Good news from four funding initiatives in Germany are the topic of the day, but there is more: Two big personnel news at Webedia, another at House of Games, and a special Austrian game jam.
Funding is the topic of the day today, dear readers,
and that's nice! We are used to much worse news piling together, so looking at four federal states and their funding news today is great. Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg is looking back today on the first half of 2026, in which they funded several games events. Now we even know the exact numbers. Hamburg, for the first time in several years, is holding a second Prototype funding round this year in September. While the money isn't big, it's a strong signal and will help some indies get on their feet. A double one comes from Northrhine-Westphalia: Not only did we get to see the funded games of the current round, NRW has also earned the award for most creative funding program of the day: By putting money into esports coach education.
Here are the news of the day!
Your Pascal Wagner
The Indie Arena Booth at gamescom 2026 features 11 delegations, 17 publishers and over 180 developers showing their game in the entertainment area. Find every single one in our list.
(Read more...)
by Pascal Wagner
From emergency contacts to party guides, tips for traveling in Cologne and information for trade visitors and exhibitors: Learn everything there is to know about being at gamescom on our big service portal.
North Rhine-Westphalia is continuing its support for esports in Germany’s most populous federal state. Thanks to new funding, 30 subsidised training places for esports coaches will be available in 2026.
(Read more...)
by Stephan Steininger
Dawid Hallmann becomes the new CEO of Webedia Germany, taking over from Marc-Andreas Albert. At the Paris group mother, Sylvain Andries will become CFO in September.
(Read more...)
by Pascal Wagner
At its latest meeting, the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW’s Digital Games Funding Committee approved just over 600,000 euros in funding. This will go to a total of 10 projects at various stages of development.
(Read more...)
In the first half of the year, the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg approved €7.3m in funding for initiatives to promote the capital as a media hub. Almost €1m is being channelled into initiatives for new media, including games. Funding for games-only events totals over a quarter of a million.
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From 4 to 24 September, developers in Hamburg can once again submit applications for funding for a games prototype. Up to 80,000 euros per project is available as non-repayable funding, with decisions to be made by a partially new selection committee.
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The House of Games team has welcomed another new member: Olga Ivanova. The journalist and content marketing expert has taken on the role of Community Manager.
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Düren publisher Headup has revealed its full lineup for gamescom 2026. It's four games this year: Second Stone by Skyward Entertainment and The 9th Dragon by FrameOver are public, the others not yet.
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Developers from Austria have until 30 September to submit ideas based on the Belvedere’s Open Content Collection. A jury will select games from these submissions for exhibition at Belvedere 21 and as entries for the Austrian Impact Game Idea 2026 competition.
(Read more...)
06.07. - 23.08.2026: Esports World Cup (Paris)
14.07. - 16.07.2026: Develop (Brighton)
17.07. - 19.07.2026: MagicCon Amsterdam (Amsterdam)
17.07. - 19.07.2026: Southeast Game Exchange (Greenville, SC, USA)
19.07. - 23.07.2026: Siggraph 2026 (Los Angeles)
22.07. - 23.07.2026: GDD - GermanDevDays - 2026 (Frankfurt am Main)
31.07. - 03.08.2026: ChinaJoy (Shanghai)
05.08. - 07.08.2026: Serious Play Conference (Durham/USA)
23.08. - 25.08.2026: gamescom dev (Cologne)
25.08.2026: gamescom opening night live - tbc - (Cologne/Stream)
26.08. - 30.08.2026: gamescom (Cologne)
27.08.2026: gamescom congress (Cologne)
Find more events in our GamesMarket calendar.
