State Councillor Jana Schiedek and Senator for Culture and Media Dr. Carsten Brosda © Jan-Marius Komorek Business 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 By Marcel Kleffmann • 1 min read
Dr Andreas Bareiß and Arne Braun, State Secretary for the Arts in Baden-Württemberg © MWK Baden-Württemberg Campus Dr Andreas Bareiß to Succeed Prof. Thomas Schadt in May The renowned Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg is on the verge of a generational change: Dr Andreas Bareiß will take over as director of the film academy, which also offers game design courses, on 1 May. Bareiß will succeed Prof. Thomas Schadt, who has headed the Filmakademie since 2005. The supervisory board of By Stephan Steininger • 2 min read
A PlayStation account will also be optional for Marvel's Spider-Man 2. The game is due for release on PC on 30 January 2025. © Sony, Marvel Publishing Sony Drops Requirement for PlayStation Network Account on PC Recent PC releases from Sony Interactive Entertainment (PlayStation Publishing) have required a PlayStation Network account. For two titles already released and two upcoming titles, this requirement will become optional. The recent PlayStation releases on PC required a PlayStation Network account, which was widely criticised by gamers, especially as the games By Marcel Kleffmann • 1 min read
© Yellow Brick Games Products Eternal Strands The first game from Canada's Yellow Brick Games, which employs renowned ex-developers from Ubisoft, Electronic Arts and BioWare, is called Eternal Strands. It's an action-adventure with surprisingly good and creative combat against towering enemies - and it seems pleasingly focused on the core elements. Magic, world By Marcel Kleffmann • 3 min read
FFF Managing Director Dorothee Erpenstein © Picture: FFF Bayern/Archive image Business FFF Confirms 2024 Games Funding Balance FFF Bayern has released its 2024 funding balance, confirming a total of €3.6 million in games funding—an amount that Bavaria’s Minister for Digital Affairs, Fabian Mehring, had already announced in December. However, it appears there was additional funding allocated to the XR sector. Traditionally, FFF Bayern presents By Stephan Steininger • 1 min read
© IOC Esports First Olympic Esports Games Reportedly Postponed The U.S. magazine Sports Business reports exclusively that the first Olympic Esports Games will no longer take place in 2025. While the report has not been officially confirmed, industry insiders say they would not be surprised by such a decision. The inaugural Olympic Esports Games were initially planned for By Stephan Steininger • 1 min read
GOG Dreamlist © GOG.com Publishing GOG Dreamlist Started to Bring Back Games With Greater Vigour Online distribution platform GOG has launched the Dreamlist, a public tool to persuade publishers to re-release games that are no longer accessible. Also: Dino Crisis and Dino Crisis 2 have been re-released. CD Projekt's GOG.com has launched Dreamlist, a community-based tool that allows people to vote for By Marcel Kleffmann • 2 min read
© GM Business Astro Bot and Black Myth: Wukong Receive Seven GDCA Nominations Each The nominees for this year's Game Developers Choice Awards have been announced. Two studios from Asia received the most nominations. Most of the nominated studios from Europe are based in Sweden. From Germany, Osmotic Studios was at least able to make it into the list of honourable mentions. By Stephan Steininger • 4 min read
RoadCraft © Saber Interactive and Focus Entertainment Publishing Astragon to Distribute RoadCraft From Focus Entertainment in the GSA Once again, astragon Entertainment and Focus Entertainment are working together. In May 2025, the Düsseldorf-based company will distribute the console editions of RoadCraft in retail stores in German-speaking countries. Astragon Entertainment is once again partnering with Focus Entertainment (Pullup) for the distribution of RoadCraft. Announced at gamescom 2024, the sandbox By Marcel Kleffmann • 1 min read
Hideaki Nishino / Hiroki Totoki / Hermen Hulst © SIE PS.Blog / Sony Group & Sony Investor Database / Sony Group Corp. Business Hideaki Nishino Appointed President and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment Sony Interactive Entertainment has made changes to its management structure. Hideaki Nishino, currently CEO of the Platform Business Group, will become the new President and CEO. Hermen Hulst will remain CEO of the Studio Business Group. SIE Chairman Hiroki Totoki will become the new President and CEO of Sony Group By Marcel Kleffmann • 2 min read
© Rebellion Products Sniper Elite: Resistance Rebellion's Sniper Elite franchise has more than 20 million players worldwide. And that number is set to grow substantially at the end of January 2025, when the next game in the series, Sniper Elite: Resistance, is released. It's hard to believe, but the Sniper Elite franchise By Marcel Kleffmann • 2 min read
A first-person camera mode for building in Update 5. © Keen Games Publishing Full Release of Enshrouded Moved to 2026, but With a Full Roadmap for 2025 To mark the first anniversary of the Early Access release of Enshrouded, Keen Games has released the fifth content update and revealed that the 1.0 release of Enshrouded will not take place until the spring of 2026. By Marcel Kleffmann • 2 min read
