A new call for project proposals under the Malta Digital Games Fund has been announced by Culture Minister Owen Bonnici during an event held at the Takeoff Business Incubator at the University.

For the first time, the Malta Digital Games Fund will be collaborating with the Takeoff Business Incubator to provide a more holistic support to beneficiaries.

Dr Bonnici augured that this collaboration would open the path to further synergies between the various stakeholders in the games.

He said that in the space of a few years, the digital games sector had emerged as a very promising dimension of the creative enterprise sector, generating employment, and opening up opportunities for internationalisation and innovation.

The fund, which is managed and administered by the Culture Directorate, consists of a €100,000 allocation by the government aimed at supporting the development of digital games by Malta-based start-ups and small companies operating in the digital games sector.

As an initiative addressing enterprises in the Creative Economy, it aims to strengthen digital games as a cultural and creative product and to promote Malta as a hub of digital creativity.

Selected projects can be supported with up to a maximum of €40,000 for their projects, constituting not more than 75 per cent of their project costs. The grant may be awarded to digital game companies for the development of a digital game. The development support is expected to encourage the artistic, financial and technical prospects of the project.

Eligible costs for support under the scheme include design, writing and storyboarding, creation of programme content, definition of the visual concepts and sounds, realisation of a demo or the realisation of a playable prototype game, research and initial marketing.

Companies, partnerships and cooperatives registered in Malta and operating primarily in the area of games, entertainment, media, or CT are eligible to apply.

The call for projects is open until June 27, with announcement of the selected projects expected to take place by the beginning of August.

Guidelines and application forms are available here or by contacting the Culture Directorate on digitalgamesfund@gov.mt, tel. 2291 5073.

An information session for prospective applicants will be taking place at the Takeoff Business Incubation, University of Malta, on May 19 at 6pm.

Attendance is free. To register, one should contact the Culture Directorate on digitalgamesfund@gov.mt .