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Published today: a survey of the games industry in Berlin-Brandenburg – an investigation of the economic factor
+++ MBB New Media situation 2022

Berlin / Potsdam - Good figures for the capital region: the games industry continues to grow, thus becoming an important branch of the audiovisual creative industries. Turnover increases to 446 million euros. The number of companies is also increasing – every 5th company based in Germany has headquarters in the capital region, and 22% of all employees in the German games industry work in Berlin-Brandenburg. The figures indicate the great potential and dynamic growth of the sector and verify the high need for expanding the promotion and support. This way, Berlin becomes Germany’s No. 1 games location!

The representative games survey was conducted for the first time by Goldmedia, commissioned by medianet berlinbrandenburg and funded by the MBB. It sheds light on the games industry as an economic factor in the Berlin-Brandenburg region. The study focuses on sector structure, age structure (of companies), employees, turnover structure, return on sales and location factors. In October/November 2022, 61 companies from the Berlin and Brandenburg games industry took part in the survey.

Core results of the games survey:

• The games industry in Berlin-Brandenburg currently consists of 301 companies, 182 of which are active in the core market (developers and publishers). Thus around one in five games companies based in Germany is located in the capital region.
• The average age of core market companies in Berlin-Brandenburg is approximately 6.4 years. It is therefore a very young industry.
• Around 2,600 employees work in the core market. This means that 22% of all employees in the German games industry work in Berlin-Brandenburg. Around 30% of all employees are not male. Of the 10 companies with the most employees in Germany, 5 come from Berlin.
• The core market in Berlin-Brandenburg had total turnover of 446 million euros in 2021. This corresponds to around 12% of the total turnover of the industry in Germany. The high export rate of the industry should be emphasised.
• The 5 largest companies generated 70% of the total turnover of the industry in the Berlin-Brandenburg region. More than every fourth company achieved high returns (> 15%).
• The Berlin-Brandenburg location is valued primarily for its good networking opportunities. The most important factor is considered to be the funding opportunities, rated as good or very good by around half of all companies.

In the Riot Studios on the trade fair site, the survey will be presented by Juliane Müller, managing director of the commissioned consulting and research group Goldmedia Strategy Consulting. In the subsequent panel moderated by Sven Oswald (rbb multimedia expert, radioeins presenter and freelance journalist), Michael Biel (State Secretary for Economic Affairs in the Berlin Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises), Jeannine Koch (Executive Chairwoman of medianet) and Helge Jürgens (MBB Managing Director for New Media Promotion) comment on the results.

Michael Biel, Berlin Senate Department für Economic Affairs, Energy and Public Enterprises:

“I’m very keen to help make Berlin the number one games location in Germany – and we’ll do everything we can to achieve it! We want to approach the Games Capital Berlin brand with the new government in a fresh way, and thus lead the games industry towards a successful future. We’re immensely proud of the many businesses that are already getting such great things done.”

Helge Jürgens, MBB Managing Director for New Media Funding:

“Made in Berlin-Brandenburg games are on course for success thanks to innovative stories, diverse perspectives, the latest technology, as an image factor for the media location of the future and as an industry with growing companies and employment. The enormous growth of the games and XR industry can also be seen in the application situation at the MBB. The states of Berlin-Brandenburg support this trend and have increased new media funding for 2022. Now it’s time to consolidate this, fully exploit the potential of the industry and establish Berlin as the number one games location.
The high potential of the games industry is also seen at the national level. The BMWK yesterday had to announce a new application freeze in the near future because of the high volume of applications for games funding by the federal government in 2023. So as not to dampen the growth process and to continue to create reliable framework conditions for the games industry, federal funding has to urgently be further expanded as an equivalent to state funding.”

Jeannine Koch, medianet Executive Chairwoman:

“In the light of this study, Berlin as the No. 1 games location is not too distant. Already every fifth games company based in Germany is in Berlin-Brandenburg, and in the field of e-sports that’s as high as 40%. This once again confirms the ‘House of Games’ project we’re setting up together with the ‘game’ association to establish Berlin as Germany’s most important games location. We’re happy that this has already found its way into the coalition agreement and that the capital region’s claim to be the hub of this innovative industry will continue to be underpinned in the future. It’s also pleasing to note that, in particular, the networking opportunities are viewed by the participants of the survey as an attraction factor for the region. That underlines the good work done at the location, including by medianet, which has now been doing networking activities for the games industry for 11 years.”

The complete survey results are now available for download here.

Increasing figures also in MBB funding – the new media year 2022

Increasing funding amounts, support for games as a growth market and successful initiatives for the games and media industry: With the MBB, the steep development of the market is reflected in more applications, a top funding amount and solid impact on the economy. The new media funding sector awards a total of 8.3 million euros in 2022, with 6.4 million euros of this for the content funding of games, XR / immersive content and serial formats. Thanks to this funding more than 20 million euros flow back into the capital region – which is a more than 3-fold regional impact!
Together with the states of Berlin and Brandenburg, it is now a matter of consolidating the path adopted to continue supporting the industries on their course of expansion.

FLASH OVERVIEW OF NEW MEDIA FUNDING 2022

• New media funding volume increases by 14% to 8.3 million euros
• 329% regional effect – increases to 23.7 million euros
• 1 million euros more from the Berlin Senate for expansion to become the number one games location
• 1 million euros for the new Digital Media Production Brandenburg funding programme
• Separate games funding guideline at the MBB comes into force in 2022
• Media location of the future with new initiatives such as The Rabbit, Start-up: Games-Entrepreneurs or Play, Promote, Publish – Marketing Strategies for the Games Industry for the next generation of games entrepreneurs and the German Canadian Interactive Exchange
• Kraken Academy!! wins the German Computer Game Award, El Hijo becomes AppleTV Game of the Year and Cloudpunk wins 3 Scottish Game Awards
• From the Main Square wins at Venice VR
• Viral Dreams receives the IDA International Documentary Award

ALL NEW MEDIA FUNDING FIGURES => ON THE FACT SHEET