Since 2020, Gamecity Hamburg, part of the Hamburg Kreativ Gesellschaft, has provided €15,000 of financial support to studios and developers through the Games Lift Incubator. Developers, teams and studios can now apply for the 2026 round.
Applications are now open for the 2026 Games Lift Incubator, which is run by Gamecity Hamburg. Five teams will receive €15,000 each in financial support. The deadline for applications is 1 June 2026. Over the past six funding rounds, Gamecity Hamburg has supported 30 start-ups and developers in creating video games through its Incubator programme.
Games Lift alumnus Curvature Games recently released their narrative VR adventure game, The Amusement, in collaboration with the publishing company ARTE France. Kranich Games won the Best Game award at Baltic Games Fest 2026 for Garden Ink and have also been nominated for the Best Prototype award at the 2026 German Computer Game Awards. Team Honeybeak won the Audience Award at Baltic Games Fest for ForeFeathers, and BookWood Games received a Devcom Award in 2025 for About Cannons & Sparrows. Many of the games developed in the Games Lift Incubator programme are at an advanced stage, with further releases scheduled for this year.
"In the Games Lift Incubator, we put a lot of things to the test. Through tailored workshops and individual mentoring, we create a foundation that allows teams to develop their projects further. The releases and successes of previous years impressively demonstrate the quality of this work - and we look forward to supporting the next teams and developers in our incubator with their projects," says Helen Krüger, Project Manager at Gamecity Hamburg.
The award committee responsible for selecting the participating teams consists of industry experts: Kristin von der Wense (Publishing Producer at Daedalic Entertainment), Ole Schaper (Gaming Industry Executive and Kyna Games Founder), Tobias Graff (Mooneye Studios CEO and Co-Founder), Heiko Gogolin (Media Specialist) and Margarete Schneider (Gamecity Hamburg Project Manager).
Indie developers accepted into the incubator can expect one year of support. This includes €15,000 in financial support, an additional coaching budget of €1,000, a workshop programme tailored to the needs of indie developers, mentoring from industry professionals, networking and collaboration spaces, a joint trip to an international industry event, access to a broad network of experts, playtesting sessions, and other internal and public events.
The online event 'Games Lift Insights' on 12 May at 3 pm will offer an insight into what the participating teams can expect from the incubator's workshop programme. Cassia Curran, a strategy and business development consultant for indie games, will give an introduction to market analysis for indie games. The Gamecity team will also share information about Games Lift and the application process.
