Game development rising: Brno boasts international bestsellers as well as a growing business

Gray Zone Warfare is a realistic first-person shooter which soon after its release became a bestseller on the largest videogame marketplace in the world and sold over one million copies in less than a month. What’s the secret to success at Madfinger Games, though? It’s a small yet highly motivated team led by experienced developer Marek Rabas. “Our ambitious plan was to sell a million copies within a month, which we ultimately managed sooner than expected. I breathed a sigh of relief after just the first few days, though, as I had been stressed out about whether people would like the game or totally kill us. Up to that point, players did think of us solely as mobile game developers, but this game clearly showed we could handle the more prestigious videogames as well,” says Rabas.
  Previously known for games such as Dead Trigger, Unkilled, or Shadowgun, this studio sold its mobile game portfolio in 2022 and decided to fully focus on games for computers. Gray Zone Warfare was released after three years in what’s called an early access mode, during which the development of the game continues. “The basic part of the game allowed us to find out whether people like core combat, shooting, and roaming in the jungle. Besides, lots of people like to stay in the game for a long time and be free to do what they want. Hence the small number of rules. Freedom is important for me as well, which is why I keep applying it in our games,” explains Rabas.

The Chinese investors who hold a minor share in the studio let him develop the game as he liked. “A lot of people think a new investor immediately starts to interfere. Mostly, though, they make sure to support you in what you already can do and why they chose you, so they can help you grow and become more successful. And that was our case as well. They helped us research the market and provided feedback on our early version, but the rest was up to our team in Brno,” says Rabas, describing the work of around fifty in-house developers.

Foreign marketing

Ashborne Games studio uses a different business model, though. It was established in 2020 by Petr Kolář as an internal studio of THQ Nordic, an Austrian publisher from the global Embracer Group. Once again, the foreign owner let the developers from Brno get as creative with their first game as they saw fit. “THQ Nordic is an experienced publisher, so they know very well that the creative visions of the developers need to be supported. They helped us make a lot of decisions, mainly through feedback, and helped make Last Train Home a better game,” adds Kolář.
  A war game about a Czechoslovak legion, with the player rating of 87% on Steam, is all but guaranteed to eventually be a return on the investment. Still, the current curve corresponds to the estimates, with hundreds of thousands of copies sold. “Mid-sized as well as bigger studios like us may benefit from their link to global publishers by getting well-targeted marketing on markets abroad. In this world, the game’s success isn’t just about its quality; players need to discover it, which is what THQ Nordic helped with,” adds Kolář.

Czech way

Thanks to various successful games and an active community of over 900 game developers, the Brno region is a frequent point of interest for major foreign companies. The Czech economy doesn’t profit from acquisitions of game developers, though; the main distributor pays taxes in the country of its origin, while the local economy profits exclusively from the daily operations of the studio itself. In South Moravia alone, however, gaming studios reached a turnover of over 2.5 billion CZK last year, which is around one third of the entire Czech game industry. It’s the fastest growing business as well as the biggest cultural export.
  Alda Games reports steady growth as well, with its mobile games downloaded by over 160 million people from all over the world. In 2023, this was a turnover of 150 million CZK which put this meagre 30-member team among the fastest-growing companies from Central Europe, according to the Deloitte Technology Fast 50.

“Our success is a result of ten years of hard work, continuous learning, and adjusting to the market. This is mainly thanks to our talented team who have been tirelessly working on development and innovations. It was very important to learn from our numerous mistakes as well, and to keep improving the quality of our games. All this allows us to bring new experiences to our players,” says Aleš Kříž, CEO at Alda Games.

Just like the source of funding, the size and facilities of the studio can play a major role in the potential success of the games, he says; big studios can afford bigger marketing campaigns, a bigger team of developers as well as better quality data. “Success on the mobile game market often depends on the ability to quickly react to changes, follow trends, and adjust to new conditions. Here, smaller studios are more flexible and innovative, which may allow them to break through even with limited resources,” explains Kříž, proving his words by the 100% Czech studio which continues to conquer the world directly from Brno.