Game: Majority of Germans in favour of a strong German games industry

The German videogames association game has conducted a representative survey to support its call for further improvement of the German games funding system. The majority of Germans believe that other countries are ahead in the games sector, but that it is possible to catch up.

With just over a week to go before the German Bundestag meets to discuss the 2024 budget, the industry association game is backing up its call for further development of the German games funding system with the results of a representative survey. The survey was conducted by YouGov Germany on behalf of game between the end of July and the beginning of August. 2053 people took part. The results were weighted and are representative of the German population aged 16 and over.

In terms of content, the results naturally underpin the core demand for the game. For example, 77% of Germans believe that other countries are ahead of Germany when it comes to game development. 67 per cent think that Germany could be stronger as a games location. And 72 per cent believe that Germany should not be dependent on other countries when it comes to game technologies such as virtual reality, gamification or artificial intelligence. According to the survey, 51 percent - a slim majority - believe that politicians should work to ensure that Germany has internationally competitive conditions for games development.

"Most Germans not only recognise the great cultural and technological importance of games, they also explicitly support Germany becoming a stronger games location. This is an impressive confirmation for the German government that it must now put its money where its mouth is in order to finally ensure reliable and competitive conditions for business locations," comments game CEO Felix Falk on the survey results. Only then will companies be able to catch up on their own.

Falk: "In the short term, funding must be increased to €125 million by 2024. In the medium term, additional tax incentives for games need to be introduced. We also need concrete measures to implement the Federal Government's Games Strategy. This is the only way the coalition can achieve its self-imposed goals of further strengthening Germany as a games location and developing it into a leading international market."

Whether the wish for more budget in the short term will be fully or at least partially fulfilled will probably become clear at the review meeting of the budget committee on 16 November. The recommended final version of the 2024 budget will be finalised there. At the same time, a so-called supplementary resolution recommendation will be issued, which may include changes to individual plans. However, the budget will only be finally adopted after the second and third readings, which will take place on 1 December.

The new survey is another piece of the puzzle in the association's work to break the freeze on federal funding applications that has been in place since May. According to the association, this will continue until the end of 2024 if no additional funds are made available in the 2024 budget. The grotesque thing about the situation is that politicians from almost all parties agree that the games industry needs reliable support in order to be able to play on an equal footing internationally in this field of technology. However, despite this consensus, the development of funding has been slow. This is why game continues to raise the issue, be it in a mid-year review of the government's work or in an e-mail campaign.