Since 2012 Dutch Game Garden, in collaboration with the Dutch Games Association, keeps track of developments in the Dutch video games industry roughly every three years. By combining extensive desk research and a broad survey within the games industry we capture these developments in the Games Monitor report. The Games Monitor has 3 editions so far, looking into the state of the industry for the years 2012, 2015, and 2018. If we follow this pattern a new Games Monitor is due in the first half of 2022 presenting the numbers for 2021. The year 2020 however, has had such an enormous impact on everybody that we felt the urge to present a short update on the Games Monitor report and provide insights on the impact the COVID-19 crisis has had. We sincerely thank everybody who has contributed to this update! And we are looking forward to having continued conversations and discussions about the growth and development of the Dutch Games Industry. For this overview we have used the same criteria for the games industry as in the earlier Games Monitor reports, for a full explanation we refer to chapter 7 of the Games Monitor 2018 (pages 48-51 of the full report) 1. We have updated our database according to these criteria and based on a limited survey we can give indications on the development of the turnover and the number of people employed in the Dutch games industry. In the next monitor, we will provide a more detailed analysis. At the end of November 2020, we sent out a survey to around 500 people. A little over 100 respondents filled in the survey. COVER IMAGE The Falconeer by Tomas Sala

urnover and the number of people employed in the Dutch games industry. In the next monitor, we will provide a more detailed analysis. At the end of November 2020, we sent out a survey to around 500 people. A little over 100 respondents filled in the survey. COVER IMAGE The Falconeer by Tomas Sala PARTNERS BACKCOVER IMAGE Blightbound NERS by Ronimo Games All rights reserved

GAMES MONITOR UPDATE 2020 NUMBER OF GAME COMPANIES The number of game companies in the Netherlands has risen from 575 in 2018 to 615 by the end of 2020. This growth mainly took place in the number of solo developers and/ or freelancers. Compared to the 2018 edition 88 companies were discarded from the list of active game companies. Some of these companies ended their registration at the Chamber of Commerce, some of them merged into a larger company and several companies still have a Chamber of Commerce registration but are not actively engaged in the company anymore (for example no social media activity for more than a year, website down and/or the employees and founders are all working elsewhere). In the past 2 years, 6 companies filed for bankruptcy. 3 companies out of these 6 made a new start in another entity, for the other 3 procedures haven’t been concluded yet. Another 10 companies shifted their focus and are not active in games anymore or games are just a small part of eor games their portfolio. LOCATION In the past two years, a lot of companies changed their company address. We counted more than 110 new addresses in our database (not counting the new companies), meaning that more than 20% of the existing companies relocated! Most of these new offices were found within the original city of business. In terms of the number of companies, Amsterdam and Utrecht are the cities with the most companies. Together these two cities house about one-third of the Dutch game companies. Rotterdam, Groningen, The Hague, and Eindhoven also house more than 20 companies each.

ithin the original city of business. In terms of the number of companies, Amsterdam and Utrecht are the cities with the most companies. Together these two cities house about one-third of the Dutch game companies. Rotterdam, Groningen, The Hague, and Eindhoven also house more than 20 companies each. In terms of employees, Amsterdam remains the most important hub, housing some of the country’s largest game companies. Paladin Studios Good Job! KL 1https://www.dutchgamegarden.nl/project/games-monitor/

COVID IMPACT The COVID-pandemic obviously had its impact on the Dutch games industry in 2020. As in all sectors of the economy, companies had to deal with working from home and with the fact that all physical events were canceled since March. We asked companies how these circumstances impacted their company and their work. WORKING REMOTELY 85% of the respondents of our survey answered that they work remotely more than before the pandemic. The other 15% were mostly freelancers or small companies who were already used to working remotely. Working from home was a straightforward transition for most, as game company infrastructure generally, already has been set up to work in a digital environment. We’ve asked the respondents if the increase in remote working impacted their productivity, creativity, stress levels, quality of work, and employee involvement. Working remotely had little impact on the quality of work, about 75% of respondents stated that the impact was neutral. Not surprisingly the largest impact of working remotely was experienced in employee engagement. Despite efforts of employers in organizing digital drinks, presents sent to employee’s homes etc. employee engagement was lower

lity of work, about 75% of respondents stated that the impact was neutral. Not surprisingly the largest impact of working remotely was experienced in employee engagement. Despite efforts of employers in organizing digital drinks, presents sent to employee’s homes etc. employee engagement was lower for more than half of the companies. For instance, the informal work culture was more difficult to maintain and people missed the casual talks during coffee or lunch breaks. Stress levels were higher for almost half of the respondents. The impact on creativity showed a more diverse picture. Overall, 43% experienced lower creativity. But for applied game companies this was 80%. In general, applied game companies make several games for clients each year, meaning they have to go through the cycle of coming up with new ideas several times per year. Many entertainment companies work on one game for a longer period. Therefore, the effect on creativity varies depending on the development phase of the game they are working on. The effect on productivity was mixed as well. For about a third of the companies, productivity was lower, for more than 40% the effect was neutral, and for almost a quarter of the companies, productivity was higher. Within companies, employers saw a difference between more extroverted and introverted people, where the latter category adjusted easier to working from home or even thrived. And of course, the home situation (children at home or not, having ample space or not) had a huge effect on individual employees.