In the end, there was a narrow or clear victory – depending on who you ask – for Federal Minister Dorothee Bär against North Rhine-Westphalia Minister President Hendrik Wüst in Mario Kart World. © Koelnmesse GmbH, Uwe Weiser Business Funding & Esports: Patience is the Key to Success At the political opening of gamescom, both Federal Minister Dorothee Bär and North Rhine-Westphalia Minister President Hendrik Wüst emphasized their support for making Germany a world leader in the gaming industry. However, it is also clear that neither the tax incentive model nor the recognition of esports can be implemented By Stephan Steininger • 2 min read
© Greek Business Greece With Strong Presence Thanks to Strong Partners With ten indie studios and, for the first time, with broad government support, Greece is presenting itself at gamescom. For the first time, the Greek Delegation to gamescom is held under the auspices of the Hellenic Republic, which is actively supporting the growing digital games industry, recognizing its importance for By Stephan Steininger • 1 min read
Frederik Hammes © rcp Business Rcp Launches External Development Division Rcp Blend Production house rcp is responding to the fundamental changes currently taking place in game development with a new business approach. rcp is positioning itself and the studios belonging to the company family as external developers, with Frederik Hammes heading the new division. Rcp, which stands for remote control productions, is By Stephan Steininger • 4 min read
A picture of Saxon Booth at gamescom 2024 © Wirtschaftsförderung Sachsen Business Saxony Booth With More Companies, Big Goals and an Own Plattform Saxony is participating in gamescom with a joint stand for the second time. It has more sub-exhibitors than many established locations. And with the presentation of the Next Level: Saxony platform, a real highlight is planned. Saxony is represented for the second time this year with a joint booth at By Stephan Steininger • 2 min read
© Sparkasse Products Sparkasse Creates Own Fortnite Game With JvM Sports and Beyond Creative The Sparkasse (Saving banks) are stepping up their involvement in gaming. Following collaborations in esports and with creators such as HandsOfBlood, they are now launching their first Fortnite game – with known partners. Sparkasse is working with the creative agency Jung von Matt Sports to implement the game. Beyond Creative is By Stephan Steininger • 1 min read
© Nintendo Products Donkey Kong is Coming, Mario is Driving Away The smaller installed base of the Switch 2 at launch leads to a curious picture in the charts. Apparently, so many console buyers purchased Mario Kart World on Day One that the title dropped out of the top 20. It was replaced by Donkey Kong. The curious change in the By Stephan Steininger • 2 min read
Torsten Oppermann (1SP) and Angelos Senis (Fijak; from left) © 1SP Business 1SP Agency Continues to Grow and Acquires Fijak 1SP Agency is expanding: The agency group has acquired Fijak, a full-service agency specialising in design, production, logistics and retail activation. The acquisition primarily strengthens 1SP's sales promotion and retail marketing. This is already the second acquisition this year to strengthen the Retail Marketing division: the Hamburg-based agency By Stephan Steininger • 1 min read
© Pexels/Johannes Plenio/Christian Richert/Hert Niks Business German Cities Miss Out on the Top 10 European Gaming Hubs For the first time, Europe's gaming umbrella organisations have published a list of the top 20 game development locations in their report. While the UK has five cities in the top 10, German cities only appear from eleventh place onwards. Munich is not in the top 20, nor By Stephan Steininger • 2 min read
© Manticore Products Frédéric Descamps: "Players Do Not Care About Industry Monikers" At the end of September, Manticore will launch its new game Out of Time. An unusual but logical step for the creators of the Core platform, as Manticore co-founder and CEO Frédéric Descamps reveals in an interview. For many years, Manticore Core has been successfully building a platform, a metaverse By Stephan Steininger • 3 min read
Hester Woodliffe, representative of WB Games and Chairwoman of VGE, and Hendrik Lesser, rcp and President of EGDF © EGDF/VGE Business Europe's Games Industry 2023: More Studios, More Employees, Less Revenue The two European gaming umbrella organisations, Video Games Europe (VGE) and the European Games Developer Federation (EGDF), have published their new report shortly before gamescom. It includes data from 22 European countries for the year 2023, with some surprising results. The fact that the report only presents figures from 2023 By Stephan Steininger • 1 min read
German games market in the first half of 2025 © game - The German Games Industry Association Business German Games Market Back on Track for Growth During the gamescom pre-show press conference, the game association also released initial data on the development of the German games market in the first half of 2025. With an increase of 4 percent, the market continued to grow. The German games market is back on track for growth. This is By Stephan Steininger • 2 min read
© Koelnmesse GmbH/Marvin Ruppert Business Gamescom 2025 Breaks First Records Even Before Opening One week before Opening Night Live, Koelnmesse and game provided an update on the figures and programme for gamescom at the traditional pre-show press conference. Initial records were announced for the number of country pavilions and the exhibition space. One week before the start of the show, gamescom is well By Stephan Steininger • 1 min read
