Last week, Àlvaro Nadal, Spain's minister of energy, tourism and digital agenda, cancelled a €2 million ($US2.4 million) grant—which would have been used to fund the country's independent game developers—for unspecified reasons. As it turns out, a bigger grant was the main reason for its cancellation: as reported by Polygon, today the Spanish government approved €6.5 million ($US7.8 million) in indie funding.
According to El País, the original grant was frozen following changes within the DEV, a Spanish videogame organization. DEV members joined game developers at a presentation in Madrid today, where the new grant was announced.
"The future of our industry depends, to a large extent, on the success of independent studies and the employment that we can generate for future professionals," said DEV president Luis Quintans.
The previous grant was going to be divided between 20 different developers, each receiving between €50,000 and €150,000, with an emphasis on studios of five or fewer members currently working on their first game.
The terms of the new grant will be detailed next month, but it's already clear it's similarly structured: simply put, Spanish games studios who've been open for at least six months and generate less than €2 million annually can apply for up to €150,000 in funding.
Spain is the fourth largest games market in the EU and the ninth largest in the world, according to NewZoo. The country is home to many game studios including Deconstructeam, who will release bonkers cyberpunk game The Red Strings Club later this month. Crossing Souls developer Fourattic is also based in Spain, as is Rime and Sexy Brutale developer Tequila Works.
