Cancellation of 'Project Black' will not affect federal games funding

The cancellation of Fishlabs' so-called "Project Black" will not affect the German government's games funding budget, despite the funding being promised in March. According to reports from Hamburg and Planegg, the money will be repaid or not called up.

Exactly 5,527,514 euros in funding from the German government - the game project with the working title "Project Black" by Hamburg-based Plaion subsidiary Fishlabs received the highest amount of games funding to date in March 2023. Since this week, however, it has become clear that "Project Black" will never be completed. The decision to discontinue development has led to the loss of 50 jobs at the studio, which is part of Plaion, an Embracer Group company.

However, contrary to initial assumptions, the cancellation of the project will not be at the expense of federal funding. As GamesMarkt has learned from the company, the funds will be repaid in full or not even called up. The project can no longer be found in the relevant federal funding databases. The budget is therefore available for other German game developments. It remains to be seen whether this will be enough to lift the current freeze on applications, even for a short time. We will have to wait and see if and how the additional funds from the State Minister for Culture and the Media will be allocated to games funding.