The European Game Developers Federation (EGDF), which represents over 2,500 game studios, has published an appeal due to the change in US policy towards Ukraine. It emphasizes that the EU should add the gaming industry to its sphere of support for Ukrainians.
The European Game Developers Federation (EGDF), which represents over 2,500 game studios, has published an appeal due to the change in US policy towards Ukraine. It emphasizes that the EU should add the gaming industry to its sphere of support for Ukrainians.
«Currently, the US is withdrawing support for both the Ukrainian military and civil society», — the statement on the EGDF website reads.
It states that EGDF has supported and facilitated several project initiatives over the years aimed at supporting the Ukrainian gaming industry and cultural and creative sectors. One such project was Ctrl+Alt+Disinfo from Global Game Jam. It aimed to support the creation of games that promote media literacy and the fight against propaganda and disinformation.
The project involved over 2,000 game developers from 27 countries. On March 4, 2025, Global Game Jam announced that it would be discontinued due to the decision of the US State Department to cancel funding for the project.
The European Game Developers Federation (EGDF) brings together 24 national industry associations representing game development studios from 22 European countries. Through its members, the EGDF represents over 2,500 game development studios, the majority of which are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) employing over 45,000 people.
«EGDF is an association that lobbies directly in Brussels to politicians on regulatory issues for the gaming industry. We support the existence of subsidy programs, both at the level of individual countries and at the level of the whole of Europe, so that developers can receive financial support,» said Hendrik Lesser (CEO of Remote Control Productions and Chimera Entertainment and an active member of EGDF) in a recent interview with the YouTube channel «Session».
The Federation’s statement emphasizes that the EU should strengthen support for the Ukrainian game development community.
«Until the war is over, the Ukrainian government’s primary focus will rightly be on protecting Ukraine’s sovereignty from Russian forces and ensuring the security of its citizens. Therefore, in addition to continuing and increasing EU support for the Ukrainian military, EPSU calls for increased European support for local civil society and industry groups inside Ukraine,» says Jari-Pekka Kaleva, Managing Director of EGDF.
He said the EU should «clearly include the gaming industry in the scope of its support for Ukraine.» He added that the Ukrainian gaming industry needs a «considered and sensible development strategy» for the coming years, which will ensure coordination of local, national and international initiatives to support the industry.
«EGDF calls on the European Commission and EU member states to keep their borders open to international talent, including Ukrainian gaming talent residing in the US. The more difficult and risky it becomes to travel and work in the US, the more opportunities there are for the EU to become the most attractive hub for gaming talent and a leading location for gaming industry events,» the Federation noted in a statement.
According to Hendrik Lesser, EGDF sets an example of values that game developers could adhere to.
«Take Ukraine for example. On the day of the [Russian] invasion of Ukraine, EGDF released a statement in which we showed support and told all developers to be open. We were even very specific — we advised not just to hire Ukrainians, but also ways to cooperate with Ukrainian companies, because if you just hire workers, you can destroy the video game industry in Ukraine,» Lesser believes.
Recall that he is also the founder of the Lesser Evil publishing house, which released the game about Ukrainian military drone operators Death From Above from the Finnish studio Rockodile. In 2023, dev.ua contacted Hendrik and talked about the war in Ukraine and propaganda in games.
