Mario Čelan (SIMORA): We Expect One of Our Gaming Startups to Become a Unicorn

Mario Čelan is the director of the development agency of the Sisak-Moslavina County, SIMORA, recently named the best development agency in Europe. On Wednesday, Čelan spoke about the development of the gaming industry in Novska, the westernmost town in Slavonia and the only center of the gaming industry in this part of Europe, on the occasion of the presentation of the partnership between SIMORA and A1 Croatia for the development of optical and 5G infrastructure in Novska.

Gaming Campus by 2025.

In the entrepreneurial incubator PISMO in Novska, they are currently working on the realization of a gaming campus project that is expected to be the first of its kind in the world. On nine hectares of land near the highway in Novska, there will be a faculty, student dormitory, accelerator, and an esports arena with 4,000 seats, which is also expected to be the first esports arena specialized for the gaming industry in the region.

However, to bring this project to light, we will have to wait a little longer. As Čelan explained, the campus could start operating only in 2025.

– If we finish the main project by the end of July or August, if we get the building permit by the end of this year, and if we resolve the financing issue, we could announce a tender for the entire project at the beginning of next year, and we could start digging the first shovel into the ground at the beginning of 2023. Since it involves 44,000 square meters of enclosed space, it will take two years to build the campus – explained Čelan, adding optimistically that by 2025 everything could be operational.

The estimated value of the campus is 50 million euros, and so far they have gathered only about forty percent of the necessary finances, of which 150 million kuna has been secured from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.

Novska – a World Record Holder

So why is Novska the future center of the gaming industry, and not Kutina or Sisak? Čelan explained that finances are to blame for the choice of location. In the early days of establishing the incubator, they found the cheapest rental for the first business space in Novska, which is why the decision fell on Novska.

Thanks to the gaming industry, this small town with just about ten thousand inhabitants records the highest percentage of gaming developers in the world – 250 of them. All of them work in Novska. Some still live in the vicinity of Zagreb and commute to work, but some have permanently moved to Novska. Čelan emphasizes that some of them have gotten married, some are looking for apartments, and some are even buying land to build houses in Novska.

'We Must Be the Best'

To ensure that future gaming developers receive all the necessary education, they have envisioned this project in five steps.

– The first step is free English language learning in our kindergartens. Then come workshops in primary and secondary schools, followed by six months of daily education for eight hours in programming and graphics. Ultimately, we have started developing a curriculum for the high school profession of video game development technician, which is now being implemented at the Technical School in Sisak and the Secondary School in Novska. As part of the campus, we plan to develop a completely new undergraduate and graduate program for video game development that will be a kind of upgrade of knowledge after high school, exclusively in English, which will create experts in fields that do not even exist yet – said Čelan, emphasizing that they must keep pace with the times to be 'the best of'.

Currently, when participants complete all the education and learn to create video games, they have the opportunity to co-finance their own startup. The Croatian Employment Service, Sisak-Moslavina County, and the City of Novska provide 20,000 euros in financial resources, which Čelan believes is a good incentive to start a company and enter the world of the gaming industry.

Only One Video Game Needed

– It is important to emphasize that all 49 startups currently operating in Novska have not failed for two years but are self-sustaining, employing their people and paying salaries, which is a good indicator – says Čelan, adding that all investments in the gaming industry will pay off once just one video game succeeds. Then they will employ a hundred people in a month.

– Angry Birds was the 38th project of a startup that succeeded. It will take a lot of work and learning, but also a lot of falling and getting up for one project to succeed, and we are at the very beginning. I have given this entire project about eight years to really succeed, so we can boast of having one 'unicorn' that has come out of our incubator – says Čelan about their expectations.

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