Games funding in Germany: The biggest projects in 2024

by

Economics Minister Robert Habeck, Ubisoft spokeswoman Nicole Lorenz and Ubisoft Blue Byte boss Benedikt Grindel at the BMWK stand at Gamescom 2023 (Photo: GamesWirtschaft)

Advertisement

Games funding is suspended? Not quite. The federal government has also budgeted a double-digit million amount for 2024.

The fact that the Ministry of Economic Affairs has not accepted any further applications for games funding since May 2023 and at least until the end of 2024 does not mean that the transfers to Germany's game developers have dried up.

The grants granted are distributed proportionally over the development time of the game, i.e. over two, three, sometimes four years. This mechanism explains why almost €47 million is budgeted for in the 2024 budget of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection (BMWK), which will be transferred to the studios step by step.

Including the pilot phase, state games funding has existed since 2019, i.e. for almost five years. 570 individual projects are listed in the official subsidy database. The planned completion extends over the following years (rounded):

Advertisement

  • 2020: approx. 40 games
  • 2021: approx. 180 games
  • 2022: approx. 100 games
  • 2023: approx. 100 games
  • 2024: approx. 110 games
  • 2025: approx. 40 games
  • 2026: about 15 games

Translated: Three quarters of all projects have already been completed and – at least theoretically – on the market. In fact, in many cases the trail is lost: the websites and social media channels are orphaned or outdated, studios no longer exist, Steam entries have been deleted.

Conversely, there are a number of supported titles that have met with great commercial response, such as the console version of Anno 1800, Enshrouded or Pioneers of Pagonia.

The largest projects with funding amounts of more than €1.5 million are listed in the table below: 7 of these 32 games are already on the market, 2 were canceled prematurely.

Games funding 2024: More than 30 games projects will be subsidized with more than €1.5 million (as of April 23, 2024)
Games funding 2024: More than 30 games projects will be subsidized with more than €1.5 million (as of April 23, 2024)

Games funding 2024: file number XY unclear

The distribution of the funding amounts over the term inevitably means that the Ministry of Economic Affairs will also have to plan appropriate budgets for 2025. But when, to what extent and under what conditions new projects can be funded again is completely unclear – especially since the Ministry of Economic Affairs is working on restructuring the funding system. The first proposals are on the table; The federal states are already storming.

The Federal Commissioner for Culture and Media in the Chancellery is also sitting on a pot of €33 million, which is to be invested in games development in 2024. However, the specific purpose and schedule are still unclear: the ministries are located “in coordination”it says from Berlin.

As of: April 23, 2024 / AT = Working title
Date = end of term (month/year)

  1. Ubisoft Mainz: Placeholders (AT) – 11/25 – €5.7 million
  2. Fishlabs: Project Black (8/26) – €5.5 million Set
  3. Deck13 Interactive: Foxtrot (AT) – 11/26 – €5 million
  4. Gaming Minds: Railway Empire 2 (including DLCs) – 7/25 – €3.3 million Appeared
  5. Piranha Bytes: WIKI6 (AT) – 1/26 – €3.2 million
  6. Black Forest Games: The Last Ronin – 5/25 – €3.2 million
  7. Ubisoft Mainz: Anno 1800 (DLCs + console) – 3/23 – €2.6 million Appeared
  8. King Art: table top (AT) – 1/26 – €2.6 million
  9. Grimlore Games: Titan Quest 2 – 12/24 – €2.6 million
  10. Chimera Entertainment: Songs of Silence (incl. DLC) – 7/24 – €2.4 million
  11. King Art: shooting iron (AT) – 6/25 – €2.2 million
  12. Black Forest Games: Destroy All Humans! 2 – 5/22 – €2.2 million Appeared
  13. Daedalic Entertainment: It's Magic (AT) – 8/24 – €2 million Set
  14. Mimimi: Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew – 9/23 – €2 million Appeared
  15. Keen Games: Enshrouded – 8/23 – €2 million Appeared
  16. Mobile Games: Iron Fist (AT) – 4/26 – €2 million
  17. Gaming Minds: Tropical 7 – 3/26 – €2 million
  18. Egosoft: X-26 (AT) – 3/26 – €2 million
  19. KAIKO: Project 5 (AT) – 6/25 – €2 million
  20. InnoGames: Project 19 (AT) – 5/25 – €1.9 million
  21. World builder: Habanero (AT) – 5/25 – €1.9 million
  22. Bytro Labs: Project 10 (AT) – 4/24 – €1.9 million
  23. Realmforge Studios: Dungeons 4 – 10/23 – €1.8 million Appeared
  24. Independent Arts: Project Orca (AT) – 10/25 – €1.8 million
  25. Limbic Entertainment: Cove (AT) – 5/24 – €1.8 million
  26. Gaming Minds: genesis (AT) – 7/26 – €1.7 million
  27. Gentlymad Studios: End zone 2 – 7/25 – €1.7 million
  28. Welevel: SolidLake (AT) – 3/26 – €1.7 million
  29. Mad Aboud Pandas: Yerba Buena – 10/25 – €1.6 million
  30. Rockfish Games: Everspace 2: The Companions – 11/24 – €1.6 million
  31. Claymore Game Studios: Commandos Origins – 3/24 – €1.5 million
  32. Snowprint: Warhammer 40,000: Tacticus – 7/22 – €1.5 million Appeared

Advertisement