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[IbizaPocholo]

German games fund to offer government support for up to 50% of dev costs

The German government has revealed a major funding programme for the national games industry, which will allow companie…

www.gamesindustry.biz

The German government has revealed a major funding programme for the national games industry, which will allow companies to claim back as much as 50% of development costs.

The programme was confirmed by German federal minister Andreas Scheuer to coincide with the start of Gamescom 2020.

A pilot version of the fund has existed since June 2019, but developers were limited to grants of a maximum of €200,000, pending approvals by German and EU governing bodies.

With those approvals secured, the fund is now suitable for "small- and large-budget games." Companies will be able to submit applications for a "non-repayable grant" from September 28, 2020.

"The launch of the major games fund means Germany can finally become internationally competitive as a games location," said Felix Falk, managing director of the German industry trade body Game. "This is the starting signal for our comeback."

 

[Axonometri]

I got German blood, I'm applying.

 

[CamHostage]

I was just wondering about this, thinking about Gamescom being held recently, the "German" Games Convention... are there any working game development studios out there?

The only name that comes to mind right away was Factor 5, and they've been dead for a decade. I assumed there would be some recognizable studios working in Germany, as the country has roots in the old-school scener days of gaming, but then it never established itself as either a specialist-design country or a subcontractor factory country like some places on the map are known for. It feels like a country that should have a strong presence in gaming, and hopefully this fund might help get some business going, but not many projects or studios are ringing German bells in my head without Googling it...

...Looks like Ubisoft does have a few game development studios based in Germany: Blue Byte (oh, of course!), and Ubisoft Germany in Dusseldorf (they're apparently on the WatchDogs team,) a Ubisoft Berlin (ran by of Blue Byte but working on Far Cry) and a smaller Ubisoft Mainz office (working as a substudio for Blue Byte.)

Then there's CryTek (big duh on my part!), home of the CryEngine and Crysis franchise (and the most representative of the "precision German engineering" that I think of when I think of Factor 5 and the to-the-metal Euro-style game development company. Black Forest Games (again, duh), who did Giana Sisters Twisted Dreams, Fade to Silence, and most recently the Destroy All Humans remaster. There's Deck13 who did Lords of the Fallen and The Surge, there's Daedalic who produce a lot of adventure-type games and develop stuff like Deponia and the new Gollum game, there's Egosoft making X4 and the rest of the Xs, Piranha Bytes with Risen and maybe a new Gothic, Keen Games with Sacred 3 and Portal Knights, and I didn't know this but Yager Games from Dreadnaught and Spec Ops The Line.

So, there's a bit of a tour of the map for us, if you will. Did I miss notable games/studios?

 

[Hudo]

I was just wondering about this, thinking about Gamescom being held recently, the "German" Games Convention... are there any working game development studios out there?

The only name that comes to mind right away was Factor 5, and they've been dead for a decade. I assumed there would be some recognizable studios working in Germany, as the country has roots in the old-school scener days of gaming, but then it never established itself as either a specialist-design country or a subcontractor factory country like some places on the map are known for. It feels like a country that should have a strong presence in gaming, and hopefully this fund might help get some business going, but not many projects or studios are ringing German bells in my head without Googling it...

...Looks like Ubisoft does have a few game development studios based in Germany: Blue Byte (oh, of course!), and Ubisoft Germany in Dusseldorf (they're apparently on the WatchDogs team,) a Ubisoft Berlin (ran by of Blue Byte but working on Far Cry) and a smaller Ubisoft Mainz office (working as a substudio for Blue Byte.)

Then there's CryTek (big duh on my part!), home of the CryEngine and Crysis franchise (and the most representative of the "precision German engineering" that I think of when I think of Factor 5 and the to-the-metal Euro-style game development company. Black Forest Games (again, duh), who did Giana Sisters Twisted Dreams, Fade to Silence, and most recently the Destroy All Humans remaster. There's Deck13 who did Lords of the Fallen and The Surge, there's Daedalic who produce a lot of adventure-type games and develop stuff like Deponia and the new Gollum game, there's Egosoft making X4 and the rest of the Xs, Piranha Bytes with Risen and maybe a new Gothic, Keen Games with Sacred 3 and Portal Knights, and I didn't know this but Yager Games from Dreadnaught and Spec Ops The Line.

So, there's a bit of a tour of the map for us, if you will. Did I miss notable games/studios?

Well, KingArt Games are doing Iron Harvest! There are also some mid-size and smaller studios that are mainly working with THQ Nordic and its subsidiaries, like Gaming Minds (Patrician and Port Royale series) or Realmforge (they're currently working on a spiritual successor to Startopia) or Grimlore Games (they're currently working on the Spellforce series). I think Digital Arrow are still working on a new AquaNox and Limbic Entertainment who did Tropico 6 recently. And then you've got some Indie devs like Overhype Studios (Battle Brothers) or the guys who did Cross Code.

 

[German Hops]

As a guy with a German username, I'm ok with this.

 

[FeiRR]

CDPR might have serious staffing problems for their next games if this happens.