COLOGNE (dpa-AFX) – After the start of the world’s largest trade fair for computer and video games, Gamescom in Cologne, the industry aims to overcome its current problems. Due to rising costs and weaker demand, many gaming companies are under pressure. Worldwide, significantly more employees in the industry have already lost their jobs due to the economic situation than in the entire previous year.
In Germany, several smaller studios have also had to close. In turn, Gamescom wants to spread optimism until Sunday and emphasize the growth potential of the industry.
The kickoff for the public fair, which brought 320,000 visitors to the Cologne exhibition halls last year, was the “Opening Night Live” on Tuesday evening, an event featuring a multitude of short promotional films for new games.
The show featured visual journeys into the past, dark contemporary concepts, or apocalyptic visions of the future in which evil must be defeated. Promotional clips were shown for the medieval knight game “Kingdom Come Deliverance II,” the shooter game “Call of Duty: Black Ops 6,” and the zombie slaughter “Dying Light: The Beast.”
In “Dune Awakening,” gamers fight for survival on the desert planet Arrakis, initially for sheer survival and later for power and influence. The creators of the visually opulent game are likely hoping for fans of the films who have already encountered the sandworms on the big screen.
US tech companies are present
The presence of major US corporations was unmistakable at the show on Tuesday evening before more than 4,000 spectators. For example, Amazon’s “Secret Level” series and Netflix’s “Squid Game: Unleashed” were showcased. For the action game “Batman: Arkham Shadow,” inspired by the comic series, one needs the virtual reality headset Quest 3 from Facebook’s Meta. After the show in the evening, the doors to the other exhibition halls are set to open on Wednesday morning to provide access to the booths of different companies.
Gamescom as a crowd puller
Gamescom is a public trade fair, so tickets are available for free sale. However, many company representatives also attend to make contacts and initiate business. Gaming fans can try out new games. Saturday is already sold out, and the event ends on Sunday. By then, many colorfully dressed cosplayers, reminiscent of characters from series and games, are expected to be seen on the fairgrounds.
The fair had its best year in 2019 with 373,000 visitors. The aftermath of COVID-19 then set in. The signs for this year are good, as the fair has expanded its offerings: More than 1,400 exhibitors from 64 countries present new video and computer games as well as other technical innovations and services. That’s 15 percent more than in the previous year.
Dispute over funding policy
Also present at the fair is the Hamburg studio Rockfish Games, which developed the space action game “Everspace 2.” This game, already released last year, received funding of 1.65 million euros from the Federal Ministry of Economics.
“This has guaranteed us our financial and thus also our creative independence,” says company head Michael Schade. He is glad that he did not have to lay off any staff due to economic circumstances. He states that they are aiming for moderate growth.
Schade is expected at an evening stage event on Wednesday, where Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) and North Rhine-Westphalia Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) are also to be present. The Rockfish studio, with around 30 employees in Germany, is a positive example of the effectiveness of federal game funding.
This funding policy, however, faces criticism. From the perspective of the industry association Game, the federal government provides far too little money to offset the competitive disadvantages of Germany compared to other countries like France and Canada.
Due to insufficient funds, the Federal Ministry of Economics has not accepted any funding applications since May 2023. Although 50 million euros are supposed to be allocated this year, it will be entirely to previously approved applications. Game developments typically take a long time, and the funding is paid out gradually over several years.
New funding pool still unused
Under Federal Cultural Commissioner Claudia Roth (Greens), a new funding pool for games worth over 33 million euros has been established – this was decided by a Bundestag committee last November. However, nothing has been paid out from this yet. They are still in coordination with the Federal Ministry of Economics, according to the cultural commissioner.
This, in turn, has caused annoyance among the federal states. “The announced funds of over 33 million euros […] must be immediately made available to the industry,” demands Bavaria’s Digital Minister Fabian Mehring (Free Voters). The industry association Game also hopes that this funding will finally get underway and ease the tense situation a bit.
Berlin sees states as responsible
The Federal Ministry of Economics also intends to leave the funding of small studios to the federal states and focus as a federal government on larger projects. This could delay the exhaustion of the annual budget.
The federal states are not very enthusiastic about this. “It cannot be the responsibility of the states to compensate for shortfalls in federal funding,” says the media ministry of North Rhine-Westphalia. “They can at most be mitigated.” Signals from Baden-Württemberg also indicate that they will not be increasing state funding any further./wdw/DP/stk
ISIN US64110L1061 JP3435000009 US0231351067 JP3756600007 US30303M1027
AXC0018 2024-08-21/06:13
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