The video game industry in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

has produced numerous globally successful video games such as Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis and the subsequent ArmA series, the

Mafia "Mafia" is an informal term that is used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the original “Mafia”, the Sicilian Mafia and Italian Mafia. The central activity of such an organization would be the arbitration of d ...

series,

Truck Simulator ''Truck Simulator'' is a vehicle simulation game media franchise, series created by SCS Software. The first title in the series, ''Euro Truck Simulator'', was released on 29 August 2008 for Microsoft Windows and OS X and the first European-truc ...

series, Kingdom Come: Deliverance, the

Samorost ''Samorost'' is a puzzle point-and-click adventure game developed by Amanita Design. The first game of the ''Samorost'' series was released in 2003 for free on the Amanita Design website. Two sequels were released, '' Samorost 2'' in 2005 and '' ...

series and others. There were 300–400 video game developers and around 30 video game companies focusing on video game development in 2014. In 2017 it was 1,100 developers and 47 companies. Video games are also considered by some experts to be the country's biggest cultural export. The video game industry did not enjoy a good reputation and was unsupported by the state until 2013, when the Ministry of Industry and Trade started to seek ways to kickstart the economy. By 2014, programs were planned to support the video game industry. Another problem is a lack of video game development specialization at any university. In 2014, Czech video game site Bonusweb made a survey for the best video game developed in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The victor of the survey is Mafia: City of Lost Heaven that received 3866 votes out of 13,143. Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis was second and

Vietcong , , war = the Vietnam War , image = FNL Flag.svg , caption = The flag of the Viet Cong, adopted in 1960, is a variation on the flag of North Vietnam. Sometimes the lower stripe was green. , active ...

third. In 2019, Games.cz made a list of the 15 best video games developed in the Czech Republic. It was also topped by Mafia: City of Lost Heaven.

History

The first games were developed in

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

during the late 1970s as part of experimentation with Czechoslovak computers SM 52/11 (minicomputer version of PDP-11). These titles lacked graphics and were not meant for wider distribution. Card games were particularly popular. Card games were played through printer due to lack of displays. There were also games based on chances such as electronical version of

Rock–paper–scissors Rock paper scissors (also known by other orderings of the three items, with "rock" sometimes being called "stone," or as Rochambeau, roshambo, or ro-sham-bo) is a hand game originating in China, usually played between two people, in which each p ...

. Some games were competitive such as Dělostřelba (Cannonade) in which player had to count the trajectory of his cannon shot to hit his rival. Some games were developed on universities. Some universities taught programming at the time. Games at universities included Chess and Plivátko. The first real-time game was Přistání na měsíci (Landing on the Moon). One of the first games for character displays was Zombíci (Zombies). Players had to run for zombies and stay alive as long as possible. In the 1980s, the first graphic video games development in the country were mostly part of the

Svazarm Svazarm or Union for Cooperation with the Army (Czech: Svaz pro spolupráci s armádou / Svazarm, Slovak: Zväz pre spoluprácu s armádou / Zväzarm), was, in Communist Czechoslovakia, the largest " paramilitary" organisation, although many of th ...

clubs. The most popular video game platform of the time were

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as the ''ZX81 Colou ...

, Czechoslovak computer

PMD 85 The PMD 85 is an 8-bit personal computer produced since 1985 by the companies Tesla Piešťany and Tesla Bratislava in the former Czechoslovakia. They were deployed ''en masse'' in schools throughout Slovakia (while the IQ 151 performed a simila ...

and Atari 8-bit computers (mainly Atari 800XE). Hobbyists could come explore computing and teach themselves programming. Games developed by members of these clubs include '' Hlípa'' and ''Flappy''.

Text adventure '' Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, is software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives, either in the ...

s were very popular, accounting for more than half of the total output of Czechoslovak programmers. Czechs produced games for these platforms even in 1990s when were outdated. After 1989, the market changed, improving opportunities for programmers and gamers alike. In the 90's, the most known Czech video games are of the adventure type. During this period, the company Vochozka Trading was established, which first distributed games for Amiga computers, such as '' Světák Bob''. The game was not successful; however, in 1994 Vochozka Trading released the first Czech commercial games for PC, two adventure titles – '' Tajemství Oslího ostrova'' (''Donkey Island'') and '' 7 dní a 7 nocí'' (''Seven Days and Seven Nights''). Both were developed by Pterodon and widely regarded as successes. This was followed by adventures like '' Dračí Historie'' (''Dragon History'', the first Czech dubbed game on CD, 1995), '' Gooka'' (the first Czech game on Windows, 1997), '' Horké léto'' (''Hot Summer'', 1997) and '' DreamLand: Final Solution'' (1999). Games released in the 1990s also include

real-time strategy Real-time strategy (RTS) is a subgenre of strategy video games that do not progress incrementally in turns, but allow all players to play simultaneously, in "real time". By contrast, in turn-based strategy (TBS) games, players take turns to p ...

game ''

Paranoia Paranoia is an instinct or thought process that is believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of delusion and irrationality. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy co ...

'' (1995) and RPG '' Brány Skeldalu'' (''Gates of Skeldal'', 1998). Among the most widespread Czech logical

DOS DOS is shorthand for the MS-DOS and IBM PC DOS family of operating systems. DOS may also refer to: Computing * Data over signalling (DoS), multiplexing data onto a signalling channel * Denial-of-service attack (DoS), an attack on a communicat ...

games were also '' Vlak'' (''Train'', 1993), ''

Achtung, die Kurve! Achtung, die Kurve!, also known as Curve Fever or simply Achtung, is a freeware, multiplayer snake game for MS-DOS. It supports from two-player up to eight-player gaming simultaneously. The game is a clone of another Czech game '' Červi'' (''Wo ...

'' (1995) and '' Boovie'' (1998). The game '' Polda'' was released in 1998, this was the beginning of the most popular Czech adventure series. The first internationally successful Czech game was '' Hidden & Dangerous'' by Illusion Softworks, a third person action game released in 1999. More notable games by Illusion Softworks include ''

Flying Heroes ''Flying Heroes'' is a fantasy action game produced by Take 2 Interactive, Illusion Softworks, and Pterodon. Gameplay Flying Heroes is an arena based shooter game that takes place on various flying creatures. There are four clans to choose f ...

'' (2000), '' Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven'' (2002) and ''

'' (2003). In 2008 American publisher

Take-Two Interactive Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in New York City and founded by Ryan Brant in September 1993. The company owns two major publishing labels, Rockstar Games and 2K, which operate internal ...

acquired Illusion Softworks and renamed it to

2K Czech 2K Czech, s.r.o. (formerly Illusion Softworks, a.s.) was a Czech video game developer based in Brno. Founded as Illusion Softworks in 1997 by Petr Vochozka and Jan Kudera. The company was acquired by Take-Two Interactive in January 2008 and sub ...

. The dark adventure ''

Black Mirror ''Black Mirror'' is a British anthology television series created by Charlie Brooker. Individual episodes explore a diversity of genres, but most are set in near-future dystopias with science fiction technology—a type of speculative fiction ...

'' from 2003 was a great success abroad, but two more sequels have already been made in Germany.

Bohemia Interactive Bohemia Interactive a.s. is a Czech video game developer and publisher based in Prague. The company focuses on creating military simulation games such as '' Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis'' and the '' ARMA'' series. It is also known for ...

became the most successful Czech developer with its worldwide bestseller '' Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis'' and the series of '' ARMA'' games, first released in 2006. The success of Bohemia Interactive is regarded as having overshadowed other independent development studios. Czech development studios such as

Amanita Design Amanita Design is a Czech independent video game developing company founded in 2003 by Jakub Dvorský and headquartered in Brno, Czech Republic. The company has created award-winning games including '' Machinarium'', the '' Samorost'' series ...

along with their ''

Machinarium ''Machinarium'' is a puzzle point-and-click adventure game developed by Amanita Design. It was released on 16 October 2009 for Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, on 8 September 2011 for iPad 2 on the App Store, on 21 November 2011 for BlackBerr ...

'' from 2009, Altar Games with its ''

Original War ''Original War'' is a real-time strategy video game developed by Czech company Altar Interactive and released by Virgin Interactive on June 15, 2001. It was re-released in the United Kingdom under the budget Sold Out label in 2004, and was later ...

'' and '' UFO series'' and

SCS Software SCS Software s.r.o. is a Czech video game development company based in Prague, Czech Republic. It primarily produces simulation games for Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux, including the '' 18 Wheels of Steel'' and ''Truck Simulator'' serie ...

with its '' Euro Truck Simulator'' were established in these years. In July 2011, several people formerly of 2K Czech and

opened

Warhorse Studios Warhorse Studios s.r.o. is a Czech video game developer based in Prague. Founded in July 2011 by Dan Vávra and Martin Klíma, the studio produced '' Kingdom Come: Deliverance'', which was released in February 2018. In February 2019, the comp ...

, which produced '' Kingdom Come: Deliverance'' (2018).

Consumer availability

The video game market in the Czech Republic is currently growing, with a spend of 2.202 billion

Czech koruna The koruna, or crown, (sign: Kč; code: CZK, cs, koruna česká) has been the currency of the Czech Republic since 1993. The koruna is one of the European Union's 9 currencies, and the Czech Republic is legally bound to adopt the euro currenc ...

(CZK) across both the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 2011. The corresponding total for 2012 was 2.436 billion CZK, a growth of 10.6%. Purchased video games made up one third of this amount. The most popular genres among Czech players are

action Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...

and

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...

games. The growth of the market is expected with next-generation consoles such as the PlayStation 4 and the

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...

Video game associations

Czech Games is a community of video game developers in the Czech Republic. It was established in 2001 and since then it has supported video game development beginners. It has its own phorum where developers can share its experience and show their work. The association also organizes Game Developers Session and GAMEDAY Festival. Video Game Industry Association of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic exists to promote video games in the two named countries. Video game developers, publishers, importers and distributors all belong to the organization. The association also organizes the BOOOM Contest. MU Game Studies is an association composed of

Masaryk University Masaryk University (MU) ( cs, Masarykova univerzita; la, Universitas Masarykiana Brunensis) is the second largest university in the Czech Republic, a member of the Compostela Group and the Utrecht Network. Founded in 1919 in Brno as the se ...

students and graduates. It aims to improve and support video game education at Czech universities.

Education

Some Czech universities offer programs of study related to video games. These universities are

in Brno,

Charles University in Prague ) , image_name = Carolinum_Logo.svg , image_size = 200px , established = , type = Public, Ancient , budget = 8.9 billion CZK , rector = Milena Králíčková , faculty = 4,057 , administrative_staff = 4,026 , students = 51,438 , undergr ...

University of West Bohemia The University of West Bohemia ( cs, Západočeská univerzita v Plzni, ZČU) is a university in Plzeň, Czech Republic. It was founded in 1991 and consists of nine faculties. History The university was formed by the merger of the ''College of Me ...

in Pilsen, Czech Technical University in Prague and

Academy of Performing Arts in Prague The Academy of Performing Arts in Prague ( cs, Akademie múzických umění v Praze, AMU) is a university in the centre of Prague, Czech Republic, specialising in the study of music, dance, drama, film, television and multi-media. It is the larg ...

Video game companies from the Czech Republic

Defunct video game companies

Appearance of the Czech Republic in video games

The country has been featured in numerous games written by Czech developers, such as Euro Truck Simulator, Euro Truck Simulator 2 and Kingdom Come: Deliverance.

Command & Conquer ''Command & Conquer'' (''C&C'') is a real-time strategy (RTS) video game franchise, first developed by Westwood Studios. The first game was one of the earliest of the RTS genre, itself based on Westwood Studios' influential strategy game '' Dune ...

takes place in Central Europe and some missions occur within the country's borders. The country was also the inspiration for fictional countries featured in Operation Flashpoint: Resistance and ARMA 2. In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, a fictionalised uprising occurs in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

. The city also features in a mission from Sly 2: Band of Thieves. In

Forza Motorsport 5 ''Forza Motorsport 5'' is a 2013 racing video game developed by Turn 10 Studios and published by Microsoft Studios for the Xbox One. The game was released on November 22, 2013 as a launch title. The game was revealed on May 21, 2013 during the X ...

, one of the tracks available to play was based in

. In Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, the title character is sent to save kidnapped

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

scientist Dr. Kio Marv. One part of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, occurred in Prague-inspired city with Czech signs and Vltava-inspired Volta River. One character,

Smoke Smoke is a suspension of airborne particulates and gases emitted when a material undergoes combustion or pyrolysis, together with the quantity of air that is entrained or otherwise mixed into the mass. It is commonly an unwanted by-produc ...

(real name Tomas Vrbada), in Mortal Kombat is also Czech originating from

. In Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, a huge part of the story takes place in cyberpunk

, where the mix of modern architecture and historical building is very apparent from each other.

As part of Czechoslovakia

There are some missions in Contract J.A.C.K. that are set in

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

. The former state also appears in the game Hidden & Dangerous.

World of Tanks ''World of Tanks'' (''WoT'') is a massively multiplayer online game developed by Belarusian company Wargaming, featuring 20th century (1910s–1970s) era combat vehicles. It is built upon a freemium business model where the game is free-to ...

released Pilsen map in December 2015. This update also features Czechoslovak Tanks.

Video game events in the Czech Republic

Game Developers Session is a game development conference that has been held annually since 2003. Video Game Culture figures including Developers have Presentation there about Video Gaming and players can meet Video Game developers for Chat about their project. They can also sometimes try video games that are in development. Game Access is a game development conference that has been first held in Brno in 2010. Since 2016, Game Access is held annually. It includes speeches of developers from all around the world, Indie Expo where all its participants compete for Game Access Awards, Business Expo and networking events. Since 2017, the organizers included workshops in the Game Access conference. GameFFest is a Game Festival held in Prague. Video Game Players can try Video Games for various Platforms and look around a Video Game history Museum. The Festival is a Part of PragoFFest. The GAMEDAY Festival has been held every May in

Třeboň Třeboň (; german: Wittingau) is a spa town in Jindřichův Hradec District in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 8,100 inhabitants. The town centre with the castle complex is well preserved and is protected by law as an ...

since 2010, part of Anifilm Třeboň. . The Czech Game of the Year Awards are annual awards that recognize accomplishments in video game development.Awards were part of Gameday Festival until became independent in 2017. The Booom Contest was held annually from 2011 to 2013. Prizes were awarded in various categories, including Game of the Year, Best Czech Video Game and Computer Game of the Year. It was replaced by Player's Awards for next years. The Central and Eastern European Game Studies conference is held in Brno as an event designed to allow the discussion of video gaming by academics, journalists, developers and members of the public. It is organized by the ''Game Studies'' civic association.

Game Jam A game jam is an event where participants try to make a video game from scratch. Depending on the format, participants might work independently, or in teams. The event duration usually ranges from 24 to 72 hours. Participants are generally program ...

Prague is annually held in January as part of almost 200 Game Jams over the World. Game Brew Plzeň is a meeting of video game developers, graphic designers and business enthusiasts. It has been held in Plzeň since 2015. Gamer Pie is a video game festival held in Brno.

Media

Print Media

Defunct print media

Czech TV programs about video games

Programs

Programs no longer broadcast

Online media

BOOOM.czBonusweb.cz/Doupě.czEurogamer.czGamePark.cz/Games.czPLAYzoneHrej.czZing.czDatabáze-her.cz

Notable people in the Czech gaming industry

* Petr Vochozka — founder and a former CEO of

Illusion Softworks 2K Czech, s.r.o. (formerly Illusion Softworks, a.s.) was a Czech video game developer based in Brno. Founded as Illusion Softworks in 1997 by Petr Vochozka and Jan Kudera. The company was acquired by Take-Two Interactive in January 2008 and s ...

(now 2K Czech), the company responsible for games like Hidden & Dangerous or Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven. *Marek Španěl and Ondřej Španěl — founders of

, the biggest video game development company in the Czech Republic. The company developed Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis, ARMA series and DayZ. * Daniel Vávra — author of Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven. He also founded

, which developed Kingdom Come: Deliverance. *

Jakub Dvorský Jakub Dvorský (born August 19, 1978) is a designer and video game creator from Brno, Czech Republic. In 2003, he founded Amanita Design, a small independent game developing studio based in the Czech Republic. Life and career Between 1994–1997 ...

— CEO of the independent video game company

, developers of

and

. * Miloš Endrle — CTO and founder of Geewa, a company awarded the Red Herring 100 Europe award. *Lukáš Macura — founder and CEO of

Cinemax Cinemax is an American pay television, cable, and satellite television network owned by the Home Box Office, Inc. subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. Developed as a companion "maxi-pay" service complementing the offerings shown on parent ...

. He is also responsible for Database of Czech and Slovak Video games. * František Fuka — programmer and musician who made video games for the

during the 1980s and 1990s. Currently working as a film translator, preparing English language movies for Czech release. *Lukáš Ladra — founder and first editor-in-chief of

Excalibur Excalibur () is the legendary sword of King Arthur, sometimes also attributed with magical powers or associated with the rightful sovereignty of Britain. It was associated with the Arthurian legend very early on. Excalibur and the Sword in th ...

, the original Czech video gaming magazine. *Marek Rosa — founder and CEO of Keen Software House, developers Space Engineers.

References

External links

A database of video games developed in the Czech Republic
{{Video games by country *