Gaming
The 5 up-and-coming game developer teams in Gamecity Hamburg’s incubator program present their projects and progress at Games Lift Graduation 2021
At the final event of this year’s Games Lift Incubator program, five teams presented their game projects live at the start-up center Factory Hammerbrooklyn in Hamburg on December 2. During the three-month intensive phase of the incubator, the teams received individual coaching, mentoring, and workshops from international games experts, as well as financial support of 15,000 euros per project and workspaces in a co-working space from the location initiative Gamecity Hamburg. All five teams reached important milestones in the development of their games and concepts.
“I’m impressed by the progress the teams have shown in just three months. I look forward to seeing more from the teams and their games in the future,” comments Wolf Lang, CEO of event agency Super Crowd Entertainment, co-founder of indie studio THREAKS and member of the Games Lift Incubator awarding committee.
“The Games Lift Graduation vividly demonstrates the great effects that targeted funding programs like the Games Lift Incubator can have in leveraging the potential at Hamburg as a games location,” adds Dennis Schoubye, Head of Gamecity Hamburg.
At the final event, “Games Lift Graduation,” the five teams publicly presented their projects for the first time and provided insights into the progress they had made in development as well as outlooks for the future. Twitch streamer Nina Dreßler “OddNina” and Dennis Schoubye led through the evening.
For the developer teams, the incubator offered the opportunity to critically examine their ideas in exchange with experienced mentors, to refine their game concepts, and to check the market potential. For example, the young developer teams planned and tackled possible changes to game titles, the right pitch for their ideas, and concrete plans for Kickstarter campaigns to finance further development.
These five teams successfully completed the intensive phase of Games Lift Incubator 2021 with their projects:
The Invitation by tool1
Timo Becker, Martin Kleingräber, and Stephen Sommerfeld have known each other since their university days and founded their game studio tool1 to realize the action-packed multiplayer looter-shooter The Invitation. Graphically rich and with a focus on dynamic player interactions, the players fight for survival with each other, for each other, and against each other in a post-apocalyptic world attacked by aliens.
PROSPECTOR by Symmetry Break Games
The team Symmetry Break Games around HAW Hamburg University of Applied Sciences graduates Anca Tutescu, Jan Barow, Julian Heinken is working together with Franziska Blinde and Cecilia Theophil on PROSPECTOR, a sci-fi adventure with a compelling story and an innovative dialog system. In the game, all characters wear mysterious masks for protection against toxic fumes, which possess other surprising functions.
Monstersongs VR by Denise Koch
Solo developer Denise Koch brings experience from the theater and musical world and is currently working on developing a “Musical 2.0”: Monstersongs VR is an adaptation of the successful “Monstersongs Rock Musical” as an interactive virtual reality story in a theater filled with monsters. As the project manager, Denise Koch brings together the threads of her team of experienced composers, illustrators, and VR developers.
supernightshift by consider it
Kevin Westphal and Timo Schneider from “consider it” are working on “supernightshift”, a mobile game based on a map app they developed which uses real-time traffic data. The players have to get to their destination in their mysterious “nightshift” with a tight budget of time and money and different means of transportation in real cities.
The Treepoids by SUPERNATURAL GAMES
Brothers Gerrit and Patrick Henschel founded their studio SUPERNATURAL GAMES together in 2019 and are developing a 2D strategy adventure game with lovingly hand-drawn scenarios. The alien plant creatures “Treepoids” solve puzzles, engage in strategic battles, and thus have to save the environment of a mysterious green island.
The support for the five teams through the Games Lift Incubator program does not end with graduation: In the next 12 months, they will continue to have access to the incubator’s extensive contact network, as well as individual support services from coaches, consultants, and a PR agency specializing in games. The aim is to aid the developers with long-term support in creating successful games for the international games market in Hamburg.
From May 2022, teams and developers can apply for the next Games Lift Incubator. All information about the incubator and the teams that have already completed the program can be found at: https://www.gamecity-hamburg.de/incubator/
Powered by WPeMatico
Gaming
Mobile Games Index: Analysis of 95M Game Interactions Reveals Shifting Engagement Trends, Available Now
The anticipated fourth edition of the annual Mobile Games Index, powered by adjoe and Statista, is now available.
The latest report offers a clear look into the current state of the mobile gaming sector, analyzing the past 12 months of the first-party data from 95 million app interactions across 27 million users. The MGI 2024 reveals what people choose to play on their mobile devices, filling the gap in industry knowledge and enabling game developers and user acquisition specialists to benchmark their products and ultimately target the right audiences with the right content.
Moving forward, it is up to the industry decision-makers to analyze the findings and promptly adapt to the newly-emerged engagement trends from MGI 2024, effectively engaging desired audiences.
A Peek at Shifting Engagement Trends to Capitalize on
Based on predictions from Statista, the overarching trend in the market is its robust growth with a forecasted expansion from $166.1 billion in 2024 to $227 billion by 2028.
Remarkably, Card games are expected to grow the most dramatically at 13.8% a year, nearly doubling their global revenue by 2028. Judging from the engagement charts of MGI 2024, the main driver of growth in this category is Solitaire games. The audience is showing a clear preference for Solitaire – these games hold 7 out of 10 positions in the top list of card games worldwide by time spent with titles from MobilityWare, Gimica, Scopely, and Playvalve, among others.
What allows the market to show revenue growth is the positive changes in global daily time spent. After the dip in engagement highlighted by the last year’s Index, adjoe confirms that average daily sessions have rebounded to 21.5 minutes from 17.3 minutes reported last year, marking a 22% increase.
The most engaged demographic of mobile gamers globally is the 40-49 age group, which has experienced a remarkable 33% increase in daily gaming time, now at 23 minutes daily. The strategies targeted at older demographics over the past 12 months can be deemed successful. However, this has led to a loss of focus on engaging Gen-Z, which has shown only modest growth in time spent.
The MGI also reveals that women are outpacing men in daily gaming time across most genres – as reported for the 4th edition in a row. This consistent and high performance makes the female audience a continuously safer bet when it comes to user targeting.
Another continued trend is the dominance of top publishers such as Supercell, Garena, King, and Playrix, while there’s still space to occupy for smaller publishers. For instance, ForgeGames tops the engagement charts with their game Special Forces Group 2 – capturing over 43 minutes of average daily engagement.
The insights continue in the MGI 2024, going granular to segment and visualize global mobile game engagement data from adjoe by genre, region, and demographic. At the same time, Statista’s extensive market research provides a macro-view of the current and future industry, offering figures for global downloads and revenues with forecasts extending to 2028.
Mobile Games Index 2024 Is Available in Open Access
The MGI 2024 goes deep below the surface of market data and creates a comprehensive snapshot of the mobile gaming industry today. Inside are
For developers and marketers, this report is the green light to benchmark performance against industry leaders and align their products with the rising expectations of mobile gamers. This comprehensive tool is now available for free to inform decision-making and help optimize strategies for short- and long-term actions.
The post Mobile Games Index: Analysis of 95M Game Interactions Reveals Shifting Engagement Trends, Available Now appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
Gaming
The German Games Industry Association congratulates all winners of the German Computer Game Awards 2024
• “EVERSPACE 2” by ROCKFISH Games is ‘Best German Game’ 2024
• Pixel Maniacs from Nuremberg wins in the ‘Studio of the Year’ category
• ‘Best International Game’ is Baldur’s Gate 3
• ‘Player of the Year’ is Maurice Weber
High-quality games, great entertainment and many well-known personalities from the games industry and the cultural, societal and political spheres – the German Computer Game Awards 2024 (DCP), presented this evening in Munich, featured all that and more. Numerous guests celebrated the best games from Germany and the creative minds behind them in person at Eisbach Studios in Munich. The award show, which was hosted by Katrin Bauerfeind and Uke Bosse, was additionally followed by hundreds of thousands of viewers via live stream. A total of 800,000 euros was awarded in cash prizes. “EVERSPACE 2” by ROCKFISH Games was chosen ‘Best German Game’. The ‘Studio of the Year’ award went to Pixel Maniacs from Nuremberg, which has made a name for itself with successful games like the party racing game “Can’t Drive This”, its multifaceted involvement in the game industry and its promotion of young talent, as well as with its innovations in the area of marketing. The ‘Special Jury Prize’ was awarded to the project “Gaming ohne Grenzen” (Gaming without Borders), an initiative that enables young people with disabilities to participate actively in game culture – for example, by assessing in inclusive game testing groups the accessibility of various games as well as the ability of certain technologies to help overcome barriers in video games. In voting by the community and the jury, Maurice Weber was selected ‘Player of the Year’. The games editor and Twitch streamer regularly analyses current developments in the games industry and takes a critical look at them, while at the same time formulating a clear stance for more diversity and against extremism in games and society.
The German Computer Game Awards, which honour the year’s best German-produced games, are hosted by the German Federal Government, represented by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, and game – The German Games Industry Association.
‘Congratulations to all winners of the German Computer Game Awards 2024!’ says Felix Falk, Managing Director of game. ‘Even in these very challenging times for many German firms in the industry, German games companies have created high-quality and successful games that have deservedly been honoured on the big stage of the DCP. Around half of these outstanding games were developed with the support of federal game funding. This once again demonstrates the potential that we can leverage when the underlying policy framework for game development in Germany provides for truly predictable and internationally competitive conditions – conditions that allow games from Germany to shine even more brightly all over the world and achieve even greater success on the national as well as international stage. We must make this our goal!’
Overview of all winners:
Best International Game (not endowed)
Baldur’s Gate 3 (Larian Studios)
Best German Game (endowed with 100,000 euros)
EVERSPACE 2 (ROCKFISH Games)
The other nominees will each receive 30,000:
Atlas Fallen (Deck 13 Interactive/Focus Entertainment)
Fall of Porcupine (Critical Rabbit/Assemble Entertainment)
Best Family Game (endowed with 40,000 euros)
Spells & Secrets (Alchemist Interactive/rokaplay)
Newcomer Award – Best Debut (endowed with 60,000 euros)
Ad Infinitum (Hekate/NACON)
The other nominees will receive 25,000 euros each:
Fall of Porcupine (Critical Rabbit/Assemble Entertainment)
Lose CTRL (Play From Your Heart)
Newcomer Award – Best Prototype (endowed with 50,000 euros)
Misgiven (Symmetry Break Studio)
The other nominees will receive 25,000 euros each:
Bloodletter (Katharina “Mikey” Müller, David Cafisso, Marvin Braun, Alica Schneider/Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin)
EcoGnomix (Lars Hinnerk Grevsmühl, Lars Eble, Bahy Nguyen, Marcel Zurawka, Alec Shae)
Footgun: Underground (Eduard Dobermann, Theo Lohmüller, Georg Nimke, Robert Pistea, Lukas Salewsky)
REPLICORE (Sarah Inés Roeder, Rody Nawezi, Leonhard Gläser, Maximilian Götz/ HAW Hamburg)
Best Innovation and Technology (endowed with 40,000 euros)
Marble Maze (Fox-Assembly)
Best Serious Game (endowed with 40,000 euros)
Friedrich Ebert – Der Weg zur Demokratie (Playing History/Stiftung Reichspräsident-Friedrich-Ebert-Gedenkstätte)
Best Audio Design (endowed with 40,000 euros)
Ad Infinitum (Hekate/NACON)
Best Game Design (endowed with 40,000 euros)
Lose CTRL (Play From Your Heart)
Best Graphic Design (endowed with 40,000 euros)
The Bear – A Story from the World of Gra (Mucks! Games)
Best Mobile Game (endowed with 40,000 euros)
Cat Rescue Story (Tivola Games)
Best Story (endowed with 40,000 euros)
Ad Infinitum (Hekate/NACON)
Studio of the Year (endowed with 50,000 euros)
Pixel Maniacs
Player of the Year (not endowed)
Maurice Weber
Special Jury Award (endowed with 10,000 euros)
Gaming ohne Grenzen
The post The German Games Industry Association congratulates all winners of the German Computer Game Awards 2024 appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
Flexion, the games marketing company, and Kabam, one of the world’s leading game developers, announced a new partnership to bring Marvel Contest of Champions to alternative app stores. Flexion will distribute the game on the Amazon Appstore, Aptoide, ONE store, Samsung Galaxy Store, and Digital Turbine Hubs in 2024.
“We are excited to partner with Flexion to bring Marvel Contest of Champions to even more players. Flexion’s expertise, experience and technology make them the ideal partner for us. This collaboration will help us reach new audiences by making Marvel Contest of Champions available on even more app stores. This is especially exciting ahead of the game’s upcoming 10-year anniversary,” SeungWon Lee, CEO of Kabam, said.
“We are delighted to partner with Kabam, one of the world’s leading game developers, to bring their hit game to more players around the globe. This partnership is a win for Kabam and the app stores, which we will connect to drive audience engagement,” Jens Lauritzson, CEO of Flexion, said.
Marvel Contest of Champions is an epic fighting RPG with over 260 iconic Marvel Super Heroes and Super Villains in the ultimate cosmic showdown. Players can collect and build a competitive team of Champions, compete against the world’s top Summoners, battle through an epic and deep Marvel story, and team up with powerful Summoners in alliances to become the Ultimate Marvel Champion.
“We’re delighted to add such a well-known and successful game like Marvel Contest of Champions to our portfolio. I am very positive about the growth potential of these alternative stores in 2024. There is no better time to expand to more audiences,” Jens added.
Marvel Contest of Champions will be available on the Amazon Appstore, Samsung Galaxy Store, Aptoide, and ONEstore Korea starting on April 29, 2024, with Samsung Gaming Hub, OneStore Global, and DT Games Hub following in the near future.
The post Flexion and Kabam Team Up to Bring Marvel Contest of Champions to the Alternative App Stores appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
-
Compliance Updates7 days agoArizona Department of Gaming Releases February Sports Betting Figures
-
Latest News7 days ago
INSPIRED LAUNCHES SOLID GOLD™: THE LATEST GEM IN THE FORTUNE COMMUNITY™ LINEUP!
-
Compliance Updates7 days ago
Gaming CEOs Optimistic on Industry Outlook, Report Evolving Industry Challenges
-
Argentina5 days ago
Play’n GO breaks new ground with entrance into third Argentinian province
-
Amazon Web Services (AWS)5 days ago
OpenBet bolsters compliance technologies with the launch of geolocation product, OpenBet Locator™, powered by Amazon Web Services (AWS)
-
Latest News5 days ago
Realistic Games introduces endless spins in Maxiplier
-
Compliance Updates5 days ago
Department of Trust set to meet challenges of new affordability checks
-
Latin America5 days ago
Paysafe strengthens US iGaming solution with Pay by Bank launch
