Game studio — 5.45 M PLN funding with zero own contribution

Context

A Warsaw development studio with more than a decade on the Polish games market, ~3.82 million PLN yearly turnover. The team covers the production roles: game design, programming, art, audio, WCAG accessibility, teaching method.

Before talking to QA10 the studio had a project concept and no funding path. The question we asked in the first call: “How much of this project can we fund from outside money so the studio does not put in its own cash?” The answer: every grosz.

Industry: GameDev — educational productions. Size: mid-size studio, ~3.82 million PLN turnover. Location: Warsaw, nationwide project reach. Variant: Funding (no AiP Audit component). Public record: EU Grants Map — project 1784706.

Challenge

The studio had three things 90% of Polish game producers planning an education move do not have: more than a decade on the commercial games market, a documented production record, and a team covering every project role. It also had a concrete, ambitious concept that matched Area 6 of the MEN programme — three advanced educational strategy games for analytical and planning skill, with resource management, long-horizon simulation and decision-process optimisation.

It lacked one thing: money. A full-scale project needed a budget above 5 million PLN. The studio did not have that in operating reserve, did not want a loan on a three-year project, and did not want to give equity to an investor. The standard Polish R&D funding path assumes 10–50% own contribution, which at this scale meant finding 500 thousand – 2.5 million PLN from its own pocket. Not available.

Symptoms before the QA10 call were classic for Polish GameDev: concept ready, team ready, funding path unclear. Standard grant programmes the studio had already used or did not fit. NCBR contests required own contribution. Regional funds were too small. Venture capital wanted equity — which would mean giving up control of an educational product.

The brief for QA10 was clear: find a funding path that covers the full project budget with no beneficiary own contribution and no equity given away.

Approach

01 — Scan of the external funding ecosystem. The Funding method — QA10’s own — starts with a systematic pass over every available external instrument: EU, Polish national funds, regional paths, sector programmes. For educational games the matrix held several dozen candidates. After the first sieve five paths remained, and one stood out: European Funds for Social Development 2021–2027, measure 1.4 Development of the education system.

02 — Funding-condition analysis. The key finding: under a Ministry of National Education order for educational games in general education (a programme worth 30.2 million PLN for 18 games in six topic areas) the beneficiary did not put in own contribution. The EU funded 82.5% of cost; the remaining 17.5% came from the state budget. Unusual — a standard EU grant requires beneficiary co-financing.

The studio’s project fitted Area 6: educational strategy games for analytical and planning skill. Allocation for that area: up to 5 457 830 PLN for three games. The studio team had the required competences.

03 — Application and selection. The QA10 team prepared the full dossier: project description, delivery schedule, itemised budget, team-competence plan, WCAG accessibility matrix, teaching-method evaluation plan, risks and mitigations. The file passed evaluation without material content remarks.

04 — Decision and settlement. After the application was accepted and the funding contract signed, QA10 handed the client the full operating file and a progress-reporting protocol. The studio runs the project to schedule, with access to the Funding team for procedural questions as later stages are settled.

Method

Funding — QA10’s method for raising external finance. Three phases: ecosystem scan (all EU, national, regional, sector paths), match (best path on conditions, dates, requirements), delivery (application, evaluation, negotiation, handling). For this project the live knowledge that mattered was FERS 2021–2027, measure 1.4, MEN orders, and the zero own-contribution mechanism. The QA10 team also used internal match tools (programme-criteria matrix vs beneficiary profile), a FERS-standard application dossier template, and a protocol for talking to the funding body.

Results

Metric	Value
Project value accepted in full	5 448 786.51 PLN
Beneficiary (studio) own contribution	0 PLN
EU funding (82.5%, EFS+)	4 496 338.63 PLN
State-budget top-up (17.5%, MEN)	952 447.88 PLN
Advanced strategy games (MEN Area 6)	3 games
FERS financial perspective	2021–2027
Public record in the EU Grants Map	project 1784706

5.45 million zloty of funding with zero own contribution is a rare combination in Polish GameDev. Standard grant paths require 10–50% own contribution. Venture capital requires equity. Bank loans require collateral and repayment. The mechanism the Funding method found for this studio requires none of those concessions. The studio keeps full rights in the finished products, gives no equity to an investor, takes on no bank debt and does not tie up its own working capital.

A value the numbers table does not show: the project puts the studio into an official Ministry of National Education programme. After the three games ship, the studio is a content supplier to the Polish school system — a reference that opens later public orders in education, training games and B2G (business-to-government).