20 Years of Supporting the Games Industry in Hamburg
Hamburg is one of Europe’s gaming hotspots: 2,500 people are working in over 190 game companies in the city. Since 2003, the location initiative Gamecity Hamburg is supporting the industry in the name of the City of Hamburg – and was thus the first public funding institution for the games industry at the state level in Germany. Since 2018, Gamecity Hamburg is part of the city-owned Hamburg Kreativ Gesellschaft. For its 20th anniversary, the location initiative plans several events and activities to spotlight and celebrate the local industry. To kick the festivities off, industry stakeholders look back on the development of the Hamburg games industry and cast a glance into the future:
“Hamburg is one of the top locations for the games industry. We owe this to a highly creative network in the city that recognized the importance of the games industry early on and developed the vision of a ‘Gamecity’. With the Gamecity Hamburg initiative, we have been creating a suitable environment for the games industry for 20 years. In the future, we also want to ensure that the industry in Hamburg finds sufficient talent and the potential for further growth in the Hanseatic city through a large network and good opportunities for education and training,” says Minister of Culture and Media Dr. Carsten Brosda.
“A diverse ecosystem of the games industry has developed in Hamburg: With companies such as InnoGames, Goodgame Studios or the Applike Group, some of the largest games companies in Germany are located here. The lively scene of Hamburg game studios also includes other well-known names such as Daedalic Entertainment, Bytro, Fishlabs, and Rockfish Games. Gamecity Hamburg has established itself as a central point of contact for all games companies and founders – both for financial support and for access to the strong network in town” explains Dennis Schoubye, Head of Gamecity Hamburg.
Gamecity Hamburg currently supports the local industry with two funding programs, the Prototype Funding program, and the Games Lift Incubator, for which a combined sum of 520,000 € is available annually. In addition, Gamecity Hamburg is offering a number of events, such as the international Hamburg Games Conference, the Gamecity Treff – a meet-up for all participants of the industry which was established in 2003 – and other programs to connect the industry and further the exchange of knowledge.
“Hamburg recognized the potential of the games industry early on and created Gamecity, a groundbreaking games support program. I am particularly pleased that the energy of the early years has now returned under the sponsorship of Hamburg Kreativ Gesellschaft. Together with the entire games ecosystem, Gamecity is successfully working to expand Hamburg as a games location and prepare it for the future,” says Egbert Rühl, Managing Director of Hamburg Kreativ Gesellschaft, commenting on the importance of the games industry.
The industry also looks positively on the support in Hamburg: “The games industry has become an integral and important part of Hamburg’s economy. The support provided by Gamecity Hamburg with funding, networking events, and political initiatives was and is immensely important in this regard,” says Tobias Graff, Managing Director of Mooneye Studios and spokesperson for the regional representative office of game Hamburg – The German Games Industry Association.
Gamecity Hamburg will also share stories from the past two decades of the local industry throughout the year on their online channels. A first impression can be gained from the anniversary video, in which insiders recap the evolution of the industry: https://youtu.be/fBS5eF7Xelc
20th Anniversary in 2023: Gamecity Hamburg celebrates the Hamburg games industry
To celebrate the anniversary of the games industry in Hamburg, various activities and events are planned to look back on the last decades, but especially to look forward to the future of the games industry in Hamburg. On April 20, there will be a Senate reception at the invitation of Dr. Carsten Brosda, Senator for Culture and Media. Numerous guests from the German and Hamburg games industry are expected at Hamburg’s Town Hall. With 20 years of runtime, the games industry meetup “Gamecity Treff” is a solid institution in the German games scene. The industry and all interested parties can look forward to a jubilee edition of the Gamecity Treff, to which Gamecity Hamburg invites on May 24. The Gamecity Treff is supported by the sponsors Bigpoint, Bytro, and The Sandbox.
Interested parties can also make a note of the Gamecity Treff meets Polaris on October 13, which is adjacent to the Hamburg Community Convention Polaris, with the kind support of the sponsors InnoGames and AWS for Games.
Further public events are already being prepared and will be announced throughout the year.
Current information and all content on the 20th anniversary of Gamecity Hamburg can be found at: https://gamecity-hamburg.de/20years/
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