Federal Games Funding to Remain at €50m in 2025, Criticism Grows

The German government's draft budget for 2025 still allocates around 50 million Euros in funding for games. Other measures to strengthen the industry are missing. The game association criticises the draft budget and calls for tax breaks.

The draft budget of the Federal Government, which was approved by the Federal Government's Cabinet today, continues to provide around 50 million Euros for the funding of games in the budget of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action from 2025. From the perspective of game – the German Games Industry Association, this creates further uncertainties for games companies in Germany, as the promised sum is lower than what an evaluation commissioned by the ministry had identified as necessary. At the same time, the draft budget does not include the additional funding for games development from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media for the coming years, with 33 million Euros due to flow for the first time in 2024. So far, this has not happened, which, according to game, is mainly due to the fact that the issue of the uniform allocation of funds between the Minister of State for Culture and the Ministry for Economic Affairs has still not been resolved. The implementation of the tax incentives announced in the recent growth initiative is also pending.

"With this draft budget, the Federal Government has unfortunately failed to implement the good and clear position it took on gaming policy in the recent growth initiative. The timely introduction of tax incentives would solve many of the existing problems. In 2025, the budget of the Ministry of Economic Affairs will still be far below the actual needs, and Germany will continue to provide only about a quarter of what other successful gaming locations worldwide have been investing for years. At the same time, the announced additional 33 million Euros are missing. Clarification between the Minister of State for Culture and the Ministry of Economic Affairs on the uniform allocation of funds, which is urgently needed for this year, must finally take place, so that companies do not suffer from the confusion of responsibilities," criticises game Managing Director Felix Falk.

"Once again, the members of the German Bundestag are being asked to repair the games policy and make the funds available via the parliamentary procedure. Once again, the games companies will have to wait until the budget committee of the Bundestag meets at the end of the year to find out what the framework conditions will be from January onwards. In the fiercely competitive global games market, such unpredictable competitive conditions hinder the success of 'Games Made in Germany', which is actually possible. Instead of a political rollercoaster ride, games companies need a games funding programme that is tailored to their needs, from a single source and internationally competitive - and the best way to achieve this is to introduce tax incentives in the near future."

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