European video games and immersive content

This Creative Europe MEDIA single-stage call CREA-MEDIA supports the development (pre-production) of original narrative video games and interactive immersive experiences up to the delivery of a first playable prototype. Eligible applicants are legal entities established in countries fully participating in the MEDIA strand, principally video game production companies, XR studios and audiovisual production companies, with the coordinator required to demonstrate recent commercial distribution; publishing companies are not eligible as coordinators. Funding is provided as a lump sum grant of up to €200,000 per project with a 60% funding rate and an indicative topic budget of €13,500,000, projects typically up to 36 months and production start scheduled at least 10 months after the submission deadline. Applications must be submitted electronically via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal by 2 February 2027, 17:00 Brussels time, proposals are evaluated Feb–Jun 2027 and scored on relevance, quality of content and activities, project management and dissemination with an overall pass threshold of 70 points.

What it funds

Scope and activities

Development (pre-production) of original narrative video games and interactive immersive experiences and prototypes (first playable, vertical slice, alpha or demo) intended for commercial exploitation across PCs, consoles and mobile/XR platforms. Production phase is ineligible.

How proposals are evaluated

Proposals are assessed on relevance, quality of content and activities, project management, and dissemination (total 100 points; overall threshold 70). Evaluation period is February–June 2027; information to applicants in July 2027; grant agreements expected October 2027.

Apply and documents

Submit electronically via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal using the CREA MEDIA application templates and required annexes (creative dossier, proof of rights, detailed budget table, declarations). See topic page for call document and annexes.

Opportunity summary

Scope, objectives and expected results

Key activities eligible for funding

Funded activities are limited to development (pre-production) up to the delivery of the first prototype (first playable, vertical slice, Alpha or Trial/Demo). Support covers concept and prototype development: narrative design, gameplay design, art and sound direction, GUI/HUD, level and character design, prototypes/trailers/demos, and financing/distribution/marketing planning. Production phase (testing and debugging of the first prototype onward to Gold Master/release) is ineligible.

Eligibility and applicant requirements

Consortium rules and participation limits

Applications can be submitted by a single beneficiary (mono-beneficiary) or by a consortium of at least two beneficiaries. Affiliated entities may participate (they must be validated and their costs included). Associated partners, subcontractors and third parties giving in-kind contributions may be used but have different eligibility and funding rules. Applicants cannot submit more than one proposal as coordinator across these four annual Creative Europe calls: European co-development, European slate development, European mini-slate development and this Video games and immersive content development call; if they do, only the application for the call with the earliest deadline will be evaluated.

Award and evaluation

Single-stage evaluation. Admissibility and eligibility checks followed by evaluation by an evaluation committee assisted by independent external experts. Evaluation timeline: evaluation February–June 2027; information to applicants in July 2027; grant agreement signature expected October 2027. Award criteria total 100 points with overall threshold 70 points. Criteria and weightings: Relevance (35 points) including originality and innovation; Quality of content and activities (25 points); Project management (20 points); Dissemination (20 points). Tie-break rules: prioritise proposals with higher Relevance score, then Dissemination, then Quality of content and activities.

Funding rules, form and amounts

Project maturity, scope and exclusions

Specific administrative and submission requirements

Submission is electronic only via the Funding & Tenders Portal Submission System. Proposal structure: Part A (administrative data), Part B (technical description — PDF upload, maximum 50 pages for Part B), Part C (additional project data) and mandatory annexes. Mandatory annexes include: detailed budget table (CREA LSII), Creative dossier (gameplay description, GUI/HUD, level and character design, art bible, script/storyboard/director's note, mock-ups), proof of rights/ownership or adaptation rights, supporting documents of co-production/distribution/financing, declaration on independence and European ownership, and language of submission documents declaration. All templates are available in the Submission System; applicants must use the system templates, not the example files on the topic page. Part B page limit: 50 pages; excess pages will be disregarded. At submission applicants confirm mandate to act for all participants and must submit accurate information. Registrations in the Participant Register and LEAR validation must be completed in advance.

Evaluation scoring and thresholds

Financial and operational capacity checks

Grant implementation, reporting and payments

Grant and legal framework

Legal and financial set-up governed by the Creative Europe Model Grant Agreement (CREA MGA) and Lump Sum MGA rules. Relevant reference documents: Call document, Application Form templates, Detailed budget table (CREA LSII), Declaration on independence and ownership template, Information on language template, CREA Annual Work Programmes, CREA Regulation 2021/818, EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509, Rules for Legal Entity Validation and Financial Capacity Assessment, EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement, Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual. Applicants must consult these when preparing proposals. The call is managed by the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA).

Submission and support

All applications must be submitted via the Funding & Tenders Portal Electronic Submission System. Applicants must register organisations in the Participant Register and obtain PIC codes prior to submission. The Portal Submission System provides all application templates and annex slots. For IT support contact the IT Helpdesk; non-IT questions for this call should be sent to the contact e-mail provided on the Topic page (EACEA-MEDIA-DEVVGIM@ec.europa.eu). Applicants are strongly advised to allow time before the deadline to address technical issues and to consult the Topic Q&A and call updates on the Portal. The submission session for this topic opens on 30 September 2026 in the Portal.

Risk, ethics and cross-cutting priorities

Projects must comply with high ethical standards and applicable law. Proposals must avoid pornographic or racist material and the advocacy of violence. Applicants must present strategies for environmental sustainability, gender balance, inclusion, diversity and representativeness. Cross-cutting priorities include AI and DigitalAgenda. Risk management, contingency planning and proof of rights ownership are evaluated as part of Project Management.

Templates, documents and application structure

Mandatory templates and documents are provided in the Submission System and Portal Reference Documents. Key templates include: Standard Application Form (CREA MEDIA) Part A and Part B; Detailed budget table (CREA LSII) for lump sum calculation; Declaration on independence and European ownership; Information on language of submission documents; Model Grant Agreements (CREA MGA and Lump Sum MGA); Annex templates for CVs and supporting documents. Part B technical description template must be downloaded from the Submission System, completed and uploaded as PDF. Part B page limit is 50 pages. Applicants must not alter template structure or replace fields required for processing.

Success rates and competition

The call will allocate grants within the limits of the available budget and subject to the quality and number of eligible applications. Indicative number of grants is not provided in the call sheet; selection depends on evaluation ranking and available funds. The call reserves the right not to award all funds. No historical success rate is provided in the call documentation.

Application process stages and likely timeline

Co-funding, costs and no-profit rule

Lump sum grant determined using the detailed budget table. The funding rate used by the Agency for fixed lump sum calculation is 60% of eligible costs. Applicants must present financing strategies and evidence of ability to secure co-financing as part of the Project Management award criterion. The 'no-profit' rule applies where specified: the grant must not generate profit; revenues generated by the project must be declared and may reduce the final grant amount.

Audit, checks and post-award obligations

Selected projects undergo Grant Agreement Preparation, legal entity validation, final financial capacity checks, and may require prefinancing guarantees. During and after project implementation the granting authority and other EU bodies (OLAF, EPPO, ECA) have rights to checks, reviews, audits and investigations. Beneficiaries must keep records and supporting documents for the period indicated in the Data Sheet (normally five years) and comply with reporting, communication and visibility rules.

Eligible Applicant Types

Funding Type

Consortium Requirement

Consortium or single applicant both allowed. Single beneficiary projects permitted; consortiums must include at least two beneficiaries if applying as a multi-beneficiary proposal. Affiliated entities may participate and must be validated.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility)

Target Sector

Mentioned Countries

Project Stage

Funding Amount

Application Type

Nature of Support

Beneficiaries will receive money in the form of lump sum grants (financial support). There is no financial support to third parties under this call.

Application Stages

Success Rates

Success rates are not specified in the call documentation; selection depends on the number and quality of eligible proposals and available budget. The Agency reserves the right not to award all available funds.

Co-funding Requirement

Applicants must demonstrate financing strategy and capacity to secure co-financing for production and further development. The lump sum grant is based on an estimate using a 60% funding rate; applicants must show likely sources of additional funding (private, publisher, investment, co-producers). Co-funding is not provided by the Agency beyond the approved lump sum.

Templates: Application form structure and contents

Application uses the Standard Application Form (CREA MEDIA) delivered in four parts. Part A is filled online in the Submission System (administrative data and summary budget). Part B is the technical description template downloaded from the Submission System, to be completed and uploaded as PDF (max 50 pages). Part C is completed online. Mandatory annex templates available in the Submission System include: Detailed budget table (CREA LSII) for lump sum calculation, Declaration on independence and European ownership, language information, creative dossier materials, proof of rights/ownership, supporting documents for financing and distribution, CVs, and other required supporting documents. Applicants must not change template structure and must adhere to formatting rules (A4, minimum Arial 9, margins at least 15 mm).

Application Part B structure highlighted in the Application Form template includes the following sections and suggested content: Project summary; 1 Relevance (background, needs analysis, European added value, sustainability, gender balance and inclusion); 2 Quality (concept and methodology, format, potential, cost effectiveness and financial management, risk management); 3 Project management (partnership and consortium, project teams, development strategy, financing strategy); 4 Dissemination (communication, promotion and marketing; dissemination and distribution; impact); 5 Workplan, work packages, activities, resources and timing (detailed WPs, deliverables, milestones, timetable); 6 Other (ethics, security); 7 Declarations. Annexes must be uploaded in the correct slots in the Submission System.

Full summary: What this opportunity is about and how to approach it

This Creative Europe MEDIA call funds the development phase of narrative video games and interactive immersive experiences created by European developers with potential for commercial success and cross-border distribution. It targets original, creative and commercially ambitious projects with a strong narrative or innovative gameplay and/or immersive technology. The call provides lump sum grants (maximum €200 000) to cover pre-production and prototype creation up to a first playable demonstration or vertical slice, enabling teams to secure production financing, publisher interest and international distribution. Applications must demonstrate ownership or control of rights, recent track record of the coordinator in commercially distributed works, a robust development plan, a realistic financing and distribution strategy, and commitments to sustainability, inclusion and gender balance. Use the Submission System templates (Part B narrative limited to 50 pages) and include all mandatory annexes: detailed budget table for lump sum calculation, creative dossier, rights documentation, financing/distribution evidence and declarations required by the call. Ensure registration in the Participant Register, validate legal entities and prepare for potential financial capacity checks and prefinancing guarantees during grant preparation. Follow award criteria closely: focus on originality and innovation, clear integration of storytelling and gameplay or immersive mechanics, credible development and financing plan and a strong international exploitation and marketing strategy. Deadlines and process steps are strict — submit well before the portal deadline and consult the Portal Topic page for Q&As and updates. The call documentation, templates and guidance are available on the Funding & Tenders Portal Call document and reference materials.

Footnotes

1. 1See the call document section on Declaration on independence and European ownership and the mandatory ownership template (Information on independence and ownership control) available in the Submission System; insufficient ownership details may cause ineligibility.

This is a Creative Europe Media call for proposals supporting the development of narrative video games and interactive immersive experiences in pre-production, with the aim of strengthening the competitiveness of European studios, retaining intellectual property in Europe, and helping selected projects reach global audiences4613. The call is single-stage, opened on 30 September 2026, and closes on 2 February 2027 at 17:00 Brussels time46.

What the call funds

The call funds concept and prototype development for interactive narrative storytelling with original content and or quality gameplay, intended for commercial exploitation on PCs, consoles, mobile devices, tablets, smartphones and other technologies. Applicants should present projects with strong originality, innovative and creative value, commercial ambition, cross-border potential, and strategies for sustainability and for gender balance, inclusion, diversity and representativeness4613.

Eligible activities are limited to the concept development and pre-production phase, from the first idea until delivery of the first prototype. The production phase is not eligible, including work from testing and debugging of the first prototype through to the Gold Master or equivalent. The call also excludes a wide range of project types, including puzzle, sports, racing, rhythm, quiz, party, social, word, number and similar game formats even if they contain a narrative element, as well as projects mainly focused on training, therapy, promotional content, immersive retail experiences, pornography, racism, violence, platforms or websites for social networking or forums, and tools or software aimed solely at technology development or existing concept expansion.

Who can apply

Applicants must be legal entities established in eligible countries and must be European video game production companies, XR studios, or audiovisual production companies. Publishing companies are not eligible applicants. For eligibility, the entity must be established in one of the countries fully participating in the MEDIA strand and be owned directly or indirectly, wholly or by majority participation, by nationals from such countries; if the entity is publicly listed and nationality cannot be established, the location of the stock exchange in a participating MEDIA country determines eligibility4.

The coordinator must also show recent experience in producing internationally distributed works. In practice, the coordinator must have produced or developed a video game or interactive or non-interactive immersive experience that was commercially distributed between 1 January 2024 and the submission deadline, and must be able to provide a relevant sales report proving revenue in that period. Work for hire, personal credit projects, and early access works are not eligible as the qualifying prior work.

Applications may be submitted by a single beneficiary or by a consortium of at least two applicants. A consortium agreement is not mandatory. Non-European entities, associated partners, subcontractors, and third parties may participate only in the roles allowed by the call conditions and do not all count as beneficiaries.

Key eligibility and participation constraints

The following constraints are especially important for applicants:

ordered

Only one proposal as coordinator may be submitted under this call, and applicants are also limited to one coordinator application across the related Creative Europe Media calls for European co-development, European slate development, European mini-slate development, and video games and immersive content development.

If more than one coordinator application is submitted across those related calls, only the application with the earliest deadline will be evaluated and the later one or ones will be deemed ineligible.

The coordinator or one eligible partner must hold the majority of rights to the project, and a duly dated and signed rights contract must be in place by the submission deadline. For adaptations, the majority of adaptation rights must also be secured.

The project start of production must be scheduled at least 10 months after the submission deadline. If the work has an interoperable standard identifier such as ISAN or EIDR, it must be indicated in the application and created before the end of the action.

Financial support to third parties is not allowed.

Funding and financial terms

Funding is provided as a lump sum grant. The requested grant amount is capped at €200,000 per project, with a maximum funding rate of 60 percent of the estimated project budget. The total call budget is €13,500,000 for 2027613.

The grant is based on a lump sum calculated from the detailed budget table, but the estimated budget still has to respect the basic eligibility rules that apply to actual cost grants. Ineligible costs in the budget table can lead to a reduction of the grant. After signature, beneficiaries normally receive prefinancing of around 70 percent of the maximum grant amount, with no interim payments. Payments are made to the coordinator, and any balance is settled at the end of the project.

Timeline and duration

The indicative timetable is publication on 30 September 2026, submission deadline on 2 February 2027, evaluation from February to June 2027, information to applicants in July 2027, and grant agreement signature in October 2027. Projects should normally not exceed 36 months, and extensions are possible if justified and approved through amendment.

Assessment and award

Proposals are evaluated in one stage and ranked after admissibility, eligibility, financial capacity, and operational capacity checks. The award criteria are weighted as follows: relevance 35 points, quality of content and activities 25 points, project management 20 points, and dissemination 20 points. The overall pass threshold is 70 points, with no individual threshold per criterion46.

The ranking tiebreaker sequence for equal scores is relevance first, then dissemination, then quality of content and activities.

Application package and submission

Applications must be submitted electronically through the Funding and Tenders Portal. The application package includes Part A administrative data, Part B technical description, Part C additional data, a detailed budget table, a MEDIA database PDF for the work or works, a creative dossier, rights documentation, supporting documents for co production or financing, a declaration on independence and European ownership, and a declaration on the language of submitted materials.

Part B is limited to 50 pages, and any excess pages are disregarded. Proposals must be readable, accessible, printable, and submitted before the deadline. Applicants may submit in any official EU language, although English is strongly recommended for efficiency.

At a glance

Applicants should focus their proposals on original narrative content, clear prototype development, strong cross-border market potential, and a credible plan for financing, distribution, marketing, and audience reach. The strongest applications will also show a convincing sustainability approach and a credible strategy for inclusion and gender balance in both the project and the team4613.