The world video game market has reached a size of $250 billion by 2023. This sector, which is expected to grow further in the coming years, is of vital importance for many countries. Turkiye has also made serious strides, especially in the last 5 years, to strengthen its place in this market. Many incubation centers and investment funds focused on the gaming industry. One of the most important of these centers stands out as DIGIAGE, which is located in the Informatics Valley and completed its incorporation studies as the spin-off company of the Informatics Valley in January 2023.
Digital Game and Animation Cluster Center DIGIAGE, which started its activities under the umbrella of Bilisim Vadisi in 2019, has opened the doors of the game industry to thousands of young people in the 8 game development camps it has organized so far. DIGIAGE received an investment of $500 thousand from APY Ventures Bilisim Vadisi GSYF.
“DIGIAGE set out to become Turkiye’s largest gaming ecosystem”
Providing information about the current state of the gaming industry in Turkiye and the work done by DIGIAGE, Bilisim Vadisi General Manager Erkam Tuzgen said, “The gaming industry has become a strategic area for the whole world. Based on this awareness, we are working to realize our claim of building Turkiye’s largest gaming ecosystem. In our journey that started in 2019, we touched the lives of thousands of young people with the support of our Ministry of Industry and Technology and enabled them to take their place in the gaming industry.”
DIGIAGE will make early-stage investments with the investment it received from APY Ventures
It offers all support regarding accounting, law, finance and entrepreneurship to young people who want to establish a gaming company. It not only provides training but also provides solutions for many of their physical needs, especially their offices. With the investment it received from APY Ventures, it will be making early stage investments, especially in the teams participating in DIGIAGE camps and programs. DIGIAGE, which believes that the companies established thanks to investments will become unicorns with a valuation of billions of dollars tomorrow, will announce the early stage investments it has made in the coming days.
Stating that they will create added value for hundreds of early stage game studios with their investment in DIGIAGE, APY Ventures Fund Manager Mustafa Keceli said, “Turkiye continues to raise global players who make a difference in the gaming vertical. We continue to evaluate opportunities in this field and invest in initiatives that will achieve global success. We are very excited for the teams that we believe will develop many successful games in the future.”
“We trained thousands of game developers in 8 game development camps”
Providing details about the game camps they organize, DIGIAGE Director Emre Yildiz said, “More than 18 thousand applications were made from 71 different cities and 30 different countries for the game development camps, which started with the Future with Games teams in 2019 and are held regularly every year. 3200 young people online and 1440 physically attended these camps and experienced game development processes. He concluded his words by saying, “As a result of DIGIAGE Game Development Camps, young people go through a multidisciplinary training process with 80 mentors and 50 trainers who are experts in their fields, including coding, scenario, design and sound. Anyone between the ages of 18-30 who wants to enter the gaming industry can apply for DIGIAGE programs via the website.
Source: Egirisim / Prepared by Irem Yildiz