What does the future hold for Germany's games policy? | Opinion
Felix Falk
Thursday 10th February 2022
Global financial crisis, migration, climate change, the phasing out of nuclear power, and legalisation of same-sex marriage: Angela Merkel's sixteen-year reign as Germany's Chancellor was marked by many crises and numerous milestones.
From the standpoint of the video games industry, it was the final years of her government that were particularly historic. Whereas for many years, political debates about games had focused on their potential dangers, in recent years attention began to turn to the opportunities presented by this industry -- due not least to her personal efforts.
"The end of the Merkel area does not mean the end of favourable video games policies in Germany"
This was particularly evident in 2017, when she became the first Chancellor to officially open Gamescom, the world's biggest festival for games. This was seen in Germany and worldwide as an official recognition of the importance of the medium and of the industry as a whole. The speech she gave reinforced this message.
"Computer and video games are of the utmost importance as cultural assets, as a driving force for innovation and as an economic factor, which is why I was also very pleased to come to Cologne to provide this developing industry with my recommendation."
The Chancellor's words carried particular weight, and that was borne out by the groundbreaking decisions that followed: the government announced that it was aiming to achieve a level playing field for the video games industry.
German video games companies are to be given an environment that lets them compete internationally in the field of video games development. An important part of this was the introduction of an annual €50 million budget for federal
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