game – the German Games Industry Association celebrates its fifth anniversary

game – the German Games Industry Association is celebrating its fifth anniversary. It was on 29 January 2018 that the BIU and GAME completed their merger.

The new organisation was home to approx. 180 members when it began. Now, five years later, game has long since grown to more than 400 members. Since completing the merger, the association has spoken for and successfully represented the interests of the games industry as a whole. There have been numerous positive developments to report: the subsidiaries Entertainment Software Self-Regulation Body (USK) and Foundation for Digital Games Culture (Stiftung Digitale Spielekultur) have both grown during this period, while new subsidiaries such as devcom and the esports player foundation have been welcomed to the game family. Thanks to game’s regional offices, the games industry is now represented throughout Germany. In order to supplement the existing, in some cases long-standing, regional associations, game joined with local companies to establish seven new regional offices. As a result, the games industry has been able to celebrate a series of successes in Germany’s federal states and growing support from many federal state governments, something evidenced among other things by increased funding for regional support programmes. Both gamescom, the world’s biggest event for computer and video games, and the German Computer Games Awards (DCP) have been able to achieve numerous milestones over the past five years. The industry’s unified voice has also found an audience with policymakers: from the introduction of funding for the games industry and the establishment of a dedicated games department to the creation of a games strategy, the German government has done a great deal at the federal level these past five years to strengthen Germany as a games industry hub – and game has been a huge part of these efforts.

‘The past five years have supplied a clear demonstration of just how much we can achieve now that we are working together and our industry is speaking with a single voice,’ says Felix Falk, Managing Director of game – the German Games Industry Association.

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‘With our association of more than 400 members and our institutions, we have created a powerful structure – and we are using this structure to raise the profile of games and of our industry, create opportunities, counter risks, and deliver effective assistance to stakeholders in Germany’s growing games ecosystem. We owe a particularly big thank you to our entire team and our many dedicated members. I am also grateful for the statements made by political figures on the occasion of our anniversary, something that underscores the government’s focus on and appreciation of our industry. All of this represents a strong foundation for the future as we continue to pursue our mission of making Germany the best games location. We have big plans, and our association and industry have never been in a better position to make these a reality than we are today.’