Game Development Winter Camp Commenced in Bilişim Vadisi
A great deal of interest was shown in the camps organized by Bilişim Vadisi DIGIAGE, the Digital Animation and Game Center, for entrepreneurs interested in game development. On January 23, 165 entrepreneurs from 32 provinces participated in the OG’22 DIGIAGE Winter Camp, which began with 20 teams. Out of 1,500 applications, a selection was made for the camps, which drew in excess of physically present 200 campers in addition to the organization and mentor teams.
In addition to physical participation, more than 900 people participated in the camp online, and Türkiye’s game development ecosystem will benefit on a national and international scale. The camp intensively going on in the Bilişim Vadisi will conclude on January 29 when digital games are presented to investors and supporters.
GATHERED UNDER A SINGLE ROOF
Bilişim Vadisi, which brings together all the components of the game development ecosystem, organizes the DIGIAGE Game Camp to bring together game developers, software developers, and designers under one roof. Game developers who have the opportunity to receive assistance from academicians and prominent industry representatives who participate in the camp via digital platforms are permitted to present any games that they have already begun to develop.
HUMAN RESOURCES
Bilişim Vadisi DIGIAGE Director Emre Yıldız stated that the camp focused on human resources, investment processes, commercialization, and marketing, and added, “Our center helps to create a road map for the future of the industry by hosting such events. It lays the groundwork for maximizing public-private support for education, team building, investment, and commercialization of games within the ecosystem.”
ACCESS TO TEHCNOLOGY
Emphasizing the importance they place on readily available training in this field, Yıldız said, “Game Start-Up Accounting, Game Start-Up Law, Access to Finance, and Game Start-Up Incentives are our primary focuses.” With the incubation center, we have established in the Bilişim Vadisi, we intend to eliminate the problem of access to technology by providing both office space and computer labs.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR EVERYONE
Noting that the Bilişim Vadisi Venture Capital Investment Fund will also invest in-game entrepreneurs, Yıldız stated, “We are reaching out to all Turkish game developers. We have also issued a call to all game and mobile application companies that have developed their games, are profitable and have global expansion potential. This is the Bilişim Vadisi of Türkiye, where everyone has opportunities.”
SINCE 2019
Since 2019, Bilişim Vadisi has been organizing game development camps in order to correct positioning of Türkiye’s in the world’s rapidly growing digital game field, for young people developing in this field to find an interlocutor at the will of the state, and for determining the development processes suitable for the needs of the sector Türkiye to get the share it deserves from the game economy, which has reached a value of hundreds of billions of dollars. In the Future with Games camps held in conjunction with the Digital Turkish Games Platform DiTOP, numerous firsts were accomplished for Türkiye. In camps that bring together the film, animation, and video game industries, tens of thousands of young university students have decided to pursue careers in digital content creation and began to produce for the creative cultural industries.
MORE THAN 10 THOUSAND YOUNG PEOPLE PARTICIPATED
The process, which began with game development camps, resulted in the establishment of the DIGIAGE brand with the assistance of the Ministry of Industry and Technology. Hundreds of young people were given the opportunity to find employment in the industry thanks to these camps, and the ecosystem gained new players with the establishment of new game studios. So far, more than ten thousand young people have participated in five camps so far. Thanks to the camps, over fifty studios were established.