KAFD launches second cycle of the funding window to support the electronic games developers, through the Jordan Gaming Lab, as part of its efforts to support the digital games industry sector which represents one of the promising sectors in the Kingdom.
The concept of the funding window enhances the productive capabilities of digital games developers, provides logistic and financial support for independent games developers and start-ups in Jordan to boost their ability to develop their products, promote and employ the specified tools to improve competitiveness and provide the opportunities to connect with global companies specialized in digital game industry sector.
The window aims to enlighten the minds of creative Jordanian youth, help them develop their innovations and provide the opportunity to turn these innovations into productive projects that offer direct and indirect job opportunities, provide support to independent games developers and start-ups in Jordan to enhance their capabilities and develop their works, and contribute to achieve KAFD goals in supporting efforts and programs that aim to build the abilities of citizens which will boost the level of their competencies and productive capabilities, especially in the digital games industry.
The window targets individuals and start-ups who are seeking opportunities to support their technical projects, as it will provide financial support a maximum of JOD 5000 for independent games developers and a maximum of JOD 10,000 for start-ups.
Yousef Mutawa' (26 years-old), who was able to obtain financial& technical support to develop his game (Build and Blast) with a number of downloads up to 5000 times, believes that the support constituted a turning point in his profession in games industry by updating the equipment needed to develop his project and speed up the completion process.
"He is able to conduct games marketing campaigns on mobile phones and applications stores after gaining more experience in this field, which was reflected in the completion of development of his game and release it on the applications store, and he is aspiring to reach a publishing company in the field of Hyper Casual after receiving a number of calls from major international game companies", added Mutawa', who recently participated in WN Istanbul Conference with the support of the Funding Window.
Interested individuals or start-ups will be able to apply for financial and technical support for their projects under specific conditions via the link between the period from June 26th until next July 17th.
A specialized technical committee will undertake the task of studying and evaluating the nominated applications and selecting the eligible projects for the review offer after completing sorting and reviewing applications stage, based on the objectives, conditions and criteria contained in the instructions of the Funding Window.
It is worth to mention that the Jordanian Gaming Lab was established by the initiative of His Majesty King Abdullah II in 2011 and specifically designed to meet the needs of developers and companies specialized in designing and programming of digital games, to serve as an incubator for their projects, in addition to supporting the games industry sector which is one of the promising sectors in Jordan; and therefore establishing seven labs equipped with the latest technologies in the Capital governorate, Irbid, Aqaba, Ma'an (AL Hussein Bin Talal University), Zarqa and Karak (Innovation Club and Mu'tah University), as well as a strolling lab through which (26716) direct and indirect opportunities were provided to the beneficiaries from activities and courses that were organized; while the Funding Window, in its first cycle, provided support for the development of 4 digital games.