CYGMA has been in dialogue with officials about support measures that would help video game companies grow their business in Cyprus. Our main argument has been the numbers. The Cyprus Video Game Industry Report 2025 counted 415 game companies on the island and set out what other European countries spend on their own game industries. The point was to show the size of the industry here, how other countries already support theirs, and why that support pays back. Game companies that grow in a country hire there, pay taxes there, and bring export revenue into its economy.
The fireside chat in Limassol
Last week, the government side spoke to the same point in public. At the WN Conference Cyprus in Limassol (17–18 September), Deputy Minister of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy Dr Nicodemos Damianou joined a fireside chat on Cyprus as a video game hub. The conversation covered access to investment, the talent pipeline from universities, upcoming EU rules for digital products and access to compute. On games, the Deputy Minister said the government hears the industry and now sees its scale. He also pointed to the first programmes designed with game development in mind. One of them, G3, is tailored for game development studios and is now open for input, together with a talent program, ACT.
G3 – Games Go Global
G3 is a proposed Research and Innovation Foundation (RIF) programme for game development studios based and operating in Cyprus. It has not been approved or launched yet; the programme is expected next year. RIF has opened a market sounding: a questionnaire to test interest and collect input before it sets the programme’s final criteria and format.
The draft parameters:
- Total budget of €120,000, up to €30,000 per studio, four studios
- 50% aid intensity under de minimis rules; the studio covers at least the same amount privately
- Eligible activities: international marketing (including user acquisition, social ads, influencer marketing and PR), localization, publishing readiness (store pages, trailers, key art, press kits) and business development (publisher scouting and pitching, investor outreach)
- Not eligible: salaries, development and programming, hardware, rent, VAT
- RIF pays a lump sum 12 months after signing if the studio reaches at least two of five milestones: a publishing agreement, 10,000 Steam wishlists, €100,000 of export revenue growth, €100,000 of financing raised, or three new jobs
This is the first public program in Cyprus that counts marketing, user acquisition, and localization as eligible costs. And for most game companies, these are the highest costs after development itself.
Since G3 is still a draft, all of this is open to comment. The purpose of the market sounding is to hear from the industry on eligibility, terms and format. Studios are the experts on how game companies work and what they spend on, so every studio’s response counts.
ACT – Accelerate Cyprus Talent
ACT is part of the same market sounding. It is a proposed internship program that would place up to 100 university students (bachelor’s, master’s, and PhD) in Cyprus-based high-growth tech companies for six weeks, between October 2026 and May 2027. The company sets a real project and assigns a supervisor. Each intern receives €1,400; the company covers €700, and the government covers the other half.
ACT is not specific to games. It is open to tech companies in general. If game companies want a place in it, they need to show interest now, while it is being designed. Internships are one of the ways juniors get their first job in games, and the student pool on the island is growing.
Why your response matters
We shared both questionnaires with CYGMA members in our newsletter earlier this month. But this call is for everyone, whether or not your company is a CYGMA member. If you make games in Cyprus, this is your chance to shape how these programs look.
The questionnaire is not binding. According to RIF, responses stay confidential and do not create any obligation to take part in the program. It takes a few minutes.
G3 is small: €120,000 for four studios, and ACT is open to the whole tech sector. Still, these are among the first public programs in Cyprus drafted with game development in mind, and RIF is asking the industry for input before the details are set. There is a lot still to do, but this is a first step, and it depends on responses from the companies it is meant for.
If you make games in Cyprus, fill in the questionnaires before the deadline.
Fill in the questionnaires by 30 September 2026, 13:00
CYGMA — the Cyprus Game Makers Association — unites game development companies operating in Cyprus. It exists to make a substantial but long-unmeasured industry visible: collecting reliable data, supporting local talent, representing the sector in policy at home and at EU level, and connecting Cyprus-based companies with partners across Europe, the Middle East, Asia and beyond.