REGION FOCUS // NETHERLANDS | BETA GOING DUTCH
Tempted by a move to work in the Netherlands? The nation’s industry is ready for you
A move to the Netherlands is a tempting proposition. The country’s games industry
Cowbeam by Dutch indie Digital Dreams A high number of trade bodies also
bolster the Dutch games sector, including the Dutch Games Association. “The DGA’s mission is to create a healthy
climate for the Dutch games sector,” explains Peter de Jong, CEO and co- founder of developer Codeglue. “It does so, amongst others, by stimulating entrepreneurship and forming an active lobby towards the government and other trade sectors. Like the Dutch games industry, it’s a pretty young organisation, but in the last couple of years it has achieved a lot.” Other’s point to the substantial volume
and robustness of indies in the country as core to the might of the Netherlands. “There are dozens of companies who
know how to make innovative games,” says Derk de Geus of studio and Unity Asset Store content provider Paladin. “They seek each other out for advice and feedback. They are lean and agile, and know how to adapt to changes in the environment. They have street smarts and they are willing and able to take risks.” And it is there that de Geus has hit on a point that almost every Dutch developer agrees with; collaboration and cooperation is something the country’s games industry does especially well, in part due to the nation’s modest landmass.
WORKING TOGETHER “Because of the relatively small size of the Dutch industry there is a lot of cooperation, both in technology and personnel,” says Derk van Wingerden, project manager at trade body Invest Utrecht.“You see this amongst others in the formation of the Dutch Games Association and at events like Indigo and the Festival of Games.” And that devotion to a collaborative
effort extends beyond the boundaries of the games industry, in part due to a cultural habit of establishing media hubs at a rate seen less often in other countries. “As an example, Paladin is located in a redesigned factory in The Hague,” offers de
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Geus. “We share this amazing location with 100-plus creative companies: architects, product designers, web start-ups, games companies. We can learn from these companies and collaborate with them. This is a good foundation for services like serious titles and brand games. There are dozens of locations like this in the Netherlands - no wonder that there is a growing ‘applied games’ community here.”
We’re one big family. There is a
large group of devs and people that come to every event there is.
Thijmen Bink, Digital Dreams
Certainly visitors to events like GDC can see the closeness of the Dutch games community that gathers for such occasions, and despite a friendly rivalry, some confess serves as a fuel for their dedication to games making. Time and again words like ‘family’ are applied to the companies spread from Maastricht to Leeuwarden. “We’re one big family,” confirms Digital
Dreams’ Bink. “There is a large group of devs and related people that come to every little event there is. We are happy to showeach other our prototypes and lovingly share experience, advice and connections.” While Bink admits this is the case in
many other games development hubs, he insists it occurs on a much more regular basis in the Netherlands. A perfect example of such a
collaboration is that shared by indies Codeglue and Sparpweed. “Because there are so many smaller
development studios there’s also a lot of collaboration between them,” says Codeglue’s de Jong, whose studio worked
CLEVER CLOGS
As the Dutch games industry blossoms, games education is having to move fast to keep pace
Dutch educators have been quick to recognise the potential of University courses in games design and development. And as a result, the Netherlands dev hub is reaping the rewards. “The emergence of several high quality educational programs on game design in the last decade has contributed to considerable growth,” offers Martijn van Best, communications manager at trade body Dutch Game Garden. Indeed, a number of alumni
from Dutch educational institutions can count themselves among recent nominees or winners at the IGF awards. These include Super Crate
Box studio Vlambeer, Paper Cakes creator HUSCK and Dinner Date developer Stout Games. And yet such rapid uptake of games courses can be troublesome. Many argue that while art colleges and their contemporaries are targeting games-related courses with ferocious energy, the vital higher technical institutes less readily embracing game-specific courses. “The courses are good, but with hundreds of game designers flooding the job market each year, you can wonder if this is the best approach,” says Maarten de Koning, MD and co-founder of Dutch studio Green Hill.
JULY 2012 | 35
Codeglue’s download hit Rocket Riot
is prospering, its language barrier is offset by a nation of English speakers, and culturally it is famously accepting. What’s more, there’s plenty to help those from outside the country to set up home in its vibrant cities. “There are a lot of expats living and working in The Netherlands and the games industry is no exception to this,” confirms Derk van Wingerden, project manager at trade body Invest Utrecht. “There are special arrangements, like the Knowledge Migrant Ruling, to
make attracting talent from overseas easier.” What’s more, those moving to the Netherlands for work get a 30 per cent tax break to make moving to and living in there easier; a proposition likely to attract many to the country. And for that very reason, studios like Codeglue are perfectly familiar with welcoming new colleagues from far and wide. “Codeglue always had a fair amount of employees and interns from overseas and we’ve never had any complaints about our country. So it must be somewhat OK,” says CEO Peter de Jong, with a dash of tongue-in-cheek humour.
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