"Everspace": Rockfish Games receives 8 million euros in game funding

Record funding for the Hamburg-based game studio Rockfish Games: The successor to the successful spaceship shooter “Everspace 2” is being supported by the federal government with a sum of 8 million euros from game funding. The developers announced this in a press release. The Federal Ministry for Research, Technology, and Space (BMFTR) is responsible for game funding.

This is the highest sum that has ever flowed to a single project from game funding. The previous record holder was Ubisoft's city-building strategy game “Anno 117”, the development of which was supported with 5.7 million euros. The development of DLCs for “Anno 117” is also being funded, reports the industry magazine Gameswirtschaft – so it is possible that “Anno 117” will also exceed the funding sum of 8 million euros in perspective.

“Everspace 2” is a successful dogfighter with looter elements, which was awarded best game at the German Computer Game Award in 2024. The game started in Early Access in 2021 and finally went on sale as a full version in April 2023. Part 3 has not yet been announced. However, the developers write that the funding sum is planned for the development of the next part of the “Everspace” series.

“Also a good deal for taxpayers”

The sum of 8 million euros will be paid out over a period of five years. New jobs are to be created with this money, Rockfish Games writes in the announcement. The team currently has 30 employees. Studio co-founder Michael Schade told Gameswirtschaft that the total budget for the next “Everspace” game is 20 million euros.

“We couldn't be happier about this funding from the Federal Ministry for Research, Technology and Space,” Schade writes in the press release. “The continuous investments in the video game industry show that Germany wants to take its place as one of the leading countries in video game development. Since around 85 percent of our revenue comes from abroad and we, as a completely independent self-publishing studio, pay all profits from Rockfish Games here, this funding is also a good deal for German taxpayers.”

After game funding had a bumpy start in recent years and no new applications could be submitted for a time, the funding program now has a significantly larger budget: The black-red federal government wants to provide 125 million euros in funding for game studios this year.

(dahe)