Funding Finder: Why Games Funding Isn’t in the New Bavarian Search Engine – Yet

The new Funding Finder search engine of the Bavarian Digital Ministry doesn't index game funding. At least not yet: According to a Ministry answer to a GamesMarkt query, later updates will incorporate Bavaria's games funding programmes as well.

Today, the Bavarian State Ministry for Digital Affairs under Fabian Mehring has launched a “Förderfinder” (Funding Finder) for the federal state. The search engine is part of an effort to modernise the funding system in general and de-bureaucratise processes through digital solutions. The Funding Finder works for funding that is aimed towards fundable projects by citizens, municipalities, companies, organisations, associations and universities. Users can search by fundable group they part of, by location or by specific keywords.

A group that can’t use the Funding Finder however are game devs – at least, not yet. None of the game funding programmes of Bavaria are findable in the Funding finder, neither the production funding managed by FilmFernsehFonds Bayern nor the location funding that goes through Games/Bavaria, a daughter of the state-owned Medien.Bayern.

The exclusion is a temporary one, however, at least the Ministry says so. Answering a GamesMarkt query, a speaker for the Bavarian Digital Ministry explains: “Games funding is not yet available via the Funding Finder. However, the intention is to gradually include games funding in the Funding Finder in the same way as other programmes. The information can currently be found through the FilmFernsehFonds Bayern website.”

For the moment that means that the useful idea of the Funding Finder isn’t helping Bavarian game devs. At least not with game funding in particular. Other potentially possible funding programmes, like the subsidy towards for the funding of projects by organisers from the cultural and creative industries or very specialised funding programmes like those for E-Health or E-Care, are already indexed in the search engine, and might be relevant to specific groups of game devs. Finding funding made easier – for those programmes it already encapsulates, the Funding Finder does the trick. Let's hope game devs can take part of those benefits in full rather sooner than later.