A number of 22 titles developed in Romania were published in 2020, among which “Watch Dogs: Legion” and “FIFA2021” from the local offices of Ubisoft and Electronic Arts. Independent studios stood out with several internationally known games: “Door Kickers 2: Task Force North” (KillHouse Games), “Zombieland: AFK Survival” (Metagame) and “Football Rivals” (Green Horse Games).
The local industry did not suffer the effects of the pandemic and even saw a concentrated interest from abroad in 2020 and the first half of 2021, RGDA officials said. GreenHouse Games studio was acquired by Miniclip, Whyttest by Testronic Group and AMC Romania by Keywords Studios. Moreover, international companies opened studios in Romania (Funcom, Kolibri Games, Wolcen and Ten Square Games).
“In 2020 and 2021, we’ve seen the biggest number of international companies opening a presence in Romania in over 15 years – this is proof of both the continued accelerated growth of the games industry and of the maturity of the local game development sector. We will remain committed to our mission of building a stronger and successful video games ecosystem in Romania,” said Catalin Butnariu, RGDA president.
Bucharest is home to 52% of the Romanian studios, while 15% are in Cluj-Napoca, 5% in Iasi, 5% in Timisoara and 3% in Brasov. The remaining 20% of the studios operate in small cities like Botosani, Targu Mures, Alexandria, Braila, Arad and Tulcea, RDGA said.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)