Munich gets 'House of Games'

In an interview with GamesMarkt, Digital Minister Fabian Mehring confirms that a House of Games for Bavaria is to be established in Munich. After consulting with players from the industry, "the heart of the Bavarian games scene will beat loudly under one roof".

With the change of responsibilities in the Bavarian Ministry of Digitalisation, a fresh breeze is blowing through the Bavarian games industry. Minister of Digital Matters Fabian Mehring has set himself the goal of a strengthened location promotion programme under the slogan "Games as Formula 1 of digitalisation", which most recently meant more budget for Bavaria's new gaming event GG Bavaria.

Mehring has now revealed a further plan for Bavaria: the state capital of Munich is to be given a 'House of Games', in which relevant players will be based together and come into direct contact with the funding programme of the state funding agencies XR Hub Bavaria and Games/Bavaria.

"...that Munich is to have a House of Games in which the heart of the Bavarian games scene will beat loudly under one roof."

In an interview with GamesMarkt, which will be published in full in the upcoming issue 03/2024 and online, Minister Mehring explains: "The close dialogue with Bavarian games developers has already resulted in a number of concrete decisions. For example, I have decided that Munich is to have a House of Games in which the heart of the Bavarian games scene will beat loudly under one roof."

According to Mehring, the idea for this came from contact with the games industry itself: In recent months, he had visited various Bavarian games studios and industry celebrations and had gathered opinions in favour of the location programme.

The two state funding agencies in Bavaria for XR and games, XR Hub Bavaria and Games/Bavaria, had only recently moved into the House of Communications of the Serviceplan agency in August-Everding-Straße in Munich under their parent brand Medien.Bayern. In a dedicated House of Games in Munich, they would be networked with players from both creative industries directly on site. A similar project is planned in the federal capital of Berlin, where a local House of Games is planned to be opened in 2026.