Ukrainian developer Frogwares, the studio behind the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes series, has announced it is relocating some staff out of the war-torn country with money provided by Fortnite studio Epic Games. Frogwares received an Epic MegaGrant, and it’s using the money to help its workers move out of Kyiv and into other, more remote regions of Ukraine or out of the country altogether.
“The war has negatively affected our production workflows and led to the partial disorganization of our studio,” Frogwares said. The funds from the Epic MegaGrant will be crucial in relocating employees to safer areas and will help those who’ve moved to remote regions of Ukraine, or to other nations in the EU, maintain their financial stability.”
We are proud to share that we’ve received an Epic MegaGrant from Epic Games. #EpicMegaGrants
Read our announcement for all the information: pic.twitter.com/XwShdGaQbO
— Frogwares (@Frogwares) May 16, 2022
The ongoing war between Russian and Ukraine has also created a “financial gap” at Frogwares that has impacted the company’s bottom line. The money from Epic will help the company acquire new “specialized equipment” for game development and to migrate the company’s data infrastructure.
“In short, the Epic MegaGrant will be used to soften the financial blow from the war and stay on our feet, and we’d like to thank Epic Games for their support during this trying time,” Frogwares said.
Frogwares did not disclose the specific size of its grant from Epic, but it sounds substantial.
Epic awards its MegaGrants for “creative, noteworthy, and innovative projects” built “in and around” Epic’s own Unreal Engine. Epic also rewards grants to projects that “enhance the open source 3D graphics ecosystem” in general.
Epic says its MegaGrants are mainly used for supporting a project “directly,” but the company will, on occasion, award grants to help fund hardware purchases. Epic says it alone has “sole discretion” of what it will approve grants for, and helping Frogwares staff stay safe seems to be part of that.
Frogwares’ latest release was Sherlock Holmes Chapter One, which was released in 2021.
Source: Gamespot
