Julia Pfiffer & Tim Schmitz, the two co-CEOs of astragon entertainment © Sabrina Weniger Business Julia Pfiffer Is Stepping Down From Her Role as Co-Ceo at astragon Astragon Entertainment and astragon Development have announced a change in the management team. Julia Pfiffer is stepping down from her role as co-CEO. Going forward, Tim Schmitz will be the sole CEO. By Marcel Kleffmann • 2 min read
Business Game Studies Watchlist 2026 #15 The Game Studies Watchlist newsletter, curated by Prof Dr Rudolf Inderst, is published weekly on GamesMarkt. This week's topics include project management as methodology in games, a LucasArts anthology book and more. By Rudolf Inderst • 3 min read
Stephan Reichart, outgoing Managing Director of game events GmbH | Frederik Hammes, Managing Director-designate of game events GmbH | Felix Falk, Managing Director - game - the German Games Industry Association © Reichart, game events | Hammes, game events | Dirk Mathesius Business Frederik Hammes Takes Over Leadership of Game Events From Stephan Reichart From May 2026 onwards, Frederik Hammes will take on the role of Managing Director at game event, succeeding Stephan Reichart, who has chosen to step down. Hammes has over 20 years' experience in the industry, including a long-standing tenure as Managing Director at Travian Games. By Marcel Kleffmann • 2 min read
Geoffroy Sardin, Chief Executive Officer of Pullup Entertainment, formerly Focus Entertainment | John Carpenter's Toxic Commando © Sardin/Pullup | Focus/Saber Business Three out of Four New Titles From Pullup Fell Short of Expectations Toxic Commando, MIO and Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War failed to meet Pullup Entertainment's expectations. This is why the company has adjusted its targets and will adopt an even more selective approach to future projects. Nevertheless, the French company's back catalogue remains strong. By Marcel Kleffmann • 4 min read
Business Escaping the "Algorithm Trap": Why Gaming Marketers Must Rebalance Brand and Performance In today’s hyper-competitive gaming and app landscape, the allure of immediate, trackable metrics is hard to resist. We optimize for clicks, obsess over Return on Ad Spend (ROAS), and pour our budgets into the bottom of the funnel. But are we sacrificing long-term IP health for short- By Zoran Roso • 4 min read
From Left: Colin Anderson, Ross Laurie, and Peter van der Watt of Reforged © Reforged Business Reforged Studios Secures $30 Million Strategic Investment Reforged Studios, the Malta-based company that recently acquired Headup, has secured a $30 million strategic investment from MEP Capital to speed up its gaming IP platform strategy. By Marcel Kleffmann • 2 min read
The team of PandaBee Studios from Leipzig (Christiane Gundlach) Business Numbers, Facts & Truths: An Indie's Analysis of tilt frog In 2024, PandaBee released their tricky platformer tilt frog. Despite great echo from content creators, CEO Julien Schillinger says the game was a flop - and brings important learnings, data and numbers to GamesMarkt in a guest postmortem. By Julien Schillinger • 7 min read
Assassin's Creed Shadows © Ubisoft Business Under the Hood: Ubisoft's Anvil Engine in Assassin's Creed Shadows Ubisoft's Anvil Engine is a powerful, proprietary solution that brought Assassin's Creed Shadows to life. We talked to Nicolas Lopez, the Anvil Engine's Lead Technical Architect, about its strengths, scalability, ray tracing, the challenges of path tracing and shader stutter. By Marcel Kleffmann • 6 min read
Spain’s Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun (centre), also attended the Mad Games Show | Picture by Mad Games Show Business AEVI And DEV Are Thrilled With Visitor Numbers of Second Mad Games Show With over 2,000 visitors, the second Mad Games Show was a resounding success. The Spanish industry associations involved in the project, AEVI and DEV, are pleased and consider the event to be well established. By Stephan Steininger • 3 min read
From left to right: Philipp Sattler (Editorial / Brand Director für buffed.de & MMORE), Thilo Bayer (Brand Editorial Director bei Computec Media), Tobias Meyer, Managing Editor of PC Games, Play 5 and N-Zone at Computec Media © Computec Media Business Buffed and PC Games Merge All editors previously responsible for Buffed/MMore will be moving to the PC Games editorial team. This will strengthen PC Games. Buffed will continue to operate. PC Games MMore will be discontinued. By Marcel Kleffmann • 1 min read
GameCamp Bayreuth 2025 (Lena Remmert) Events GameCamp Bayreuth 2026 Takes Place on 16-17 May The next "unconference" takes place in Bayreuth when the GameCamp is held on 16-17 May at University of Bayreuth. Anyone can spontaneously hold a talk, collaborate on lectures and workshops or even host a small game jam. Tickets are free. By Pascal Wagner • 1 min read
Picture by IIDEA Business Italy’s Games Industry Uses London Games Festival to Network With UK Colleagues With a reception at the Italian Embassy, Italy’s ITA Agency and the industry association IIDEA built a bridge between the Italian and British games industries during the London Games Festival. Collaboration with key markets is essential, according to IIDEA-MD Thalita Malagò. By Stephan Steininger • 2 min read
