The VaultN leadership team (from left): Claire Ralley, Emrah Kara, Julian Migura, Björn Hornemann and Adam Selcuk © VaultN Business VaultN Secures $1.6m in Seed Funding The Dutch digital distribution platform VaultN has successfully completed a seed-funding round. The money will be used for expansion into new areas and the technical evolution of the platform. VaultN announces the successful completion of its latest seed funding round, raising $1.6 million. Led by French venture capital firm By Stephan Steininger • 1 min read
Claudia Kuehl and Dirk Gaertner found Rocky Oceans Communications © GamesMarkt Business Claudia Kuehl and Dirk Gaertner Found Rocky Oceans Communications With their combined 50+ years of experience in the games industry, Claudia Kuehl and Dirk Gaertner found a new communications agency: Rocky Oceans Communications will be based in Hamburg and Munich. With the locations in Northern and Southern Germany Rocky Oceans Communicatons positions itself as a bridge between Northern and By Stephan Steininger • 1 min read
The German Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection has initiated a dialogue on the further development of games funding with its own key points. The federal states have now submitted their coordinated response. © Steininger Business German States' Statement Raises Hopes for Quick Agreement Following the initial individual reactions, the German federal states have now coordinated a joint statement. The requested improvements do not appear to be excessive and a compromise is within reach. A further development towards a tax credit system is also not off the table. After the Federal Ministry of Economics By Stephan Steininger • 2 min read
Andreas Lange, CEO of EFGAMP © Andreas Lange Business Národní Filmový Archiv Joins EFGAMP The EFGAMP (European Federation of Video Game Archives, Museums and Preservation Projects) has gained a new member: Národní filmový archiv (Czech National Film Archive), which is co-founder of the czech Pixelarchiv project. The national game cataloguing and preservation initiative is founded by Czech Ministry of Culture. The Pixelarchiv.cz project By Stephan Steininger • 1 min read
Franziska Giffey, Berlin's Senator for Economics, meets regularly with representatives of the Berlin games industry at the "Runder Tisch Games" (Round Table Games) © SPD-Fraktion Berlin/Sabrina Wagner Berlin Business Berlin Expands gamescapital.berlin Initiative to Location Marketing Campaign The current 'Runder Tisch Games' in Berlin focused on increasing the visibility of the games location in the capital region as well as the flagship project 'House of Games'. Economics Senator Francesca Giffey also criticised the federal government and called for improvements in funding. In Berlin, By Stephan Steininger • 2 min read
NightinGames founders Antonia Schmidt (left) and Tanja Zinser visited gamescom 2023 with part of the team © Picture: NightinGames Development NightinGames Supports Aesir Interactive in the Development of new Windstorm The production of Windstorm: The Legend of Khiimori is also a great opportunity for indie developer NightinGames from Bayreuth. They are working with Aesir Interactive on the production and are involved in production, game design, tech and art. Just a few days ago, publisher Mindscape and developer Aesir Interactive announced By Stephan Steininger • 1 min read
© Fantasy Basel Business Fantasy Basel Presents Itself With Record Attendance A total of 88,000 visitors from Switzerland and neighbouring countries attended Fantasy Basel - The Swiss Comic Con, which celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2024. Content creators and publishers such as Bethesda, Nintendo and Niantic were on hand for gamers. A special highlight of the tenth Fantasy Basel - By Stephan Steininger • 2 min read
© Screenshot Development A Maze Awards: Winners From Around the World The Awards are the highlight of the International Games and Playful Media Festival A Maze. in Berlin. This year the jury chose winners from South Korea, the USA, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Denmark. The Audience Award went to a German indie production. A Maze. took place for the 13th By Stephan Steininger • 1 min read
The board of Bremens eSports (from left): Sascha Müller, Christoph Lüken, Philipp van Gels, Frank Holler, Alessandro Bünnagel and Luca Müller © Bremen eSports Esports Bremen Also Supports Local Esports Club With €20.000 Each Year Like Dortmund, Bremen also supports the local esports club Bremen eSports with 20,000 euros per year. This indirectly increases the pressure on Berlin to support esports not only at the municipal but also at the federal level, as promised. Even though esports was not the focus of the joint By Stephan Steininger • 2 min read
Jumpgate CEO Harald Riegler © Jumpgare Business Jumpgate AB announces rights issue The Swedish games group Jumpgate wants to raise the equivalent of around 2.5 million euros in fresh capital by issuing new shares with preferential purchase rights for existing shareholders. According to Jumpgate, the response is promising. Jumpgate has announced a further measure to reduce its debt burden in order By Stephan Steininger • 2 min read
Tim Cullins, Mafalda Duarte and Zak Whaley (from left to right) © IGDA People Global Developers Association Elects new Board Members and Appoints new Chair Zak Whaley takes over as Chairman of the IGDA following this year's board elections. He succeeds Margaret Krohn, whose term as Chair ended in March. Two new members are welcomed to the board. The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) has a new Chairman of the Board. Following the By Stephan Steininger • 1 min read
Was announced in April: Tales of the Shire: A Lord of the Rings Game © Private Division/Weta Workshop Business Embracer Specifies Film Projects but Does not (yet) Announce any new LotR Games Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boynes will indeed produce the two new films from the Lord of the Rings universe, the first of which is due to be released in cinemas as early as 2026. Embracer and its subsidiary Middle-earth Enterprises have not revealed any new games from the By Stephan Steininger • 1 min read
