Digital Minister Fabian Mehring: Year of Games Was Just the Beginning

In his keynote speech at GG Bavaria, Bavaria's Digital Minister Dr Fabian Mehring promised the Bavarian games industry continued support. He also called on Berlin to finally implement the planned tax credits.

As one of the keynote speakers, Bavaria's Digital Minister Fabian Mehring attended the first Business Day of GG Bavaria and took the opportunity not only to summarise the successes of his term in office so far, but also to pledge further support. “We see this as just the starting point. This was just the beginning, the kick-off,” said Mehring, after explaining how his ministry, in cooperation with the industry, has promoted the topic of games in Bavaria. Mehring repeatedly emphasised the support of the industry, for which he expressed his thanks.

Looking ahead, Mehring  spoke about the need for further professionalisation and the academisation of the games industry in Bavaria and spoke about ideas such as a dedicated games institute, production courses, roadshows on topics such as XR or esports, and a dedicated location study for games in Bavaria. However, since these are often cross-departmental topics, these are initial ideas rather than concrete announcements.

At the end of the event, the Bavarian Digital Minister also made an appeal to Berlin, where coalition negotiations for the next government under designated Chancellor Friedrich Merz are currently taking place. “We need tax credits at the federal level in order to be able to compete and to also get triple-A games made in Germany,” said Mehring. After all, he cannot implement everything from Bavaria alone for budgetary reasons. There also has to be support from the federal government.