The advent of the video game industry in wallonia
Today, gaming is the world’s leading cultural industry, with its varied offerings ranging from entertainment and creating social links to education and therapeutic uses. It's moving out of living rooms and into schools and nursing homes, and helping support disabled and autistic individuals. It has also become widespread on social media and even TV shows. In Wallonia, gaming studios such as Art & Magic and Appeal signalled the beginnings of the industry in the 90s. Despite these success stories, the Walloon gaming scene was still in its infancy, driven by a handful of enthusiasts, often labouring in the shadow of international giants. “Belgian gaming studios couldn't hold their own against this intense international competition, and that led to a major brain drain from the sector”, says Bruno Urbain, founder of one of Wallonia’s pioneering studios, Fishing Cactus. It was only in the 2010s that the industry really began to come into its own structurally and professionally.
Crucial structural support by walga, wallimage, and tax shelter
As part of its Digital Wallonia strategy, the Agence du Numérique (AdN) launched two institutional initiatives, with a view to supporting existing and upcoming projects, making them viable and capable of getting others involved and collaborating. Pascal Balancier, a Senior Expert at AdN, says the aim here is "not only to bolster existing skills, but also introduce new ones, such as marketing, communication, and general entrepreneurship.” Since 2011, then, the Wallonia Game Association (Walga) has been encouraging collaboration and the sharing of experience between Walloon players and foreign publishers. And alongside that, since 2013, the Wallimage initiative has worked to offer financial support to the sector, in the form of financing mechanisms for businesses, through loans and equity investments.
Nevertheless, it took Walga and Wallimage Gaming a few years to secure the public funding they needed. Both have been fully operational only since late 2021, and with promising results. “Thanks to a government subsidy of 4 million euros, combined with our own investment in gaming studios, we’ve supported 33 projects developed by 25 companies, and 90% of these have been our own creations”, says Sophie Augurelle, who heads up the Gaming department at Wallimage. “This has helped us create a gaming ecosystem in which studios work together and specialise in certain skill sets.” Pascal adds: “The number of gaming studios has doubled, and around 20 more have been set up this year.”
This ecosystem has been further boosted by Tax Shelter, a fiscal mechanism backed by the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles (FWB) and the Service Public Fédéral Finances. Having already proven its worth in the film industry, this mechanism was adapted for the gaming sector in 2023. It combines the private financing of projects with fiscal advantages for investors. It has got off to a modest start, not only because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but also because “most of the projects are run by young people who are not yet familiar with the mechanism”, says Gracia Naranjo, Head of FWB’s Tax Shelter for Gaming programme, “while others are apprehensive about applying, for fear of the risks.”
Training as a key response to the challenges facing walloon gaming
Training is playing a crucial role in the professionalisation of the Walloon gaming industry, starting with the region’s renowned institutions, whose increasingly specialised, world-renowned courses are attracting a growing number of students. In 2022, the well-known Haute Ecole Albert Jacquard, in Namur, introduced a master’s in video gaming, which was an instant hit.
“From 100 students in 2022, we have gone to 600”, says Christophe Laduron, who co-created the programme, and who is also a member of the board at Walga. These students, he says, are future market players “who have picked up cutting-edge skills in the field and in entrepreneurship.” Christophe is well acquainted with the challenges facing the gaming industry: he is also the founder, with four colleagues, of Polygon Valley, an independent game-development studio. That also means he can hire his students when they graduate, “thanks to a successful Wallimage call for projects, which will al It seems that all the ingredients needed to make the Walloon gaming sector a success are there: public and private funding, an ever-growing number of projects, a wealth of talent, and cutting-edge training. Sophie Augurelle points out that it is “too soon to draw precise conclusions from the support that has been put in place”, even though the industry appears to be on the right track. This year, it will still have to tough it out in a market that has yet to get over the effects of the pandemic. And it is already looking to the future, as the sector continues to consolidate. As Virginie Nouvelle, General Manager of Wallimage, puts it, “We must promote our skills abroad, and showcase Wallonia's dynamism. That is our 10-year vision.” The gaming ecosystem needs to be complemented by policies supporting exports, “with, for instance, the beginning of co-productions, which are currently in development and which we support”, adds Sophie.
While the gaming industry’s competencies need to keep pace with technological developments (virtual reality, AI, blockchain, and so on), they can also be combined with those in other sectors, making for opportunities for economic development and job creation.