Spain Will Provide 8 Million Euros in Grants to Develop Video Game and Metaverse Experiences – Video games and metaverse experiences are starting to be considered in the cultural plans of some key states around the world. The Spanish Ministry of Culture has chosen to invest 8 million euros ($8.51 million) towards the creation of video games and metaverse experiences, recognizing the importance of these sectors to the country.
The program, which is presently in its second wave, raised the funding by 700% as compared to its first wave, when only a little more than 1 million euros were earmarked to assist enterprises in the sector. However, only 25 projects were chosen to receive this funding at the time.
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The funds, which will be given by the European Union, will be distributed to enterprises in the industry as part of the “Recovery, Transformation, and Resilience Plan,” which aims to digitize and modernize all parts of the Spanish economy. Other countries, such as Korea, have already directed funds to the metaverse.
According to Spain’s Minister of Culture, Miquel Iceta, the video game sector has a significant role to play in the development of the Spanish productive model. About these grants, Iceta stated they “will contribute to promoting the projects of our SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) and our self-employed workers, thus consolidating the image of Spain as a reference audiovisual hub, also in the videogame sector.”
As part of this commitment, video games will now be regarded as cultural productions as metaverse experiences. This means that the National Library of Spain will now have to preserve these as Spanish history, and they will be collected to assure future generations’ preservation.
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The immersive experiences sector is prominent in the country, as video games have surpassed movies as the most popular audiovisual entertainment option. This is why Iceta seeks to position Spain to compete with other countries in the business and sell its games to other countries. The Spanish video game market is anticipated to expand 20% per year, reaching 2.3 billion euros ($2.44 billion) in 2024.
