A crazy idea that gives rise to the biggest gaming hub in Europe (gallery)

It all started as an outlandish idea - the project to build the largest gaming hub in Europe, to be located in Novska. This Croatian town with a population of just over 11,000 souls wants to position itself as the "Silicon Valley" of the country by using 66 million euros from the Just Transition Fund of the European Union.

The financing will change not only Novska, located about 100 km southeast of the capital Zagreb, but also the entire Sisak-Moslavina County, whose economy has historically been linked to timber logging and metallurgy.

The transformation of the town started a few years ago with the establishment of the first incubator for startups and companies in the field of video games. That project, called Pismo, is financed with European funds, and Economic.bg will talk about it very soon in a special podcast.

Pismo is slowly but surely starting to change the city, creating jobs and attracting young people. Stepping on this foundation, Novska decided to pursue the even more ambitious dream of building an entire gaming center.

It all started as a crazy idea," the city's mayor, Marija Kušmiš, told Economic.bg.

The new project will unfold over an area of ​​9 decares (2.2 acres) in one of the two business zones of the city. The land is already being prepared for construction, and the selection of a company to carry it out is expected to be completed very soon. This is the second tender, as the first one was terminated due to excessively high bids from companies from Slovenia and Serbia. If all goes according to plan, construction could begin early next year.

The implementation will take place in two phases, with the optimistic scenario for its completion being 2027, and the pessimistic one – 2028, as Andreja Šeperac from the SIMORA regional agency, told Economic.bg.

The Gaming Center there will include a business incubator where new video games will be tested. Its capacity will be up to 2,500 seats, and it can also be used as an event hall. The project also provides for the construction of the so-called ‘accelerator for the gaming industry’ with offices for 200 companies. The largest virtual studio for the production and editing of films and games in Europe will also be located on the territory of the center. The equipment for this studio alone will cost about 6 million euros.

You can bring the biggest truck inside and film it,” said Šeperac.

There will also be educational infrastructure to create a campus including a university for game development, as well as a student dormitory with a restaurant and a cafeteria. In order to promote sports and an active lifestyle, the center will also build an indoor swimming pool and a number of sports facilities - a football pitch and volleyball courts among other things.

According to Andreja Šeperac, there are similar educational institutions for game development in Scotland and Germany, but not on this scale. Various universities (from Croatia and abroad) will be involved in developing the training programs.

Gaming centers as such do not exist in Europe."

The entire hub will be energy-independent by relying on geothermal sources for power generation. It will also have a large solar park, which will be built on the rooftop of the parking lot, where there will also be places to charge electric cars.

The new center will also create a number of new jobs – from teachers to gardeners. According to Šeperac, after the implementation of the project, it is expected that about 85 new jobs will be created.

It's going to be a big ecosystem and we're going to need more funding."     

Visualizations of the future hub and a video can be found in the gallery here. 

Co-Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the Managing Authority. Neither the European Union nor the Managing Authority can be held responsible for them.

Translated by Tzvetozar Vincent Iolov