2025/12/11
Budapest, 11 December 2025 – Creative Hungary (formerly the Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency) is launching a dedicated incubation programme for Hungarian digital game industry enterprises with a total budget of HUF 90 million. The programme supports participants throughout the entire innovation process, providing funding for domestic startups, game development companies, and educational institutions with development experience or a new game concept to create and launch a game on global platforms such as Steam, the Apple Store, and Google Play. Hungarian game developers can apply for funding between HUF 5 million and 15 million until 31 January 2026.
From 1 December, the Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency has been operating under the name Creative Hungary (CH), reflecting its expanded responsibilities since the beginning of 2025, which now extend, in addition to fashion and the textile industry, furniture manufacturing and product design, to offline and online game design, and the beauty and personal care industries. Creative Hungary thus continues its professional coordination tasks as an organisation supporting the strategic development of the entire Hungarian creative industry, strengthening the accessibility and export capacity of domestic products.
The launch of Game LAB, the new incubation programme targeting the digital gaming industry, is built on the Agency’s earlier comprehensive research mapping the current state of the sector and consultations with industry stakeholders. Feedback from businesses clearly showed that the Hungarian creative industry has a strong need for incubation programmes that support the entire development process and facilitate market entry.
The Game LAB is one of CH’s first calls specifically targeting the Hungarian digital gaming industry. The programme aims to support the development of new, commercially publishable online games — in early access or demo format — that will appear on the world’s leading gaming platforms and enable applicants to enter the market. Accordingly, Game LAB covers the entire innovation pathway of game development, accompanying creators from concept development through beta testing, all the way to publication and preparation for market launch. In addition, CH will provide winning applicants with professional mentoring from experts with global competitive market experience in branding, communication, and comprehensive business strategy, as well as support for market entry.
“Hungary’s Competitiveness Strategy 2024–2030 treats the creative industry as a priority sector, within which gaming is one of the most dynamically developing areas. It plays a key role both in the digital economy and cultural value creation, as software and video game development encompass technological innovation and cultural content production. Our support strategy focuses on strengthening domestic stability, increasing competitiveness, and encouraging the export activity of industry players,” emphasised Zsófia Jakab, Ministerial Commissioner for Creative Industry Development and Sectoral Coordination, and CEO of Creative Hungary. She added, “Although Hungary has a significant digital game industry manufacturing base, many domestically developed games ultimately do not reach the market as Hungarian products. Our goal is to support the creation of online games that generate domestic value at every stage of their development. These projects not only strengthen the domestic and international visibility and expansion of Hungarian game industry actors but also contribute to the overall performance and growth of the Hungarian creative industry.”
The programme is open to Hungarian companies engaged in software and video game development that offer export-ready gaming industry products or services. Applications are welcome from VR/AR, mobile, and video game development studios; publishers; independent developers; graphic and animation companies; game engine developers; content production; streaming and cloud gaming service providers; and gaming hardware manufacturers.
Within the framework of the call, developers may freely use the available funding for all activities required to create a playable prototype and final demo version — including level design, character modelling, coding, testing, and the documentation of these processes. A portion of the grant may also be allocated to preparing the market launch, such as participation in professional exhibitions, trade fairs, and innovation showcases, as well as marketing activities, acquisitions, and the development of game technology solutions.
Participants have the opportunity to develop a release-ready game by the end of 2026. They have 3 years to enter the market.
The Game LAB fits into Creative Hungary’s portfolio of complex, structured incubation programmes that provide support from concept development and prototype creation through further development, all the way to the market introduction of finished products. This includes the Creative LAB programme launched in November, with a budget of HUF 220 million, which supports the creation and market entry of serial-production-ready, competitive design, fashion, beauty industry and formulation-based products jointly developed by domestic distributors and creative professionals.
Deadline for submissions is 31 January 2026. You can find the details on Creative Hungary’s website, chungary.com.
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Creative Hungary
Creative Hungary was founded in 2018 under the name Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency to support every actor in the fashion and design industries in an efficient and structured way, following predetermined strategic pillars: professional coordination, enhancing Hungarian brands’ availability and trade opportunities, educational development and manufacturing development. In line with global trends, the boundaries between individual creative industries have expanded in recent years, with collaborations between different fields playing an increasingly important role. As a reaction to industry and technological changes, the Organisation’s scope of activities expanded in 2025. Today, Creative Hungary is the highest-level coordinating organisation of the Hungarian creative industry, including the fashion and textile industries, furniture manufacturing and product design, offline and online game design, and the beauty and personal care industries. Its primary tasks include strategic cooperation with professional partners, increasing exports, and supporting Hungarian brands’ professional development through mentorship programmes. It organises the region’s major fashion event, the Budapest Central European Fashion Week, Budapest Design Week, and the 360 Design Budapest exhibition, which has received international awards. Besides, it provides Hungarian creators opportunities for participation and debuting at international professional events such as the Milano Fashion Week and the Maison & Objet design fair.
© Creative Hungary. 2026. Minden jog fenntartva.
