New €26.3m gaming centre in Novska is all go

(Photo: Grad Novska)

ZAGREB, 6 June (Hina) – A contract on the construction of a gaming industry centre in Novska, 90 kilometres east of Zagreb, was signed on Tuesday, and the first stage of the project will be funded by a non-repayable grant in the amount of €26.3 million from the Just Transition Fund.

The gaming industry centre, which will be built in the city’s entrepreneurial zone, is estimated to cost about 100 million euros.

The Public Institution Sisak-Moslavina County Regional Coordinator is in charge of the project and can count on the support of Sisak-Moslavina County, the county’s SIMORA development agency and the City of Novska in the implementation of the project.

The gaming industry centre will be built in the Pismo business zone on an area of eight hectares. The centre will be dominated by an e-sport arena resembling a grounded UFO with 2,500 spectator seats and a zone for gaming competitions. It will also include a faculty, a sports hall, a dorm for 250 students, an accelerator with a VR studio, an incubator with a hall for video game testing and other amenities.

The future gaming centre will provide a five-year university programme and a high-school programme in video game design.

(Photo: Grad Novska)

Fifty students are expected to enroll annually plus 24 secondary school students.

The opening of the centre is expected in 2027.

The necessary contracts for the construction of the gaming industry centre in Novska were signed today by the EU Funds Ministry, the Central Finance and Contracting Agency for EU programmes and projects, and the local authorities, with Prime Minister Andrej Plenković attending the ceremony.

(Photo: Grad Novska)

In attendance was also Labour Minister Marin Piletić (HDZ) during whose mayoral term in Novska, the idea about the future gaming centre was launched in 2018.