These Studios Received Almost €10 Million in Funding from the BKM

With new elections on the horizon, the old government briefly launched a games funding programme at the turn of the year, using money from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media's (BKM; Bundeskulturstaatsministerin) budget. The games approved for funding from this pot have now been included in the funding database for the first time.

The BKM funds were used to support projects with a budget of up to €900,000. Accordingly, the individual funding commitments are for smaller amounts, but these add up.

The funding database, which until recently did not include these funding commitments, currently lists 35 entries. A total of €9.975 million has been committed under these approved applications.

The largest individual grants went to Voya Games, Lumid Labs and Gryphon Games. However, numerous other well-known developers also received project funding of between €350,000 and €420,000, including Aesir Interactive, Chimera Entertainment, Travian Games, upjers and Maschinen-Mensch.

The two projects Wildest Catch and Forensik Simulator are also interesting. Both were funded by the same two studios, which are jointly realising these titles: Binary Impact and Alchemical Works. In both cases, the funding is relatively small and even when combined, remains well below the top amounts.

It is unclear whether and when further titles from the BKM funding programme will be released. According to the funding radar of the Federal Ministry of Economics, around €13 million from the BKM budget has been approved for games funding, although the BKM also finances the Press Start start-up programme. The radar also shows that just over €4 million has been applied for but not yet approved.

Projects and studios funded by the BKM budget

• Angry Dynomites Lab DLC by VOYA Games: 449.467,00€
• Chessfire by Lumid Labs UG: 435.211,00€
• Planet Crusher Gryphon Games UG: 408.021,00€
• ABPS-FreeRoam by Z-Software GmbH: 404.902,00€
• Galactic Journey Konsolenversion by gameXcite GmbH: 404.808,00€
• Straßenbau Simulator by Caipirinha Games GmbH: 404.730,00€
• Rail Nation: Remastered Mobile by Travian Games GmbH: 404.101,00€
• Project Merge by Starberry Games GmbH: 404.080,00€
• Schwarzwald by ViewApp GmbH Zweigniederlassung Deutschland: 401.752,00€
• Mother Machine DLC by Maschinen-Mensch UG (haftungsbeschränkt): 399.987,00€
• Ghost Haunting by Three Headed Monkey Films GmbH: 398.138,00€
• Songs of Silence DLC Paket 2 & Switch2 Port by Chimera Entertainment GmbH: 393.632,00€
• "Ostwind: Beginn einer wunderbaren Freundschaft Remastered - Vier Jahreszeiten" (Arbeitstitel "Chips") by Aesir Interactive GmbH: 389.058,00€
• "Salty VR" (Produktion) by Salmi GmbH: 383.742,00€
• Tactical Battle Saga (TBS / Arbeitstitel) by upjers GmbH: 370.500,00€
• Projekt Globus by Chronos North GmbH: 351.857,00€
• The Lost Glitches - Story Erweiterung by Honig Studios - Creative Agency, Handelsgesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung: 343.394,00€
• Climbots by Barrel Roll Games GmbH & Co. KG: 336.985,00€
• Dicebound by ByteRockers`Games GmbH & Co. KG: 287.990,00€
• Projekt Ares by District Games GmbH: 266.857,00€
• Homunkulus (AT) by Leyline Creations GmbH: 265.687,00€
• Sandbox Städteaufbau aus der Third-Person-Perspektive mit Management- und Logistiksystemen by Dionic Software GmbH: 259.572,00€
• Dragon's Roarmance: Entice and Dice (Arbeitstitel) by Gentle Troll Entertainment GmbH: 236.914,00€
• Daddelkiste by Sandbox Interactive GmbH: 206.894,00€
• Miners Life - Mining Simulator by Hindsight - Studios UG (haftungsbeschränkt): 202.446,00€
• Heavy-South DLC by tox² interactive GmbH: 183.306,00€
• "Freizeit Park DLC" by Tivola Games GmbH: 141.893,00€
• Wildest-Catch by Binary Impact GmbH: 138.304,00€
• DICE by Reija GmbH: 137.367,00€
• NVG-A-P by designmatic GmbH: 135.774,00€
• Ein 2D-Pixel-Art-Point-and-Click-Adventure im Berlin der turbulenten Zeit nach dem Mauerfall. by StickyStoneStudio GmbH: 135.235,00€
• Forensik Simulator by Binary Impact GmbH: 127.659,00€
• OddsparksMobile by HandyGames Studios GmbH: 89.289,00€
• Wildest-Catch by Alchemical Works UG (haftungsbeschränkt): 49.683,00€
• Forensik Simulator by Alchemical Works UG (haftungsbeschränkt): 26.452,00€