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While the impasse for Germany's game developers continues, the Ministry of Economic Affairs wants to present details on games funding from 2025.
Almost a year ago – in May 2023 – the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection (BMWK) put the brakes on the brakes, which caught local studios and publishers off guard. The message: The funds for games funding have been completely exhausted and planned. Because the Bundestag did not approve any additional funds for 2024, the funding stop did not only apply to 2023, but until at least the end of this year. The sudden stop in applications has caused uncertainty and frustration in the industry.
The ministry of Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) is now using the 'forced break' to prepare for a funding restart in 2025. On Wednesday (April 17th, from 3 p.m.), Parliamentary State Secretary Michael Kellner (Greens) wants to present the revised funding guidelines Industry association Twitch channel imagine and in this context also on “Change ideas” – which go back, among other things, to an evaluation report by external auditors that was published shortly before Christmas.
It is already clear that the new directive will not be a sure-fire success. In this case, too, the BMWK is dependent on the traffic light coalition members and the powerful budget committee to release the millions necessary for this in the fall – especially in light of the strained cash situation and the controversial debt brake, which Finance Minister and FDP leader Christian Lindner urgently wants to adhere to .
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There is still no decision regarding a €100 million package that the Culture and Media Commissioner Claudia Roth (Greens) is to use from 2024 for the benefit of game developers: The Chancellery is still in the process Coordination with the Habeck department – much to the annoyance of the opposition, which is calling for more speed.
