Day: 14 April 2020

Support us here (in Finnish): bit.ly/Save-DGC-Korona-Aid-Fin
Support us here (in English): bit.ly/Save-DGC-Korona-Aid-Eng

The Digi & Game Center (DGC) did what many in the digital and gaming industries are dreaming about. It brought together digital and gaming companies, part of game development education, the eSports training space called Game Pit, and the VR / AR / XR studio under one roof. DGC also provided office space for 16 companies at an affordable rent, which includes e.g., free use of meeting rooms. Also, Jyväskylä University of Applied Sciences (JAMK) has leased the other half of the office space for a game development project called Demo Lab.

Check out what it looks like inside DGC in 360 view here!

There is no similar ecosystem in Finland, where the aim is to increase the turnover of all companies through cooperation. In addition to this, DGC brings visibility to gaming and digital companies both in Central Finland, nationally, and internationally. This may sound pompous, but this community has been in development for seven years, so we are to be proud of it. One of the long-term goals of the gaming cooperative Expa was to build just such a community and premises. This goal was officially achieved with the opening of the DGC on 1.1.2020. The DGC was announced last July during the Business Rally Week organized by the City of Jyväskylä during Neste Rally Finland. Within a week, 80% of the offices had been booked, and by the end of the year, 100% had been reached.

Now the coronavirus has had a significant impact on Digi & Game Center’s revenue streams. To cover DGC’s expenses, various partner packages are sold, and premises are leased to companies, communities, and multiple events. Needless to say, at the moment, all of the above sales are on ice. For this reason, the crowdfunding campaign has been organized for the DGC, which is one way to fund the DGC’s journey that has just begun.

Where does the money from the Mesenaatti campaign go?

An excellent question with a simple answer: the money is used to cover the rental costs incurred by the DGC for the Game Business Co-operative Expa and other expenses such as accounting and salaries. Expa operates the DGC and is responsible for rents for the center’s shared facilities, which will accrue around € 15,000 over three months.

One of DGC’s companies, W1llou Agency, has also been employed in the campaign, and product rewards will be made in Finland. At the same time, we support Finnish companies as well as the buyers of the campaign.

For example, to achieve our minimum goal – € 15,000 – we need

300 buyers of Collect All! product package
OR
120 #XmasJKL ticket buyers
OR
10 buyers of the DGC Loves U visibility package
OR
2 namings of the Stage reward buyers + 2 namings of the meeting rooms

After deducting the taxes and other expenses such as ordering the product rewards, DGC will have € 9,000 left. With this, we can cover about two months of rent.

For example, to achieve our maximum goal – € 50,000 – we need

1000 Collect All! buyers of the product package
OR
34 buyers of the DGC Loves U visibility package
OR
20 buyers of the Gamification and Game Industry lecture
OR
10 buyers of the Collision of Worlds workshop

After deducting the taxes and other expenses such as ordering the product rewards, DGC will have approximately € 25,000 left. With this, we can cover about five months of rent, which already helps a lot.

So we are not talking about a large number of buyers, so the goals are very achievable! There are 25 days left in the campaign. It is shown that there is strength in cooperation, and the Digi & Game Center will be maintained here in Jyväskylä.

Support us here (in Finnish): bit.ly/Save-DGC-Korona-Aid-Fin
Support us here (in English): bit.ly/Save-DGC-Korona-Aid-Eng