Dorothee Bär to Become 'Games Minister' in Next Federal Government

In the next federal government, responsibility for games will be transferred to the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Astronautics. This 'mega-ministry' will be headed by Dorothee Bär of the CSU.

During today's announcement of the CDU/CSU ministers, it was mentioned almost in passing which federal ministry will be responsible for the games sector in the future federal government. It will not be the CDU-led Ministry of Economic Affairs, nor the new Ministry of Digitalisation and State Modernisation (as reported by GamesMarkt), but the Ministry of Research, Technology and Astronautics. The designated minister is Dorothee Bär of the CSU.

At a press conference, CSU party leader Dr Markus Söder described the department as a mega-ministry and outlined its responsibilities, which range from space, AI and fusion reactors to quantum computers, funding for gigafactories and games, which he described as a growing industry and research area in Germany. For Söder, Dorothee Bär was the only candidate because of her experience in electric aviation and "games back then".

In the last legislative period, gaming was the responsibility of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) under Robert Habeck - before that, it was the responsibility of the CSU-led Ministry of Transport under Andreas Scheuer. As Parliamentary State Secretary in the Ministry of Transport, and later as Minister of State for Digital Affairs under Chancellor Angela Merkel, Bär was co-responsible for the introduction of federal gaming funding in 2019. She was instrumental in securing funding for the gaming industry in the federal budget.

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