Flanders Plan to Double Gaming Turnover by 2030
Flanders has unveiled a comprehensive vision document aimed at doubling the turnover of its local gaming sector by 2030. The plan, dubbed “Next Level Vlaanderen,” targets increasing sector revenue from €76.5 million in 2025 to at least €150 million by 2030, according to VRT NWS.
Flemish Minister of Media Cieltje Van Achter (N-VA) presented the strategy at Gamescom in Cologne, the world’s largest gaming trade fair, alongside Flemish Minister-President Matthias Diependaele. “With renowned game education programs and talent, the Flemish gaming sector has proven its potential. Now it’s time to play at a higher level,” Van Achter said.
A Sector at a Crossroads
The announcement comes as the Flemish gaming industry celebrates record figures while facing structural challenges. According to FLEGA, the Flemish Games Association, the sector achieved a record turnover of €76.5 million in 2025, up from €70 million in 2024 and approximately €59 million in 2023. The number of active game companies grew to 145 studios, an increase of over 13 percent year-on-year, employing 728 full-time equivalents.
Yet behind these figures lies a harsh economic reality. FLEGA General Manager Natascha Rommens warned that the sector is hitting its limits due to a “chronic lack of capital” and significantly rising costs. “Our studios struggle to break through internationally,” she said. “We have proven that we have world-class talent and make beautiful games, but as always in our sector, we must reinvent ourselves and exceed the limits of our current way of working.”
With 145 companies and 728 full-time workers, the average game studio in Flanders counts only about five employees. Average productivity has remained stagnant for three years at approximately €100,000-105,000 in turnover per full-time equivalent, as Business AM reported.
Four Strategic Pillars
The “Next Level Vlaanderen” vision document outlines four strategic pillars designed to address these challenges, as detailed on Minister Van Achter’s website:
1. Stimulating investments in game development: Better alignment of existing instruments such as the VAF/Gamefonds, Tax Shelter, VLAIO, PMV, and European programs, with a roundtable between industry and potential investors to bring private capital into the sector.
2. Stimulating entrepreneurship: A new game and media incubator, plus a central game counter (gameloket) to guide companies through financing, talent development, promotion, and targeted coaching.
3. Stimulating innovation and cross-sectoral collaboration: Partnerships between game companies, knowledge institutions, and other sectors to accelerate AI, XR, and realtime 3D applications in education, healthcare, industry, and media.
4. International visibility: Joint promotion, participation in international trade fairs and economic missions, and attracting foreign companies to establish game studios in Flanders.
“We’re going for better access to investments, more support for entrepreneurship, extra innovation, and a stronger international positioning of our gaming sector,” Van Achter summarized.
Building on a Policy Foundation
The new vision builds on earlier policy initiatives. In 2022, Flanders launched the “Level Up” vision note, and in September 2025, Minister Van Achter announced plans for an ambitious game policy for 2026-2030 based on the IDEA Consult study, as documented on her website. The sector has grown from 90 companies in 2022 to 145 in 2025, a trajectory that has drawn international attention.
This growth occurred against a backdrop of global industry turmoil, with over 35,000 people losing their jobs in the worldwide gaming sector since 2022 due to restructuring and cost-cutting, as VRT NWS previously reported.
A Critical Juncture
FLEGA’s Rommens emphasized that the focus should not necessarily be on more startups but on more robust studios. The sector’s challenges include a persistent financing gap at the follow-up stage, administrative ambiguities in the federal Tax Shelter scheme, and high labor costs that make scaling difficult.
The vision document’s emphasis on private capital and entrepreneurship reflects a recognition that government subsidies alone cannot sustain the sector’s ambitions. As VRT NWS reported last year, industry voices have questioned whether existing subsidy levels are sufficient, with Ubisoft sound designer Jef Aerts calling the €400,000 VAF maximum “really peanuts” compared to global industry budgets.
What to Watch For
With Gamescom 2026 running from August 26-30, the Flemish delegation is presenting the new strategy to international partners, investors, and policymakers. Key indicators to monitor include whether the roundtable discussions translate into concrete private investment commitments, how quickly the central game counter and incubator become operational, and whether the sector can sustain its growth trajectory toward the €150 million target.
For Flanders, the stakes are clear: building not only games that are played worldwide, but companies that make a difference worldwide. As Van Achter put it, “This way, Flanders builds not only games that are played worldwide, but also companies that make a difference worldwide.”