computer games
Games industry on the up – criticism of the smaller funding pot
Trade fair visitors of the computer and video games fair “Gamescom” in August 2022 in Cologne. photo
©Oliver Berg/dpa
In the middle of next week, thousands of computer game fans will be flocking to Cologne for Gamescon. The local companies grew strongly in the Corona years, which was also due to a Berlin funding pot.
With a view to the federal government’s plans for the games industry, he said: “Germany will not be able to attract companies and create more jobs.”
There has been a federal subsidy pot since 2020 to boost the games industry. At first it was 50 million euros a year, in 2023 it was even 70 million euros after the vote of a Bundestag committee. Funds are allocated in a first-come-first-served manner – whoever comes first is lucky, the others are unlucky. This year ended in May. In order to cover the demand, an estimated 125 million euros would have been necessary.
reduction in funding
The next bad news for the companies came in July, because according to a budget draft by the federal government, only 48.7 million euros in funding will be available in 2024.
“This back and forth in German funding policy is poison for the location,” said Falk. States such as Canada, France and Great Britain have been doing a lot for years to ensure that the largest possible part of the growth industry settles in them. The federal government, on the other hand, lacks such determination for comparable site conditions. The cut is a bad signal to the global industry. This creates uncertainty as to how serious Germany is about the competitiveness of games.
From the point of view of the NRW Media Minister Nathanael Liminski (CDU), the cut is “a major setback for Germany as a games location”. “Our developers and producers need planning security in order to remain competitive.” Under the current conditions, Germany will not be able to keep up with other countries such as Canada or France. “The federal government should stop swinging big words and start showing the games companies in Germany a perspective,” said the state politician, whose party sits on the opposition bench in the Bundestag.
According to industry representative Falk, it is clear that no new funding applications will be approved for a year and a half. Because the almost 50 million euros in the coming year are only intended to meet claims from old applications – game developers receive the funding in slices, i.e. year after year.
“Do we really want to catch up with the world leaders in Germany or are we satisfied with the lower ranks? This question needs to be answered,” said Falk, referring to an actually “great movement” in the industry that has progressed in recent years and on a internationally competitive level had been reached.
Growth industry with 12,000 employees
Numbers prove the upswing: Since 2020, the number of games companies in Germany has skyrocketed by 46 percent to 908. Among them are larger companies such as Ubisoft, Innogames, Wooga and Gameforge, but also many small developers. According to the association, the German games industry now has around 12,000 employees, a fifth more than in 2020.
According to industry representative Falk, work has become more attractive. There are young people who want to tell stories and don’t want to do this with books or films, but with games. “People have decided to tell it interactively, to tell it socially and to tell it together,” said the association’s executive director. “That’s the great power of games.”
Habeck at Gamescom
At the world’s largest computer game fair Gamescom, which starts on August 23, 1220 exhibitors will present themselves, roughly speaking 300,000 people are likely to come. Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck is also registered. Can the industry hope that the Greens might still campaign for an increase in funding? A spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of Economics did not want to nurture this hope on Tuesday. The 70 million euros this year were “a one-off and significant increase”. The 48.7 million euros now proposed for 2024 would be “roughly at the level of 2022” – at that time it was 50 million.
In fact, it was only through the vote of a Bundestag committee that the said 70 million euros came – theoretically it is still possible that the 48.7 million euros now proposed by the federal government can still be increased in the parliamentary process. Industry representative Falk also referred to this procedure. Minister Habeck will “certainly not bring any suitcases of money,” he said, emphasizing that in addition to direct cash injections, tax relief would also be advisable – development costs should be tax-deductible, which would boost investments.