may be an indication of
     on the Warsaw Stock Exchange between 2015 and 2018,              several things. Romania’s capital market and entrepreneurship ecosystem
     according to information published by PolandIn.com.              are still under development, so funding options are scarce and/or may be
                                                                      difficult to access for companies at a very early stage. As a consequence,
     Lending instruments offered by traditional financial             there is also some reluctance for start-up owners to make use of such
     institutions are still unattractive for local gaming industry.   options, which in some cases leads to extending the development cycles
     According to the survey, in 2018 no studio accessed bank         in order to control costs and maintain control over the company.
The Industry and the
               Legislative Environment

               In Romania, the ITC industry has benefited from
               a series of incentive measures: the exemption of
               the income tax for developers (2004), the state
               aid scheme for large investments in IT (2012), the
               Startup nation program (2016). These measures
               have contributed to the development of the IT
               industry, which currently employs over 100,000
               people and generates about 6% of Romania’s
               GDP. In 2018, software and services exports

Legislative
               exceeded EUR 4.5 billion, placing Romania in
               second place in the region after Poland.
                                                                          41

Environment     These measures were also reflected in the
               gaming industry. The tax exemption that applies

Influencing    to programmers and other adjacent specialties
               contributed to the development of the domain,

the Game Dev
               but also generated a certain orientation to
               outsourcing. The gaming industry does not just
               need software developers, the development of a

Industry
               game involves many creative disciplines such as
               game designers or game artists, which are covered
               by the tax exemption. As a result, the authorities
               have stimulated the outsourcing area, as it is the
               case of the entire IT industry, and less so the creative
               one of developing new products. Balanced and
               sustainable development of the sector needs wider
               support from the authorities, as it happens in other
               countries where this sector is well developed.
RGDA, as representative of the industry, carries out a constant and transparent dialogue              The industry has benefited in the last several years from the support of the
     with the relevant authorities (such as the Ministry for Business Environment, Commerce and            Department of Commerce (MMACA), with Romanian studios being able to
     Entrepreneurship, Ministry of Communication and Information Society, Ministry of Culture, etc.)       exhibit and visit some of the most important global events of the industry
     to present the opportunities and challenges in the field. The main directions of action would be:     such as Gamescom in Koln, Germany and GDC in San Francisco, USA.

                                                                                                           According to the analyzes carried out by the Executive Unit for Financing Higher Education,
                                                                                                           Research, Development and Innovation (UEFISCDI), the gaming field has a high potential
                                                                                                           to become an intelligent and strategic specialization for Romania. The gaming industry
                                        Development of the Educational System and the introduction
                                                                                                           obtained good and very good scores on the seven analysis criteria: importance in the
                                        of specific specializations for the development of video
                                                                                                           economy, degree of technological sophistication, collaboration at the industry level,
                                        games. Rewarding companies that invest in education.
                                                                                                           capitalization of local resources, the intensity of innovation. Only the availability of human
                                                                                                           resources scored under average, mainly due to the lack of formal education in this field.
                                        Extension of financing options. Grants for concept and prototype
                                        would stimulate entrepreneurship, research, and innovation, as
                                        well as the development of 100% Romanian original products.

42                                      Continuous promotion of Romanian products                                                            Economic Impact                                                43
                                        and services on the global profile market.                                                                     5

                                                                                                                                                       4

                                        Fiscal benefits and incentives for companies, adapted                  Market Opportunity                                      HighTech level
                                                                                                                                                       3

                                        to their growth stage, taking reference from other
                                                                                                                                                       2

                                        countries in Europe which have implemented such
                                                                                                                                                       1
                                        measures for the game development sector.

                                                                                                                     Innovation                                            Industry Collaboration

     The approval by the government in 2017 of the Memorandum of support for creative industries
     (championed by MMACA and the Ministry of Culture) laid the basis of a legal framework
     conducting to the development of new initiatives for video games industry. In the same                Human Resources availability                        Local Resources (other than people)
     year, a Working Group for the economic promotion of cultural and creative sectors was set
     up, to develop strategies and programs for financial and legislative support. Also, in the
     classification of the Romanian National Institute for Cultural Research and Training, the
     development of „software and electronic games „is one of the 11 creative sub-domains.
At the European level, Finland and Sweden are the most
                   well-known and appreciated countries for studies in the
                   field of game design. However, in recent years more and
                   more universities are conducting study programs adjacent
                   to the gaming industry: Oxford Royale Academy UK, Istituto
                   Europeo Di Design, Madrid Spain, Infopulse University
                   Kyiv Ukraine, Academy of Media Arts Koln Germany etc.

                   In Romania however, at the level of formal education,
                   there was no structured framework, nor were
                   there specific elements in the national curriculum
                   to support the development of skills associated
                   with the HR needs of the gaming industry.

                   In recent years, specific initiatives have emerged
                   that respond to real market demands:

Education
                                                                                                                     45

                   State University Degrees and Courses:
System for
Game Development
                   THE POLITEHNICA UNIVERSITY OF BUCHAREST
                   The Faculty of Automation and Computers runs a Master in Graphics,
                   Multimedia and Virtual Reality with a focus on video game creation.

                   THE UNIVERSITY OF URBANISM AND ARCHITECTURE ION MINCU
                   It offers a “Game Design” course within the Faculty of Interior Architecture, the Department of
                   Form and Ambient Studies. The course aims to familiarize students with the gaming industry
                   and game design techniques. It is aimed at students in the final years and lasts one semester.

                   THE N ATION A L UNI V ERSIT Y OF THE ATRE A RTS A ND CINEM ATOGR A PH Y
                   / T H E F A C U LT Y O F F I L M
                   It provides a Master Program in the Art of Game Design (day course, 2 years, in English) and
                   is working on introducing the first bachelor’s Degree on Game Design in the country.
Industry Initiatives                                                                                Private Academies

     The scarcity of formal education opportunities has led                                              A number of private academies – many of them with
     private companies to take the initiative to train the                                               industry’s help – have created a number of paid courses
     workforce in the field and to help young people interested                                          were those interested to get a certification can do it
     in a career in gaming. Some of the most popular free-access                                         in order to further pursue a career in the industry:
     programs organized by companies in the industry are:

     AMC RO STUDIO                                                                                       GAME DEV ACADEMY
     A pioneer in creating educational schemes aiming to shape the next generation                       The main educational center in Romania that offers professional courses on game
     of 3D digital artists (high-school and university students).                                        development and the only accredited Unity center in the country. The academy has
                                                                                                         been created by industry professionals with considerable experience in the field.
     AMBER ACADEMY
     Various short-term educational initiatives for high-school and university students in Bucharest,    NOBLEPROG
     including crash-courses in game development and summer bootcamp programs.                           An international training and consulting group.
46                                                                                                       Courses for Blender, Unity and Unreal Engine                                        47
     GAMELOFT LEARNING CENTER
     A lab launched together with the Politehnica University of Bucharest, within the university which   MEDIA ACADEMY
     offers 3D Engine, Advanced Debugging, Design Patterns, Memory management, Shaders, Cool Effects,    The academy offers a wide range of audio and visual media courses such as:
     Rendering Techniques and many more courses for students interested in game development.             3D Unreal engine course, intro to Maya, intro to 3DSMax, 3D modelling etc.

     UBISOFT                                                                                             EDUKUBE
     Various educational schemes, two of the most well-known ones being the                              A specific 3D modelling courses for game development
     Ubisoft Coding Campus (a six-month accelerated learning program for future
     game programmers) and the Ubisoft Gamecelerator for high-school students                            LINK ACADEMY
     which is organized together with Junior Achievement Romania.                                        Android Animation and Game Development courses

                                                                                                         PIXELLAB TRAINING CENTER
                                                                                                         It offers a range of graphic design courses, 3D gaming and
                                                                                                         character design courses and motion graphics courses.
As one of the fastest-growing field, the
                   global gaming industry has to cope with
                   many changes and challenges. On the
                   global scale, players are always seeking
                   new exciting experiences, technology and

Challenges and
                   regulations change, and new markets
                   open. With 2.5 billion gamers around
                   the world and 152.1 billion USD spent on         49

Opportunities      games in 2019 (NewZoo forecast), a lot
                   of opportunities are open for the entire

for the Romanian
                   industry. Moreover, the predictions show a
                   constant growth, with a 196 billion market
                   value (revenue for all platforms) for 2021.

Game Development   From a local perspective, the industry faces

Ecosystem
                   a number of challenges that put pressure
                   on the growth of the industry but also many
                   opportunities that – if act upon- can position
                   the local game development industry as
                   one of the top local industries in Europe.

                   Let’s take a closer look at the challenges
                   and opportunities the industry faces:
Opportunities:                                                                                       Challenges:

     With globally renowned high-speed internet          The number of investors and investment funds     Lack of funding.                              Absence of
     and the growth of cutting edge easily accessible    interested to tap into the gaming industry
     new technology in the field (engines like Unity     (and its huge potential) has notably increased
                                                                                                                                                        entrepreneurial and
                                                                                                          Despite the development of different
     and Unreal come to mind) creating great games       in the past few years and many of them just      funding opportunities in recent years,
                                                                                                                                                        business education.
     here has become easier than ever before.            started looking at the still untapped but very   Start-ups in Romania have access to less
                                                         promising potential of Eastern Europe.           funding sources and significantly lower       For many experienced, passionate and
     With the launch of gaming streaming services                                                         figures than similar companies in Western     talented Romanian game developers,
     and a new number of platforms to sell their         As opposed to the local IT industry              Europe. This is also the reason why many      starting a studio and especially keeping
     games on, local game developers can reach an        which is heavily focused on services, the        Romanian entrepreneurs are moving to          it alive for more than 3 years (a global
     increasingly large number of gamers worldwide.      game development industry is heavily             other economic centres of the world.          norm) is not always easy due to the lack
                                                         product focused and can generate a                                                             of business education and connections
                                                                                                                                                        with the international business networks
     With one of Europe’s highest number of              large number of 100% original products
                                                                                                          Lack of qualified                             which are crucial to ensure the success of
     people employed in the industry (around             developed here in Romania.
     6000 people), Romania has a good number
                                                                                                          human resources.                              a global product in a very interconnected
     of experienced professionals that could             In recent years, the industry as a whole                                                       industry ( global publishers, platforms,
50                                                                                                                                                                                                    51
     take the industry to the next level in terms        has become more collaborative, working           Although the number of IT professionals has   marketeers, media, influencers etc).
     of popular franchises or globally successful        together for a sustainable growth and            been steadily growing for many years now, a
     original products developed here.                   facing structural challenges and harnessing      recent study conducted by the recruitment     Increased competition
                                                                                                          agency Brainspotting and CodeCool shows
                                                         general opportunities together. The role of
                                                                                                          that Romania has an annual deficit of over
                                                                                                                                                        in the region.
     Due to its educational system and its IT industry   the Romanian Game Developers Association
                                                         is unquestionable in this effort that has        15,000 programmers. Complementary,
     tax exemptions Romania’s IT sector has grown                                                                                                       In Eastern Europe there are countries that
                                                         created many opportunities: public funds for     and even more dramatically, the gaming
     considerably and employs a good number                                                                                                             are becoming increasingly attractive both
                                                         industry fairs participation and international   industry lacks many specializations in
     of skilled IT professionals with European                                                                                                          to strategic and capital investors. The
                                                         economic missions, raising awareness about       the creative field. This is one of the main
     mentality, and a general English fluency who                                                                                                       Ukraine, for example, has a huge pool of
                                                         the industry locally and internationally,        limitations in the development of local
     are -and can be also in the future if the pool                                                                                                     tech resources, and according to a research
                                                         organizing one of the largest annual game dev    studios. A success in the gaming industry
     of professionals expands- a good resource                                                                                                          of Unit.City and Achievers Hub at least 80
                                                         conferences in Eastern Europe - Dev.Play, etc.   relies as much on game designers and
     for the growth of the gaming industry.                                                                                                             companies ( including 5 Global Video Game
                                                                                                          artists as on programmers thus having a
                                                                                                          large pool of experienced and talented        Companies) and +20,000 software engineers
                                                                                                          game designers and artists is crucial. This   are fully involved in game development,
                                                                                                          cannot become a reality without educational   with 40% of them residing in Kyiv.
                                                                                                          programs dedicated to these creative fields
TOP 25
                                                                                                       CO M PA NIES
                                                                                                       BY REVENUE

The Romanian                                                                N U M BER OF PEOPLE
                                                                                                   1   Ubisoft Romania

Game Development                                    2018                  W ORKING THE SEC TOR     2   Electronic Arts Romania

                                       $188.5 Mn
                                                                                                   3   Gameloft Romania

Industry                                                                           6000            4
                                                                                                   5
                                                                                                       Ati Studios
                                                                                                       Amber Studio
2018 Snapshot                                                                         people       6   Nutaku Publishing
                                                                                                   7   Bandai Namco
                                     2017
                                 $156 Mn
                                                                                                   8   King Games Studio
EVOLUTION
                                                                                                   9   Quantic Lab
OF INDUSTRY
                                                                                                  10   Mavenhut
T U R N O V E R:
                              2016                                                                11   Fun Labs Romania          53

                          $140 Mn                                                                 12
                                                                                                  13
                                                                                                       Those Awesome Guys
                                                                                                       Whyttest
                                                                                                  14   Angry Mob Games
                   2015                                                   W H AT I S              15   eRepublik
                                                           3.4%
    $132 Mn                                    12.1%
                                                                          THE MAIN
                                                                          ACTIVIT Y OF
                                                                                                  16
                                                                                                  17
                                                                                                       AMC Pixel Factory
                                                                                                       Green Horse Games
                                                                          T HE CO M PA N Y?       18   Holotech Studios
                                                                                                  19   PlayWing
                                            10.3%                 74.2%
                                                                             Game Developer       20   Atypical Games
                                                                                                  21   Idea Studios
                                                                             Game Publisher
                                                                                                  22   Greenlink Group
             2014                                                                                 23   Dream Primer
                                                                             Service Provider
             $110 Mn                                                         Tools Privider
                                                                                                  24   WitchHut Games
                                                                                                  25   Killhouse Games
2019
                     date         name                         platforms developer          publisher
                     18/04/19     BOSSGARD                               Sand Sailor Studio Sand Sailor
                                                                                            Studio
                     01/05/19     Puzzle Herder                          Tiny Trinket       Tiny Trinket
                                                                         Games              Games
                     14/05/19     Forgive Me, Father…                    Liberty Field      Liberty Field
                     31/05/19     Second Hand:                            Rikodu              Rikodu
                                  Frankie's Revenge
                     01/09/19     Gibbous - A Cthulhu                     Stuck In Attic      Stuck In Attic
                                  Adventure
                     07/09/19     Raiders Of The Lost Island              Last Tales          Last Tales
                     12/11/19     Yaga                                    Breadcrumbs         Versus Evil

Romanian Games
                                                                          Interactive                          55
                     05/12/19     Interrogation                           Critique Gaming     Critique

Released In The
                                                                                              Gaming
                     02/08/2019 Space Mercs                               Bearded Giant       bearded Giant
                                                                          Games               Games

Period 2017 - 2019   17/07/2019   Sea King

                     30/09/2019 Swordrite
                                                                          Interactive Stone

                                                                          WolflandGames
                                                                                              Interactive
                                                                                              Stone
                                                                                              WolflandGames
                     04/11/2019 Vecter                                    Taranasus           Taranasus
2018                                                                                2017
     date       name                   platforms developer            publisher          date       name                    platforms developer          publisher
     04/01/18   Ironbound                        Secret Level         Making Fun, Inc.   08/02/17   Link Twin                         Amber              Carbon
                                                                                                                                                         Incubator
     15/03/18   The Adventures of                 GrimTalin           GrimTalin
                Elena Temple                                                             22/04/17   Idle Space Race                   Profane Studios    Hippo Tap
     18/05/18   Civitatem                         LW Games            LW Games           26/04/17   Battle Riders                     OneManTeam         OneManTeam
     01/06/18   Azuran Tales: Trials              Tiny Trinket        Tiny Trinket       05/06/17   Don't Tax Me Bro!                 Tibith             Tibith
                                                  Games               Games, Phangd
                                                                                         15/06/17   Gorescript                        Sergiu Bucur       AmusedSloth
     07/06/18   Gray Dawn                         Interactive Stone   Interactive
                                                                      Stone                         Solitaire Chronicles:             Big Blue Studios   Big Blue
                                                                                         25/06/17
     04/09/18   Rumble Heroes                     Amber               Rogue Games                   Wild Guns                                            Studios
                                                                                         11/07/17   Black The Fall                    Sand Sailor Studio Square Enix
     10/09/18   Door Kickers:                     KillHouse Games     KillHouse
                Action Squad                                          Games              04/08/17   TAURONOS                          cavalie/ro &       16-Bit Nights
56                                                                                                                                                                        57
                                                                                                                                      16bit Nights
     28/09/18   Blink: Rogues                     Fox Dive Studio     Fox Dive Studio
                                                                                         04/08/17   MINDNIGHT                         No Moon            No Moon
     09/11/18   Breakout                          FinalBit            FinalBit
                                                                                         01/09/17   Radiation City                    Atypical Games     Atypical Games
     20/12/18   Cake Laboratory                   Square Heads        GrimTalin
                                                                                         02/11/17   Ebony Spire: Heresy               Bearded Giant      Bearded Giant
                                                  Games
                                                                                                                                      Games              Games
                                                                                         09/11/17   Tap Busters:                      Metagame           Tilting Point
                                                                                                    Galaxy Heroes
                                                                                         11/11/17   Sky Gamblers -                    Atypical Games     Atypical Games
                                                                                                    Infinite Jets
                                                                                         07/12/17   Marble Land                       Devious            Devious
                                                                                                                                      Technologies       Technologies
                                                                                         19/12/17   Brawlout                          Angry Mob Games    Angry Mob
                                                                                                                                                         Games
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