More and more game studios in the Greater Zurich Area are successful on the international stage. The best example of this is game developer Philomena Schwab, who made it onto the Forbes list of the 30 most influential under 30-year-olds in the European tech industry.
After completing her education in game design at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHDK), Zurich game developer Philomena Schwab received several offers from Silicon Valley. However, she opted for Zurich, where the game scene has been buzzing for some time now with more and more studios shaking up the international market.
Together with Micha Stettler, Schwab founded Stray Fawn Studio at the end of 2016, which is now a permanent fixture on the Zurich game scene. For this to happen so quickly was due to the fact that they had two innovative games up their sleeves when they founded their company. Their first launch, the strategy simulation game Niche, was a huge success: some 100,000 copies have been sold to date, especially in the US.
Hot spot in and around Zurich
Stray Fawn employs six people in a building in the heart of Zurich, which is also home to four other game studios. Not far away in Schlieren, near Zurich, the studio Giants Software developed the Farming Simulator – the most successful game in Switzerland with millions of downloads. The studio Urban Games from Schaffhausen has enjoyed more than 300,000 sales of its transport management game Transport Fever.
Commenting on the new boom, Philomena Schwab states: “The talents are finally coming together.” ZHAW graduates are rapidly establishing studios and finding comrades-in-arms from places like the Department of Computer Science at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich.
The game scene in and around Zurich has more women than nearly anywhere else. According to Schwab, this is due to the all-rounder education in game design at the ZHDK. By contrast, graduates elsewhere tend to specialize quickly. Programming is mandatory in Zurich, even for women who otherwise tend to feel at home in graphics. In addition, many women are discovering their talent for coding – a prerequisite not only for working in the industry but also for launching games themselves.
Network moving things forward
According to Schwab, the network itself plays a major role in the scene’s success. Meet-ups take place in Zurich on a regular basis, and Schwab herself is active in the association and is helping to shape a new platform for Swiss games.
The concept is simple: If a neighbour’s game is well received internationally, then it boosts everyone’s reputation. And yes, Swiss games now stand for innovation and quality. This means that even games in classical genres feature exciting twists and details are carefully worked out.
The Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia has made a major contribution to the international recognition of these factors. It supports game projects and helps studios participate in international industry meetings. One of the most important of these is the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco. In 2018, the Swiss delegation was the largest foreign delegation at the GDC – and Stray Fawn won the prestigious Best Play Award for its action simulation game Nimbatus.
Learn more:
Webinar “Swiss game industry gathers speed” with Chris Bergstresser, entrepreneur and investor in the game industry and president of the Zurich game festival Ludicious, together with Philomena Schwab, co-founder of the game studio Stray Fawn.
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