In 2005 the NLGD Festival of Games took place for the first time in cooperation with diverse groups in the area of Utrecht. The centre of the event was the green-lighted Dom Tower, in the middle of the city. Utrecht gave ‘green light’ for gaming and positioned itself as Utrecht city of games. Research indicates that Utrecht has the biggest concentration of game enterprises and training centres in the field of gaming.

In 2006 the NLGD Festival of Games took place for the second time, supported by subsidy of the city of Utrecht and the province of Utrecht and the Ministry of Economic Affairs. The event consisted of a conference and an expo focussed on professionals in the game-industry. The NLGD also hosted a contest for young game-developers in cooperation with the Cliniclowns Foundation. The big crowd-puller was NLGD Games in Concert in Vredenburg, where the Metropole Orchestra played game music in a full house.

On the basis of the great success of 2005 and 2006 and the growth which the event has gown through, made the city of Utrecht, the province of Utrecht and the Ministry of Economic Affairs decide to grant a subsidy for the length of four years. The underlying argumentation is that the social and economic relevance of the game-industry is growing very fast. The Netherlands play an ever increasing part in the international playing-field.