Editorial
gamescom is many things: the start of the season‘s business, the highlight of an indie exhibitor‘s year, or even the best opportunity to try out new games. For us, this year‘s gamescom is a fresh start!
Most of you will already have read about it in our online news. Following a management buyout, my two collegues, Marcel Kleffmann and Pascal Wagner, whom you know well, and myself are now responsible for producing GamesMarkt and gamescomDaily on our own. For you, our readers, everything will continue as usual, including at gamescom.
Of course, we have lots of ideas on how to further develop the magazine and the brand, the online platform and other services. But for now it‘s gamescom! And our focus is on the most important event in the industry worldwide. We have looked at developments in Europe‘s key markets, which are all following the same trend but performing differently in subtle ways. We spoke to numerous C-level representatives from various European companies who are open about the situation and the market at a time when the European games industry seems to be nothing more than a pawn between North America, Asia and the emerging players from the Middle East.
You can also read about a new survey on the job market, the development of 1SP Agency, news from Xsolla and a new business division at rcp — remote control productions. The mix of topics is rounded off with an overview of the upcoming highlights that will shape the autumn gaming business and a big story about the new Anno, probably the best-known and most successful gaming IP from Germany.
With this in mind, my partners and I hope you enjoy the magazine you are holding in your hands. As always, we are and will remain open to your sugges-
tions, criticism, topics and proposals. Our contact details have not changed
following the MBO. And to everyone who is in Cologne like us, we wish you an
exciting and fun, but above all a successful gamescom.
Stephan Steininger
Content
03 EDITORIAL
06 BIG PICTURE
08 PEOPLE
Heads and headlines that have caused a stir in the games industry in the recent weeks. magazine
MAGAZINE
16 INTERVIEW: UBISOFT MAINZ
The studio behind the latest Anno games is celebrating its 30th anniversary.
24 WOMEN IN GAMES
Janette Lipinski leads project teams and shapes production at Gameforge.
26 RCP BLEND
rcp is responding to the changes in game development with a new business approach.
28 1SP TAKES OVER AGAIN
1SP Agency acquires Fijak to strengthen sales promotion and retail marketing.
32 STUDIO PORTRAIT
Making the best of a crisis situation: Active Fungus Studios from Munich.
34 UNION INTERVIEW
We talked to Matthias Grzegorczyk (ver.di) and two unionised devs about works councils.
markets
40 EUROPEAN KEY MARKETS
How did the markets in Germany, the UK, France, Spain and Italy perform in 2024?
48 EXECUTIVE SURVEY
In nine interviews, nine games company executives rate Europe as a gaming location.
56 EU GAME WORKERS
The Game Workers Survey paints a clear picture of game workers‘ perception.
60 STEAM CCU PEAKS
Which GSA games have the highest number of concurrent users on Steam?
PRODUCTS
66 UPCOMING GAMES
Just in time for the holiday season, many publishers are releasing their highlights.
68 ANNO 117: PAX ROMANA
The genre-defining builder franchise returns with its most ambitious installment yet.
74 BORDERLANDS 4
75 EA SPORTS FC 26
76 HELL IS US
77 METAL GEAR SOLID DELTA: SNAKE EATER
78 FINAL FANTASY TACTICS
79 POKÉMON LEGENDS: Z–A
80 GEARS OF WAR RELOADED
81 LOST SOUL ASIDE
82 IMPRINT
82 EVENTS
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Subscribers also have access to old print editions of GamesMarkt in PDF format via our magazine archive. Please note that editions published before our language switch in March 2024 are in German.
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