Cyprus: Gaming's Quiet Superpower

Written by Phillip Black , Game Economist, Game Economist Consulting. On Tuesday, Nov 4th, at approximately 6 am, one pretend Swede, one French-Canadian, and two Norwegian Forest Cats will board an airplane in Stockholm. The destination?

  I was skeptical of the claim, but after attending GDCy and interviewing the who's-who of the Cyprus game scene, I’m starting to become a believer. This small Mediterranean island has quietly become one of Europe's most lively and confusing hubs for game development. A combination of political shitshows in surrounding regions has created this wild mixing pot of Russians, Ukrainians, Israelis, Cypriots, Turks, and now one pretend Swede.

Wish me luck. ) has over 400 employees stationed on the island. Agglomeration effects that economists talk about are already at work, and spillovers from these development hubs mean more startups and, down the line, more big firms.

The machine is just getting started. Despite Sweden ranking among the top 5 in trust and despite endless conversations about the country's homogeneity, the game development scene is siloed. No one talks to each other.

This is despite DICE, the creator of Battlefield, spawning something like 30% of the game development scene within 2km of the physical office: Fatshark, Ubisoft, Epic, Avalanche, Paradox, Outsiders, MAG, Snowprint… I still remember writing messages on a poster board in the DICE office and putting them in the window, to which Avalanche employees would respond with their own messages. Seriously, that was the most communication I've had with developers outside my employment firm. Yet, it seems that as soon as someone gets a person number in Finland, Supercell sends them a Tableau login.

Cyprus is starting from a different and healthier foot. Leonid Zhuravskyi , CEO of MysteryTag, said he’s found Cyprus to have a rare sense of openness - competitors who still share notes over coffee or wine. Aleksandr Bogdanov , CEO of Studio 42, spoke about Cyprus as a new mixing pot, with veterans from Turkey, Ukraine, and Russia now calling Limassol home.

He believes the island could rival Istanbul as the next tech powerhouse. Then came Andrey Feinberg (Kuznetsov), an independent advisor who's seen the investment side of the story. Despite tougher global conditions, he says Cyprus remains busy, with founders rebuilding after relocation and finding stability in a global business that rarely offers it.

GDCy founders Tim Fadeev and Andrey Ivashentsev shared the story of how a single pub meetup evolved into the region’s largest developer festival. They credit the island’s mix of sunlight, low taxes, and openness to business. Cyprus, they say, isn’t just a haven for founders - it’s starting to feel like Europe’s next creative cluster.