OFFICIAL DIGITAL GAME DEVELOPMENT & FINANCING GUIDELINES

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• All applicants must read the Official Digital Game Development & Financing Guidelines. The official guidelines supercede all information contained elsewhere on this website, delivered to applicants by Program Officers, or otherwise made publicly available.

• All applicants must read the General Program Guidelines, which contains important details that apply to all Creative Saskatchewan grants.

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ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

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As explained in the General Program Guidelines your application will be assessed by specific criteria in three categories

• Relevance

• Impact

• Experience & Capacity

Click here for the assessment criteria specific to this equity fund. You'll be asked these questions as part of the online Grant Management System application process. Listed beside each criteria is the maximum number of points available as each application is scored. Applicants may wish to pay particular attention to criteria with the highest number of points available.

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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

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🚩 = New How does equity work?
Creative Saskatchewan's stake in the digital game is based on its percentage of the total amount of equity raised by the developer. As the game creates revenue, a percentage of that revenue equal to our stake is paid to Creative Saskatchewan. When the original investment is repaid, Creative Saskatchewan returns half its stake to the developer. Why equity and not a grant?
This was a result of consultation with digital developers and SaskInteractive. They indicated a preference for equity investment as opposed to a grant. In the digital sector, equity investments create more interest in and credibility for a commercially-viable project, as compared to a grant. Why invest in digital game development?
Digital game development skills are an important part of the creative and technological economy. Coding expertise and creative skills are required in many other parts of the digital landscape. This investment in commercially-viable digital game development is an investment in digital innovation. Why is this fund limited to digital games, and not all digital development?
Creative Saskatchewan is legislated to invest in "commercial cultural content." Games are the digital sector's most "commercial cultural" undertaking, and the right fit for Creative Saskatchewan's mandate. What qualifies as a digital game?
Without getting too prescriptive, we'll leave it to the jury to decide if a project is or isn't a game. Generally speaking, we'll ask the jury to look for things like point scoring, competition against an opponent (computer or person), rules of play, levels, achievements, and... fun. What is gamification?
The application of typical elements of game playing (e.g. point scoring, competition with others, rules of play) to other areas of activity. What is gamified e-learning?
A digital project focussed on education or training that delivers the content in a "playable" form. Applicants will identify their project as either "digital game" or "gamified e-learning" when they apply. A jury will determine if a digital e-learning project is adequately gamified. 🚩 If I receive an equity investment for my game, does Creative Saskatchewan own a piece of my digital development company forever, forcing me to pay a portion of all future revenue my company generates? No. Our equity investment is in a single project, not in a company. Our recoupment of our equity investment is based on revenue generated by that single project. Future or previous projects undertaken by the same company remain separate and unaffected. This includes sequels, spinoffs, games using the same characters/code, etc. and appropriate terms can be stipulated in each agreement. Creative Saskatchewan never takes an equity position in any company - only in single projects. 🚩 Can I use my equity investment to cover operational costs of running my company like office rent and hardware? This equity investment is in a project, not a company, therefore it can not be spent on expenses related to operational requirements of running a company (office space, hardware). Creative Saskatchewan never takes an equity position in any company. This is an equity investment in a single project. 🚩 Am I expected to pay Creative Saskatchewan a portion of every full dollar of revenue generated by sales of my game? No. Up to 75% of the revenue generated by your game in the first year can be earmarked as expenses, and will be excluded from our recoupment calculation. After the first year, up to 50% of your revenue can be excluded for expenses. These percentages will be negotiated on a case-by-case basis to reflect the unique cost structures of each project. 🚩 Is Creative Saskatchewan's stake always 50%? No. Creative Saskatchewan's stake is based on how much equity in the project is held by the applicant and other third parties, relative to the size of Creative Saskatchewan's investment in the project. Creative Saskatchewan will work with applicants to consider work-to-date on partially complete projects as as an equity stake. Creative Saskatchewan's stake, even in projects where it may be the only equity investor, is always capped at 50%.

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EQUITY INVESTMENT DETAILS

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Click here for details about Creative Saskatchewan's equity investments, including how recoupment and profit participation is structured.

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OTHER FUNDING RESOURCES

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• Bell Media Fund
• Canada Media Fund
• CBC Creative Relief Fund Innovation Stream

Complete list of other funders sorted by creative sector

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APPLICATION PROCESSING TIME

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Applicants can expect to receive results within 10 weeks from deadline date.
Results will be delivered via e-mail, and will be available in GMS.

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