Strategy: Games Made in Germany

© BMWK

To ensure that the video games industry does not have to face these challenges alone, the Federal Government has introduced two instruments to support it: the German Video Game Award (DCP), which has been conferred in cooperation with the industry association ‘game – Verband der deutschen Games-Branche’ (German Games Industry Association) since 2009, and video game funding launched in 2019.

While funding is a key way of supporting the games industry, it cannot be the sole response to the existing structural challenges. Rather, it is important to take a holistic approach to ‘games in Germany’ and to define guidelines for a video games policy that goes beyond financial support. With this in mind, the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI), which was responsible for games during the last legislative period, developed a ‘Strategy for Germany as a Games Hub’ in dialogue with the relevant stakeholders.

The Games Strategy sets out overarching fields of action for the Federal Government. It lays down plans to highlight the strengths of the video games industry, to identify its weaknesses and to set guidelines for remedial action at a strategic level. The overarching goal is to promote the continued development of Germany as a games Hub and to establish it as a leading market in international competition.

Fields of action and strategic goals
We aim to become a leading market for video games
We support the development of the video game production market
We strengthen innovation through games
We harness the potential of games for society

With the transfer of responsibility for the area of video games from the Federal Ministry of Digital and Transport to the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action in December 2021, we are now implementing the strategy together with the games industry, the other federal ministries and the Länder via specific measures. This includes promoting inward investment and recruiting, e.g. through national and international trade fair stands where contact with foreign investors and skilled professionals can be established in a targeted manner. In addition, we are for example developing specific activities to strengthen networking in the games industry and to promote research and development in this area.

Our common objective is to support the German video games industry in the best way possible and to utilise the potential of digital games culture for society as a whole.!