Senator's Roundtable 2025 and 20 Press Start: Start-up Grants in Hamburg

One of the most important recurring events at the start of the year for Hamburg's games industry is the Senator's Roundtable, which once again provided an opportunity for open dialogue between industry and politics. 20 developers from Hamburg received the Press Start: Start-up Grant.

On 29 January 2025, the Senator for Culture and Media, Dr. Carsten Brosda, and Gamecity Hamburg invited managing directors from the local gaming industry to address current challenges, discuss possible solutions, and present and evaluate the activities of Gamecity Hamburg. With State Councillor Jana Schiedek and Dr. Carsten Brosda, the entire management of the Ministry of Culture and Media took part in the roundtable.

The invited industry voices emphasised the relevance of the City of Hamburg's and the Federal Government's funding programmes for the industry. The participants also identified the recruitment of specialists, especially for senior positions, and specialisation in user acquisition as challenges. Commercial user acquisition for free-to-play games was also mentioned as a challenge.

And a total of 20 developers from Hamburg received the Press Start: Start-up Grant from the Federal Government. Among them are the teams behind three projects from the Games Lift Incubator 2024, who will receive financial support of €49,500 per person to advance their projects.

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