The current ongoing Russo-Ukraine war has caused numerous ripples in Ukrainians’ lives. This has also affected the Kyiv-based game developers Frogwares studio. We have seen excellent games like the Sherlock Holmes series from this developer. But, owing to the current situation, most of their team have either run out of the country or shifted to remote corners where the war cannot reach them. The team is divided, and thus, all their projects are on a strict pause.
In this situation, Epic Games, the company behind Fortnite and the Unreal Engine, came to the rescue. The Ukrainian studio recently qualified for the Epic MegaGrant, and, thus, got a huge fund from the company. Epic is maintaining a strong position against Russia in this war. The fund from the company will help Frogwares relocate most of their employees outside the country, and thereby help them continue the projects they are currently working on.
Frogwares had been public about the proceedings of the war. It became clear the studio was not doing great in the capital city which was becoming a training ground for the Russian military. The tweet embedded above is one such daily status update from the studio, in which they depict their helpless state. The Epic MegaGrant was set up by Epic Games to support games using the company’s technologies like Unreal Engine in their games.
Grants from the company can range anywhere button $5,000 to $500,000. Although Frogwares did not declare the exact amount they received, it should be enough to relocate their Kyiv office. To clarify, the gaming studio has an office in Dublin and Kyiv. They were founded in 2000 and have delivered some promising titles on literary pieces like Holmes and Lovecraft. The last creation of the studio was Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One. It was a polished detective based on a much younger Mr. Holmes.