Games industry: Federal Audit Office takes games funding apart
The Federal Audit Office has criticized the games funding following an audit. Among other things, it is questionable that studios do not have to repay the money.
In an audit report, the Federal Court of Auditors takes the federal government's games funding apart.
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In an audit report, the Federal Audit Office fundamentally questions the federal government's games funding. In their recently published report, the auditors criticize, among other things, the fact that developer studios do not have to repay the funding following commercial success. In addition, they believe that the task of promoting games does not lie with the federal government, but with the federal states.
The Federal Ministry of Economics and Transport, which is currently in charge, still needs to explain why the federal government should be responsible for funding in this case, writes the Bundesrechnungshof in its audit report. "If the funding competence is not given, the federal funding should be discontinued."
The Bundesrechnungshof also has doubts about the actual implementation. For example, it is unclear why developer studios cannot repay the approved funding after the release of their games. In 10 out of 18 games funding projects examined by the Bundesrechnungshof, the applicants' assessments indicated that the revenues from the published game should exceed the project costs after three years at the latest. In the event of economic success, the Federal Court of Auditors recommends that the funding should have to be repaid.
"Goal of games funding misjudged"
The industry association game, which regularly campaigns for the expansion of games funding, criticizes the report by the Federal Audit Office. The audit report ignores decisive factors and fails to recognize the goal of games funding. "Due to the one-sided focus on the feared dangers of games in the 1990s and early 2000s, Germany almost completely missed out on the potential of games," writes game Managing Director Felix Falk. "This has led to disadvantages in international competition that are still having a negative impact today. We can only make up for this shortfall with internationally competitive games funding." The opinion of the Federal Audit Office fails to recognize the "global market reality".
According to the industry magazine Gameswirtschaft, over 500 projects have been supported with games funding, with the federal government providing at least 50 million euros per year. However, games funding has been on hold for over a year: new applications are no longer being accepted because the funding has already been exhausted for future years and the 2024 federal budget does not provide for any additional funding.
Independently of the games funding, 100 million euros were approved in the federal budget to support the German games industry, to be distributed over three years.
(dahe)
