European devs split nearly $4M in grants from Creative Europe

31 developers across Europe were recently awarded roughly $3.9 million (€3.4 million) in financial grants from Creative Europe, a program launched by the European Union last year to promote European culture and develop Europe's creative industries -- including game development.

This is a relatively new source of potential funding that just about any European developer can qualify for (Creative Europe specifically looks for projects that have a "strong narrative component") and the latest crop of winners spans the gamut from large teams to indie outfits. 

CD Projekt Red netted ~$172,000 to develop an expansion pack for The Witcher 3, for example, while Schrödinger's Cat and the Raiders of the Lost Quark developer Italic Pig was awarded ~$140,000 to fund development of a new game called Mona Lisa.

"In a world where match-3s, endless-runners and open-world shmups are saturating the market, it’s so great to know that there’s an organization out there that still believes in the importance of a good story,” Italic Pig director Kevin Beimers stated in a press release published by Creative Europe.

While European indie Jonaton Van Hove recently told Gamasutra that Creative Europe is a good example of the sort of institutionalized financial support for game development that sets Europe apart from other regions, Italian indie Federico Fasce has also previously blogged about some of Creative Europe's specific shortcomings vis a vis video game development.

Developers interested in applying for funding through the program, you can find more details and application guidelines over on the Creative Europe website.