New call: Research Ministry steps up games funding

Good news for German computer game developers: from August 1, games companies in Germany will once again be able to submit unrestricted funding applications, even for projects that take longer than one year to complete. This was announced on Friday by the Federal Ministry of Research and Technology, which has been in charge since May.

The lifting of restrictions follows a turbulent period for games funding. After being halted for almost two years, support for the industry was only restarted with severe restrictions at the end of 2024 under the direction of the Ministry of Economic Affairs. For example, multi-year game developments could only be supported with a total project sum of up to 900,000 euros. Larger projects and prototypes were only approved if they were to be completed by the end of 2025.

This limited restart was due to the lack of a federal budget for 2025, which the then traffic light coalition was unable to get off the ground. For many development initiatives in the sector, the funding instrument was not at all useful.

"Strong signal" for the industry

Federal Research Minister Dorothee Bär (CSU) is implementing announcements from the black-red coalition agreement with the new funding call. The previous ban on partial applications has been lifted, and the distinction between project sizes will no longer apply in the future. The department has also quadrupled the maximum grant per project to up to 8 million euros.

"Games are an important growth and innovation sector for our country," emphasized Bär. The new government wants to send a "strong signal" with the expanded funding approach and enable developers to plan and be reliable again.

Games association sees brakes released

Government support for the industry has been characterized by back and forth for years. At the end of 2022, the Bundestag actually pledged 70 million euros in annual funding for computer games. However, according to the draft budget at the time, only 48.7 million euros were to be allocated in 2024. The MPs added a scoop occasionally. The black-red government now wants to provide 88 million euros for game funding this year and around 125 million euros in 2026. However, only part of this year's funding budget is already available. The rest will be added as planned in the fall – when parliament approves the federal budget accordingly.

Bär is confident that the budget will be passed soon. She hopes "that new successful games made in Germany will soon show how strong and creative our scene is". The current call "finally releases the brakes on games funding and makes the available funding actually usable for companies", said the games industry association, welcoming this step. However, the tax incentives for games planned by the coalition government must also be introduced soon to compensate for cost disadvantages in Germany and "create more competitive conditions internationally".

(vbr)