Hong Kong Digital Entertainment Association: The 3rd Hong Kong Game Enhancement and Promotion Scheme's Kick-off Ceremony

Announcement of 12 Selected Local Game Start-ups and Sharing of Experience by Different Stakeholders

HONG KONG, Sept. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Organized by The Hong Kong Digital Entertainment Association (HKDEA) and supported by Create Hong Kong (CreateHK) of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region as the lead sponsor, the "Hong Kong Game Enhancement and Promotion Scheme" (GEPS) have earned high popularity and remarkable results in past two editions by successfully assisted the selected local game start-ups to optimize and promote their designated original games. Under CreateHK's sponsorship again, the HKDEA organizes the 3rd GEPS this year to support another batch of 12 local game start-ups with a view to further enhancing the competitiveness of Hong Kong game industry.

The HKDEA held a Kick-off Ceremony for the 3rd GEPS on 19th August 2022. Ms. Jersey YUEN, Assistant Head of CreateHK was the officiating guest and she was joined by Mr. Gabriel PANG, Chairman of The HKDEA and other guests to host a ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially kick off the 3rd GEPS. On the occasion, upon announcing the list of 12 local game start-ups that are selected to participate in the 3^rd GEPS, representatives of each of these selected game start-ups also presented their dedicated games to be supported to the attending mentors and practitioners from local game industry. Some of the past and current interns and past companies benefitted from the GEPS also shared their experiences.

Ms. Jersey YUEN, Assistant Head of CreateHK, expressed her gratitude to The HKDEA for organizing the GEPS again and wished the 12 designated games being supported by the 3rd GPES would have a great success with countless business opportunities in both local and international markets.

Mr. Gabriel PANG, Chairman of The HKDEA, said at the Kick-off Ceremony, "Starting a business could be easy but building and maintaining it is not. Game design involves illustration designs, programming and others and hence it requires a great deal of resources and technology for creating a popular game among players. The HKDEA is very grateful for the continuous support from CreateHK on sponsoring the GEPS, which has been providing pragmatic supports to the selected game start-ups to ease their financial and promotion burdens. We look forward to seeing that the 12 selected game start-ups can sustain the enthusiasm on game development so as to bring Hong Kong's game industry up to another level."

In the 3rd GEPS, each of the selected game start-up will receive holistic support as listed below to enhance the quality and profitability of its dedicated game:

1. A marketing subsidy of HK$450,000 to HK$550,000 to promote its dedicated game on a reimbursement basis;
2. Free guidance from industry experts to enrich its knowledge in company operation and game promotion;
3. A series of free trainings on marketing, game testing and fund-raising to improve its dedicated games;
4. Two interns from relevant institutes, who are assigned to work in each selected game start-up for two months to help the company in conducting thorough test of and enhancing its dedicated game prior to the release of the game to the market, with the interns' salaries fully covered by the GEPS;
5. Free promotion (e.g., on newspaper, internet, digital media platform, website, and through kick-off ceremony, seminar, etc.) under the GEPS to maximize public exposure of the selected game start-ups and their dedicated games.

In addition to the above support, The HKDEA has set up a Hong Kong Pavilion at Tokyo Game Show 2022 held from 15th to 18th September 2022, to promote the 12 selected local game start-ups of the 3rd GEPS and their dedicated games. The selected game start-ups were subsidized to participate in the Tokyo Game Show 2022 in Japan, covering their booths' rental and production fee as well as most of the expenses incurred by two staff members of each company including air tickets and hotel accommodation for them to attend the show in person and meet with potential business partners from all over the world.

The 3rd GEPS supports local game start-ups that have been established for no more than eight years and employ no more than 20 full-time employees to help each of them improve the quality and profitability of a designated original game that has never been commercially released in any market. The genres of the 12 dedicated games being supported by the 3rd GEPS range from role-playing, action, music, casual, shooting to puzzle adventure.

More details of the 3rd GEPS and the 12 selected game start-ups and their dedicated games are available at: https://www.geps.hk.

Selected Game Start-ups Participating in the 3rd GEPS (in alphabetical order of the company names)

About Hong Kong Digital Entertainment Association (HKDEA)

Established in 1999, The HKDEA is a non-profit organization aiming to promote digital entertainment development in Hong Kong. Its mission points toward the achievement of the following goals - boosting prosperity of the digital entertainment industry by fostering cooperation among local developers; opening up and development of digital market; enhancement of local technology so as to raise the competitiveness of Hong Kong production; promoting communication between digital entertainment industry and related ones such as toys, entertainment and visual games; building a favourable idea for digital entertainment; and protection of intellectual property rights and scrapping counterfeit products. HKDEA's website: www.hkdea.org

About Create Hong Kong

Create Hong Kong (CreateHK) is a dedicated office set up by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in June 2009 to spearhead the development of creative industries in Hong Kong. From 1 July 2022 onwards, it is under the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau. Its strategic foci are nurturing talent and facilitating start-ups, exploring markets, and promoting Hong Kong as Asia's creative capital and fostering a creative atmosphere in the community. CreateHK has been sponsoring The HKDEA in organizing different projects including the three consecutive editions of the Hong Kong Game Enhancement and Promotion Scheme to facilitate the development of Hong Kong' digital entertainment industry.

CreateHK's website: www.createhk.gov.hk