Germany as a location for the games industry

Computer and video games form a central pillar of the creative industries in Germany and with a turnover of 1.86 billion euro in 2010, overtook both the music sector and film industry at the cinema box offices in Germany. In Europe, the German games market is second behind Great Britain.

As in other creative sectors, international production locations have also emerged in the games industry. Hotspots include the USA, Japan and Canada. The German developer landscape comprises about 125 companies which are concentrated in the city regions of NRW, Munich, Berlin, Hamburg and the Rhine-Main area. Furthermore, around 55 publishers have specialised in the distribution of games, further 70 are involved on both, the development and publishing of games. In total, approximately 10,000 people are employed along the entire value chain in the games sector in Germany, either working freelance or in permanent employment.

With the trend towards online and browser games, a paradigm shift is currently taking place in the German games industry. If in the past individual games producers such as Crytek were able to make an international name for themselves, at the present time Germany is developing into one of the most important production locations worldwide for online and browser games. This is having a positive impact on the German labour market and requires an increasing demand for qualified skilled workers.

This demand presents new challenges for the education and training landscape in Germany. It is less than ten years ago that the first private games academies in Germany were founded and since then, numerous state universities have starting offering interactive entertainment media courses in their teaching programme. In order to strengthen Germany as a production location on a sustainable basis and to compete internationally, it is necessary to continue to improve the training situation in dialogue with the games industry.