Following the success of the „Made in Germany“ Steam Sales organized by Games Germany with more than 200 games each in 2022 and 2023, the alliance of German games funding and network institutions is organizing a new sale for the end of June 2024. The aim is to present the great diversity of German games on Steam, the most popular online distribution platform for computer games, and to enable the participating games companies to increase their sales.
Therefore, Games Germany is looking for German developers, studios and publishers who would like to submit their games for the sale. Any company headquartered in Germany can participate.
The deadline for submissions is April 18, 2024 at 11:59 pm.
According to the provider, Steam registers over 62 million active users every day. The Games Germany Steam Sale creates visibility for computer games from Germany, leading to more sales and generating attention for upcoming releases.
Further information about the Steam Sale and the conditions of participation can be found at: https://www.games-germany.de/
Games Germany – Regional Funds and Networks offers all parties involved in the games industry information on funding and financing as well as development, and production conditions and publishing in Germany. In addition, Games Germany – Regional Funds and Networks supports the German games industry with their presence at major national and international industry trade fairs. The underlying model is based on Focus Germany, the umbrella organization of the eight regional film foundations in Germany.
Nicht zuletzt der zweite Förderantragsstopp im Mai hat die Frage aufgeworfen, wie Deutschland bei den Rahmenbedingungen für die Spiele-Entwicklung im internationalen Vergleich dasteht. Sind die von der Bundesregierung im Koalitionsvertrag und in der Games-Strategie selbst gesteckten Ziele, den Games-Standort zu stärken und Deutschland als einen Leitmarkt im internationalen Wettbewerb zu etablieren, mit den aktuellen Rahmenbedingungen überhaupt realistisch zu erreichen? Um diese Fragen zu beantworten, hat der game – Verband der deutschen Games-Branche die Studie „Die deutsche Games-Förderung im internationalen Vergleich“ in Auftrag gegeben.
Die Untersuchung wurde von Nordicity (Kanada) in Zusammenarbeit mit Goldmedia (Deutschland) in Kooperation mit Games Germany, dem Verbund der Länderförderer und Ländernetzwerke erstellt. Die Studie zeigt dabei auf: Aktuell gibt es große Unterschiede zwischen Deutschland und den internationalen Top-Standorten bei den Games-Förderprogrammen. Etablierte Produktionsstandorte wie Kanada, Frankreich oder Großbritannien setzen gezielt auf eine steuerliche Games-Förderung. Dadurch entfällt in den meisten Fällen auch die Aufstellung eines festen Förderbudgets im Haushalt, das ausgeschöpft sein kann, wenn die benötigten Mittel die zur Verfügung gestellten übersteigen.
Die Games-Förderung steht in den Ländern mit steuerlichen Fördermodellen hingegen dauerhaft zur Verfügung und ist damit planbarer und verlässlicher. Dieser Ansatz funktioniert international dabei so gut, dass auch andere Standorte wie Irland oder Australien, die international eine größere Rolle bei Games-Entwicklungen spielen wollen, auf dieses Modell setzen. Deutschland hat hingegen ein Fondsmodell mit einem festen jährlichen Budget gewählt. Die Folge: Unternehmen wissen nicht, ob Fördermittel zur Verfügung stehen werden, wenn sie diese benötigen. Dadurch lässt sich mit der Games-Förderung in Deutschland nicht verlässlich planen.
„Die Studie ‚Die deutsche Games-Förderung im internationalen Vergleich‘ ist ein deutlicher Weckruf: Die Rahmenbedingungen für die Spiele-Entwicklung in Deutschland sind international nicht konkurrenzfähig. Damit wird die Bundesregierung ihre selbstgesteckten Ziele, Deutschland zu einem Leitmarkt zu entwickeln, nicht erreichen können, wenn sie sich nicht stärker an internationalen Standards orientiert. Welche das sind, zeigt die Studie nun schwarz auf weiß“, sagt Felix Falk, Geschäftsführer des game – Verband der deutschen Games-Branche. „Es muss der Anspruch Deutschlands sein, auf einem der dynamischsten und größten Medienmärkte der Welt nicht nur zuzuschauen, sondern mitzuspielen. Dafür braucht es kurzfristig für 2024 die Erhöhung der Fördermittel auf 125 Millionen Euro, um den aktuellen Förderantragsstopp wieder aufheben zu können. Außerdem braucht es zusätzlich eine steuerliche Förderung wie sie laut der vorliegenden Studie an nahezu allen erfolgreichen Games-Standorten längst Standard ist. Nur sie schafft die Planungssicherheit und Zuverlässigkeit, die Deutschland dauerhaft zu einem der international erfolgreichsten Games-Standorte machen kann.“
Was diese Unterschiede bei den Förderprogrammen in der Praxis bedeuten, zeigt der zweite Teil der Studie. Anhand dreier typischer Beispiel-Budgets für Spiele-Produktionen, wurde mittels eines wirtschaftlichen Modells durchgerechnet, wie die tatsächlichen Förderquoten an den einzelnen Standorten aussehen. Das Ergebnis: Selbst bei bestehender Förderung kommt Deutschland aktuell weder bei kleineren Produktionen noch bei Entwicklungen mit Budgets im zwei- oder gar dreistelligen Millionenbereich, über das internationale Mittelmaß hinaus. Für die Zeit des derzeit mehr als 18 Monate lang drohenden Förderantragsstopps liegt Deutschland sogar an letzter Stelle. Der Vergleich zeigt zudem, dass nicht nur etablierte Top-Standorte wie Kanada oder Großbritannien in der Regel deutlich bessere Rahmenbedingungen bieten, sondern auch Länder wie Irland, die erst vor kurzem in die Games-Förderung eingestiegen sind, um ihren Produktionsanteil auf dem internationalen Wachstumsmarkt zu steigern.
Die Studie „Die deutsche Games-Förderung im internationalen Vergleich“ wurde von Nordicity und Goldmedia erstellt. Auftraggeber ist der game-Verband in Kooperation mit Games Germany. In Games Germany engagieren sich folgende Institutionen: FFF Bayern, Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, gamearea-Hessen, Gamecity Hamburg, Games/Bavaria, Game Up!Rheinland Pfalz, HessenFilm und Medien GmbH, medianet berlinbrandenburg e.V., Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, MFG Medien- und Filmgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg, Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung und nordmedia – Film- und Mediengesellschaft Niedersachsen/Bremen.
We would like to sincerely thank all participants and visitors of the Games Germany reception in cooperation with the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection (BMWK). Your enthusiastic attendance and engagement made this event a complete success.
Gamescom 2023 was a remarkable platform to exchange ideas, make contacts, and showcase the remarkable achievements of German game developers. The Games Germany reception allowed for insightful discussions on current industry topics.
We would like to express our sincere thanks to all individuals and organizations who contributed to the success of this event.
The second Games Germany Steam Sale continued the success of the first one.
Until June 29, 2023, more than 215 games „Made in Germany“ could be purchased on the platform at a reduced price. Among them are a large number of well-known games and studios. Some of the winners of the German Computer Game Award and the German Developer Award will be represented at the Games Germany Steam event. Among others, „Chained Echoes“ by Matthias Linda, „Everspace 2“ by ROCKFISH Games, „Anno 1800“ by Ubisoft Mainz, „Hunt: Showdown“ by Crytek, „Dorfromantik“ by Toukana Interactive and „Signalis“ by rose-engine.
The Steam Sale was initiated and organized by Games Germany, the association of German games promotion and network institutions. The goal of Games Germany is to present the great variety of German games on the online distribution platform Steam to users worldwide and to support German studios in the distribution of their games. Major German publishers such as Crytek, Deck13 Interactive GmbH, Daedalic Entertainment, Assemble Entertainment and THQ Nordic are also making their titles available for the „Made in Germany“ sale starting June 22.
According to the manufacturer, Steam has over 69 million active users every day. Participation in this sale event offers developers the chance to expand the international reach of their games and increase their name recognition.
After last year’s great success, Games Germany will bring back a “Made in Germany” Steam Sale this summer! Therefore, we are looking for games from German developers to celebrate their creativity.
The Sale is set for the end of June 2023. We want to showcase the vast variety of games made in Germany, so don’t hesitate to apply as long as you are a studio or a publisher with a head office in Germany.
To participate in this Steam event, please fill out this form by May 12, 2023.
To guarantee a certain quality, the Steam reviews of the submitted games should be at least mostly positive (in individual cases, or if your game is reviewed positively by Steam users but doesn’t have enough reviews to generate a user rating, an exception can be made to this rule).
Each developer is allowed to submit 2 items in total (you’re free to choose if you want to feature already released or upcoming games to generate Wishlist entries; item can refer to your game or bundle). Publishers are allowed to submit more than 2 items, as long as they are developed by different devs with a head office in Germany.
Please note: It will not be possible to consider all submissions.
Need help finding your app ID? Go to the Steam page of your game, check the URL.
The app ID is included in the URL between app/…/game title, e.g.
About Games Germany – Regional Funds and Networks:Games Germany is a cooperation of funding and network institutions from different parts of Germany due to the federal political system. Under the umbrella of Games Germany (GG), these local game institutions are represented within one united national appearance.
This November representatives from our Games Germany members of Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia have been visiting the fast growing games conference “Game Rome” in Italy. Within our round table talk “Connecting Across Borders – Working Together as Networking and Funding Agencies in Germany – and Europe?” on the second conference day we focused on introducing Games Germany and the federal structure of German games business development services to Italian game developer and local institutions. We were very pleased to rise some valuable questions and we managed to start a small discussion about the different landscapes of games industry and media politics in different countries. In Germany the networking and funding institutions are responsible for specific regions within Germany (e.g. Bavaria, Berlin, Hamburg, North Rhine-Westphalia etc.). We founded Games Germany to cooperate under one umbrella brand. With Games Germany we support national and international events, communicate with international partners and provide relevant insights on the German games industry. We are on our way to connect with European networking and funding agencies to exchange on challenges and to talk about our different approaches and solutions. Maybe we can even find a way of working together across national borders.
The Finance Committee of the German Bundestag has decided: The federal budget for 2020 and the upcoming years will also include a funding in the amount of 50 million euros to promote computer game development in Germany. Thus, it is now certain that the games funding introduced only last year will continue at federal level. The decision was made in the adjustment meeting of the Finance Committee following a government proposal and finally provides the planning security demanded by game – the German Games Industry Association.
“The securing of games funding is a clear signal for Germany as a games location. The Finance Committee of the German Bundestag provides the important planning security by fixing the budget for the coming years,” says Felix Falk, Managing Director of game. “The decision as well as the broad consensus display the intent across party lines to make Germany a more vital player internationally in the field of computer game development. Now we are awaiting the successful notification of the funding directive by the European Union so that the numerous new projects in Germany can be put into action. As games industry, we are waiting in the wings.”
The introduction of a games funding at the federal level was already agreed upon in the coalition agreement between government parties CDU, CSU and SPD. Last year, the German Bundestag allocated a budget of 50 million euros, located at the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, for this exact purpose for the first time. 380 project proposals were submitted to the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure for the pilot phase of the games funding, the so-called De-minimis-funding. Further 295 companies are already waiting with concrete projects for an EU notification of the final funding directive.
Only a few weeks left for the world’s biggest video game expo – gamescom. Of course, Games Germany and it’s associaton members will be there as well.
As every year, the various regional networks and funding institutions invite to their individual receptions at gamescom. There will be 7 different receptions in total:
Last, but not least, we will battle each other once again at our Games Germany Bobby Car Race on Thursday, August 22nd, at 4pm, starting point B021 C030. The winning Bobby Car will be signed and auctioned for a good cause to support Gaming Aid e.V. – a huge thank you to our sponsor BIG for the provided Bobby Cars.
We’re looking forward to seeing you at our receptions and hope you will be rooting for us at the Bobby Car race. But please, feel free to drop by the various booths anytime and see, what the German games industry has to offer.
Please be aware, unlike the years before, the Made in Germany area switched halls and is now located in hall 4.1 within the business area, which makes it even more accessible for you directly through entrance west, the business entrance.
We will provide you with a complete overview of what will happen at what time in the Made in Germany area next week. But already, please note in your diaries that we have switched halls and are now located in hall 4.1 in the business area. That makes it even more easy for you to reach us, as our hall is directly accessible through entrance west, the business entrance. We are looking forward to seeing you all there at one time or another. Make the best of the gamescom and maybe try to catch up on sleep already beforehand… It´s sure going to be exhausting days 🙂
