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The German Computer Game Prize rolls out the blue carpet for politics – a symbiosis that benefits both sides.
Dear GamesWirtschaft reader,
Dear GamesWirtschaft reader,
There is a certain irony in the fact that the triple winner at yesterday's German Computer Game Awards 2024 was honored and celebrated in Munich – but it is highly likely that it would not have been created in Bavaria in the first place can.
Because the three-time award-winning horror action game Ad infinitum The Berlin-based Hekate GmbH has an age rating of 18 and is therefore aimed at an adult audience. The Promote-and-let-be-promoted-Free State, on the other hand, only subsidizes games that… maximum a USK 16 can be expected.
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Is called: If the game developers had founded the game not in Berlin, but in… let's say… Bayreuth, Passau or Augsburg, they would probably have hit the wall with their debut in the concept phase. The game description whispers: “Play a German soldier haunted by the horrors of World War I. Horrific creatures, death traps and insane secrets mark your path through the battlefield. The boundaries between nightmare and reality, between truth and lies are shattered as all hell breaks loose!”
The entertainment software self-control warns for reasons “drastic violence” as well as “Horror and/or disgust effects”. The Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg had apparently understood and supported the underlying anti-war approach Ad infinitum In 2019 and 2020 with a total of €280,000 – Scheuer's Ministry of Transport contributed €148,675, at that time still in the pilot phase of federal funding.
Fortunately, the Bavarian Prime Minister – who was once head of the CSU media commission – was given the urgent indexing of Counter Strike demanded – not given the imposition of singing the praises of an '18'. Instead, it was coincidence, fate and/or choreography that Markus Söder was able to award a team from his hometown in Frrang, namely Pixel Maniacs, as Studio of the Year.
The busy company is based in the south of Nuremberg – the constituency from where Söder ran quite successfully for the state parliament for almost two decades. During the final group photo, he promised that he would soon pay a visit to the award winners from his own tribe. We will report.
Söder's appearance was tightly timed: Shortly before he was driven up to the Eisbach Studios à la minute around 9 p.m., his employees radioed him by telephone with the key messages that he should definitely include in his laudatory speech – which he then promptly implemented by pointing out the new games concept Green Ministry of Economic Affairs, which was associated with warm dislike, took off.
After he gave the bodyguards of the State Criminal Police Office the friendly advice to take an example from the formidable appearance of the stomping around Gamescom transformer Gamebot (“SO “What an LKA officer looks like…”), Söder rushed off to his next appointment in his BMW 7 Series. At this point, the event photos had already been taken, which his social media team posted online a few minutes later. Political professionals, what can you say.
The announcement that the Prime Minister and CSU boss would take part in the computer game award again after 2018 caused wild discussions in advance: Really now? Is that necessary? Who invited him? And much more important: Can you unload it again?
Answer: No. The Free State alternates annually with Berlin as host of the German Computer Game Awards. The prize money of €800,000 comes from Habeck's coffers, but the actual award is a state matter. And if the taxpayer is already paying for catering, technology and moderation, then it would be somehow strange if the sovereign were conspicuous by his absence.
And of course the truth also includes: Germany's games industry needs politics – much more than the other way around. Ultimately, the aim is to avoid any gaps in the supply of subsidies: in the last five years alone, the federal and state governments have invested a three-digit million amount in games made in Germany. The fruits can be found, among other things, in: Enshrouded, Anno 1800, Pioneers of Pagonia, Shadow Gambit and in the game of the year Everspace 2 view.
In my opinion, the computer game prize has made a significant contribution to ensuring that the state supports games at all since 2009. The rolled out blue carpet created an opportunity for ministers to shine in the flashlights. This was sometimes shamelessly exploited for excessive self-dramatization, in which the real stars of the evening – namely the game developers – disappeared behind the VIPs' voluminous bouquets of flowers.
A balance has now been found. Politics is on site, but is withdrawn in terms of content and appearance. Nevertheless, one of the inevitable rituals of such events (regardless of whether it is a film award, sportsman of the year, Oscar or DCP) is that extensive pats on the back take place afterwards. Motto: You have to praise yourself before those above rage again.
Let’s take Bavaria’s Digital Minister Fabian Mehringalongside Aiwanger, one of four free voter ministers in Söder's cabinet: The brisk 35-year-old was only sworn in in November 2023 and, from the perspective of the very renowned industry magazine GamesWirtschaft, is already one of the top 10 most important games politicians in 2024.
And even though Mehring has been in office for less than six months, he is keeping an eye on the future “Studio of the Year” Candidate companies Pixel Maniacs (Nuremberg) and Aesir Interactive (Munich) are hosting: “The fact that two Bavarian studios were nominated in this important category shows that the turbo that I ignited for Bavaria’s games industry after taking office has paid off.”
We learn: The C in DCP stands for chutzpah.
Be that as it may: I strongly warn against downplaying the relevance of the computer game prize, as is often done in the public debate. The affection of politicians is still needed – be it in e-sports non-profits, in organizing games trade fairs and conferences or in funding. And this also includes an annual show such as the German Computer Game Prize.
With this in mind, I would like to extend my warmest congratulations to all the winners and nominees.
We wish you a nice weekend
Petra Fröhlich
Editor-in-chief of GamesWirtschaft
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