Gerhold: Building an Alternative to Established Labels Stephan Steininger May 24, 2024 – 2 min read Share this post Mario Gerhold © Gerhold Chris Hewish (President) and Berkley Egenes (Chief Marketing and Growth Officer) at Xsolla © Christer Berg / Xsolla Business "In 2026, I Expect Smarter Monetization Rather Than Bigger Monetization" In our GDC 2026 interview with Chris Hewish (President) and Berkley Egenes (Chief Marketing and Growth Officer) at Xsolla, we discuss monetisation trends, games concentration, direct-to-consumer growth, hardware cost pressures, distribution trends and XR. By Marcel Kleffmann • 7 min read Mehring and the winners of the GG Awards 2026 (Kaspar Kozub / StMD Bayern) People GG Awards 2026 Honor Irox, Cobalt Lane, Memory Forge, Fire Totem and Spicy Sushi With Oku, A Webbing Journey, OrbiTower, Incredibug and Imprinted, five brand new games won the GG Awards at GG Bavaria 2026. Digital Minister Fabian Mehring presented the community choice award and gave out game certificates to the Level Up Accelerator participants. By Pascal Wagner • 1 min read Gregorios Kythreotis is founder of Eteo Games and editor of Eteo Archetypes (Eteo) People Why Does A Game Studio Start a Games Magazine? The Creative Director behind Sable has expanded: Not into a publishing scheme or PR, but into games culture journalism. Eteo Archetypes is an ongoing collection of writing by some of the best culture authors in gaming. We talked to head of Eteo, Gregorios Kythreotis, about it. By Pascal Wagner • 5 min read The founder of Zestum (from Left to Right): Levin Vonester, Salomo Bertram, Jasmin Blekic und Samuel Wiebe | Picture: Thilo Schmülgen/TH Köln Business Zestum Starts Scentbar Kickstarter: Smell What You Play The start-up Zestum wants to use its Scentbar to bring smells to life on screen to match what's happening. A Kickstarter campaign is set to fund the first product line. Three scent sets are planned for the launch: nature, racing and action. By Stephan Steininger • 2 min read Valve Software looks back at Steam in 2025 © Valve Software Business Average Cut for All Non-Valve Games Sold on Steam in 2025 Was 24% Valve Software looks back at Steam in 2025. The company announced that, in 2025, the revenue share paid out across all non-Valve games on Steam was 76%. By Marcel Kleffmann • 2 min read GG Bavaria 2026 © eosAndy Events Almost 10,000 Visitors at GG Bavaria 2026; Organizers Extremely Satisfied The Bavarian gaming convention saw another visitor record, with around 9,500 people attending GG Bavaria 2026 in Munich. The organisers drew very positive conclusions from the event at the Kleine Olympiahalle. By Marcel Kleffmann • 3 min read Anna Norrevik, Dev Director of Battlefield 6 © Dice/Nordic Game Events Battlefield 6 Dev Director Anna Norrevik @ NG26 Spring The Nordic Game Spring 2026 speaker line-up is growing with the addition of another industry expert. Anna Norrevik, Dev Director of Battlefield 6, will talk about how four studios created a turning point for the franchise. By Marcel Kleffmann • 2 min read Rockfish Games Team in 2026 © Rockfish Games Business Rockfish Receives €8 Million in Federal Funding for New Everspace Game Hamburg-based independent studio Rockfish Games has received an €8 million grant from the German government to develop a new game in the Everspace franchise. This is the largest sum ever awarded by the Federal Games Funding Programme. By Marcel Kleffmann • 4 min read The game HorseWorld Show Jumping was also developed by Tivola Games and brought to the app stores by Trophy Games | Screenshot Products Jumpgate: Financing for Tivola Project With Publisher Trophy Games Secured Jumpgate announces the successful financing of the new project by its Hamburg-based subsidiary Tivola. The budget of SEK 19 million, approximately €1.8 million, comes from publishing partner Trophy Games and federal funding from Germany. By Stephan Steininger • 2 min read
Chris Hewish (President) and Berkley Egenes (Chief Marketing and Growth Officer) at Xsolla © Christer Berg / Xsolla Business "In 2026, I Expect Smarter Monetization Rather Than Bigger Monetization" In our GDC 2026 interview with Chris Hewish (President) and Berkley Egenes (Chief Marketing and Growth Officer) at Xsolla, we discuss monetisation trends, games concentration, direct-to-consumer growth, hardware cost pressures, distribution trends and XR. By Marcel Kleffmann • 7 min read
Mehring and the winners of the GG Awards 2026 (Kaspar Kozub / StMD Bayern) People GG Awards 2026 Honor Irox, Cobalt Lane, Memory Forge, Fire Totem and Spicy Sushi With Oku, A Webbing Journey, OrbiTower, Incredibug and Imprinted, five brand new games won the GG Awards at GG Bavaria 2026. Digital Minister Fabian Mehring presented the community choice award and gave out game certificates to the Level Up Accelerator participants. By Pascal Wagner • 1 min read
Gregorios Kythreotis is founder of Eteo Games and editor of Eteo Archetypes (Eteo) People Why Does A Game Studio Start a Games Magazine? The Creative Director behind Sable has expanded: Not into a publishing scheme or PR, but into games culture journalism. Eteo Archetypes is an ongoing collection of writing by some of the best culture authors in gaming. We talked to head of Eteo, Gregorios Kythreotis, about it. By Pascal Wagner • 5 min read
The founder of Zestum (from Left to Right): Levin Vonester, Salomo Bertram, Jasmin Blekic und Samuel Wiebe | Picture: Thilo Schmülgen/TH Köln Business Zestum Starts Scentbar Kickstarter: Smell What You Play The start-up Zestum wants to use its Scentbar to bring smells to life on screen to match what's happening. A Kickstarter campaign is set to fund the first product line. Three scent sets are planned for the launch: nature, racing and action. By Stephan Steininger • 2 min read
Valve Software looks back at Steam in 2025 © Valve Software Business Average Cut for All Non-Valve Games Sold on Steam in 2025 Was 24% Valve Software looks back at Steam in 2025. The company announced that, in 2025, the revenue share paid out across all non-Valve games on Steam was 76%. By Marcel Kleffmann • 2 min read
GG Bavaria 2026 © eosAndy Events Almost 10,000 Visitors at GG Bavaria 2026; Organizers Extremely Satisfied The Bavarian gaming convention saw another visitor record, with around 9,500 people attending GG Bavaria 2026 in Munich. The organisers drew very positive conclusions from the event at the Kleine Olympiahalle. By Marcel Kleffmann • 3 min read
Anna Norrevik, Dev Director of Battlefield 6 © Dice/Nordic Game Events Battlefield 6 Dev Director Anna Norrevik @ NG26 Spring The Nordic Game Spring 2026 speaker line-up is growing with the addition of another industry expert. Anna Norrevik, Dev Director of Battlefield 6, will talk about how four studios created a turning point for the franchise. By Marcel Kleffmann • 2 min read
Rockfish Games Team in 2026 © Rockfish Games Business Rockfish Receives €8 Million in Federal Funding for New Everspace Game Hamburg-based independent studio Rockfish Games has received an €8 million grant from the German government to develop a new game in the Everspace franchise. This is the largest sum ever awarded by the Federal Games Funding Programme. By Marcel Kleffmann • 4 min read
The game HorseWorld Show Jumping was also developed by Tivola Games and brought to the app stores by Trophy Games | Screenshot Products Jumpgate: Financing for Tivola Project With Publisher Trophy Games Secured Jumpgate announces the successful financing of the new project by its Hamburg-based subsidiary Tivola. The budget of SEK 19 million, approximately €1.8 million, comes from publishing partner Trophy Games and federal funding from Germany. By Stephan Steininger • 2 min read
