- The gaming extravaganza, Gamescom, has commenced; an enormous influx of around half a million individuals anticipated.
After kickstarting the globe's most extensive gaming and video game market event, Gamescom in Cologne, the sector strives to surmount its recent hurdles. Escalating expenses and reduced consumer desire have left numerous gaming firms in a pinch, resulting in more job losses due to the economic recession than in the entire preceding year globally. Some smaller studios in Germany have also folded. Despite this, Gamescom aims to instill optimism and highlight the industry's growth potential till Sunday.
The event, which drew around 320,000 visitors to Cologne's exhibition halls the previous year, commenced with the "Opening Night Live" event on Tuesday evening, showcasing a profusion of brief trailers for fresh games. The presentation offered visual excursions into the past, harsh current-day circumstances, or apocalyptic future scenarios where evil needs to be defeated. Trailers showcased included those for the medieval role-playing game "Kingdom Come Deliverance II", the shooter game "Call of Duty: Black Ops 6", and the zombie massacre "Dying Light: The Beast".
In "Dune Awakening", players initially strive for survival on the desert planet Arrakis before battling for influence and power. The makers of this visually alluring game likely seek adherents of the film franchise, who are already accustomed to the sandworms on the silver screen.
Prominent US tech companies graced the event, with over 4,000 spectators. Amazon Prime's series "Secret Level" and Netflix's game "Squid Game: Unleashed" were among the presentations. For the action game "Batman: Arkham Shadow", based on the comic series, Meta's virtual reality headset Quest 3 is necessary. Following the evening show, the doors to the other exhibition halls will open on Wednesday morning, offering access to various companies' booths.
Gamescom is an open-to-the-public event, with tickets up for sale. Nevertheless, numerous industry reps attend to network and explore business possibilities. Gaming enthusiasts can test out new games, and cosplayers in series and game character costumes are anticipated on the exhibition site. Saturday has already sold out, and the event wraps up on Sunday.
Gamescom had its most prosperous year in 2019 with 373,000 visitors, but attendance decreased due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this year, the outlook is positive, with over 1,400 exhibitors from 64 countries presenting new video and computer games, in addition to other technical innovations and services – a 15% increase from the previous year.
Hamburg-based studio Rockfish Games, creators of the space action game "Everspace 2", is one of the exhibitors. The company received a €1.65 million grant from the Federal Ministry of Economics for the game, which released last year. Studio CEO Michael Schade will partake in a stage event on Wednesday evening, alongside Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) and North Rhine-Westphalia Minister President Hendrik Wüst (CDU). Rockfish Games serves as a case study for the efficiency of federal gaming incentives.
This funding policy is under investigation. Game, the industry association, alleges that the federal government offers insufficient funds to offset competitive disadvantages of the German market versus foreign nations like France and Canada.
Insufficient funds have led the Federal Ministry of Economics to not accept new funding applications since May 2023. While 50 million euros are anticipated to flow this year, these will only support approved applications. Game development is typically time-consuming, with funding disbursed in installments over various years.
Untapped new funding pot
Although Federal Commissioner for Culture Claudia Roth (Greens) established a new funding pot worth approximately 33 million euros for games – a decision made by a parliamentary committee in November 2021 – no payments have been made yet. Roth's office claims they are still in discussions with the Federal Ministry of Economics.
This has sparked discontent among the federal states. "The announced funds of over 33 million euros [...] must be quickly released to the industry," demands Bavaria's Digital Minister Fabian Mehring (Free Voters). The industry association Game also hopes that this funding will finally commence and alleviate the current tension.
Berlin sees the states as responsible
The Federal Ministry of Economics plans to delegate funding for smaller studios to the federal states and concentrate on larger projects themselves. This could protract the annual budget's depletion.
However, the federal states are unsatisfied with this. "It cannot be the task of the states to compensate for shortfalls in federal funding," says the NRW Ministry of Culture. "They can only mitigate them." Baden-Württemberg also signals that it will not enhance its state funding.
Despite facing challenges such as escalating expenses and reduced consumer desire, leading to more job losses in the gaming industry, the visually stunning game "Dune Awakening" showcases its potential at Gamescom. The event, featuring over 1,400 exhibitors from around the world, is hopeful about its positive outlook this year, showcasing new video games, technical innovations, and services, including "Batman: Arkham Shadow" which requires Meta's Quest 3 for its action gameplay.
