Federal government wants to drive games development forward

The federal government wants to make germany a more attractive location for the development of computer games.

Germany is one of the most important international sales markets for digital games, and in europe it is even the most important, said transport minister andreas scheuer (CSU), who is also responsible for digital infrastructure in the federal cabinet, in berlin on wednesday.

Despite its excellent preconditions, germany has so far been less relevant as a location for developers. "Together we are facing the challenge of further developing germany as a games location and establishing it as a leading market in international competition," said scheuer.

Of the 37 digital games that will be released in germany in 2019, more than 100.000 times, only one came from germany. "Only five percent of the sales generated in germany were generated by german companies," said scheuer. In order to change this, a coordinated location marketing is needed. The federal government will work to achieve this as part of its games strategy.

Scheuer emphasized the importance of gamescom. The games fair in colonia is a showcase for germany as a business location. "It shows in concentrated form how efficient, innovative and creative the industry is in germany."The german computer games award (dcp) is also a successful format that is financially demanded from the ministry. With the grant for the DCP and the demand program for games developers, the federal government is supporting the industry with a total of more than 250 million euros.

On the one hand, the aim is to attract international companies to germany. At the same time one wants to demand companies from germany in such a way that they can develop into large enterprises. For this, suitable "hubs" and other alternative offices had to be created. Furthermore, it was a matter of optimizing possibilities for crowdfunding and other new financing models. The shortage of specialists must be prevented by media competence training and foreign specialists. To this end, existing training and study programs had to be more strongly focused on games, and business know-how within the industry had to be strengthened through further training programs.

Scheuer and digital minister of state dorothee bar (CSU) also called for the potential of games to be exploited for the benefit of society. Thus, computer games had to be designed as a barrier-free medium for all social groups. In addition, the cooperation and integration of the games industry into the arts and culture industry should be demanded. So-called "serious games" should be recognized as an effective aid in all educational areas.

According to the games industry association, more than half of germans between primary school and retirement age play computer and video games. A total of 58 percent of people between the ages of 6 and 69 use consoles, pcs or smartphones to immerse themselves in digital worlds. In the corona year 2020 alone, around five percent more people in germany discovered computer and video games for the first time. Minister scheuer spoke of 34 million people in germany who play digital games.

Game managing director felix falk called the strategy "an important milestone". Computer and video games are no longer just recognized by politicians as a driver of innovation, a cultural asset and an economic factor, but are also to be given correspondingly broad support. "In germany, we have not yet achieved a level playing field with other games locations, but the games strategy shows that we are on the right track."