Develop 100: 10 things you’ll learn about European start-ups

The newest edition of Develop 100, which will list Europe’s most promising games and technology start-ups, is out tomorrow – and some of the companies featured are genuinely fascinating.

The Develop team has had a lot of fun finding out about these up-and-coming studios and service providers. And while you’ll have to wait until tomorrow for the full list, we could resist giving you an insight into some of the more interesting – and amusing – things we discovered: 

1. 64 of our 100 European start-ups are based outside of the UK.
2. 25 are based in the Nordic region, and 13 of these are in Finland.
3. One Finnish start-up has raised more than £10m from investment since it formed in 2011.
4. A Spanish studio has received backing from Real Madrid for its upcoming second title. It’s a football game, obviously.
5. One Danish firm spent its first seven months working (and living) in an unused university classroom.
6. One UK company makes £12m per month from in-app purchases for its first title.
7. An Italian start-up has chosen to develop its first project, an unannounced story-driven first-person adventure, for Xbox One and PS4.
8. One of Germany’s newest studios was set up by several former EA Phenomic employees after the company was closed by Electronic Arts.
9. An Austrian technology firm is developing a locomotion device that will work with Virtual Reality technology, allowing players to control their in-game movement by running and jumping in real-life.
10. The first title from one Dutch developer was a pole vaulting game where the athlete is propelled by farts brought on by bad TexMex food.

The Develop 100: European Start-ups goes live tomorrow. You’ll be able to read it through the browser here, or within the Develop magazine app on the Apple Newsstand, and it’s completely free.

Develop 100 is published in association with Ukie, the UK games trade body for publishers and developers.

In the meantime – You can read our previous Develop 100 charting the UK’s top studios. The guide also includes a glossary of the country’s 500+ studios.

You can read it through the browser here, or on the App Store.