Bavarian Digital Minister Mehring: "Goal Must be to Restore Competitiveness"
Bavaria's Digital Minister Mehring sees the proposed cancellation of cumulation of state and federal funding as a big step back in the new games plans of the BMWK. He urges the Federal Gouvernment to see the break in competitiveness the current situation brings for the industry.
Fabian Mehring sees the striking of cumulation as a step backwards.Games/Bavaria
Bavaria’s Digital Minister Fabian Mehring had already used the award warm-up evening of the FilmFernsehFonds Bayern to provide his opinion towards the planned changes in Federal games funding in person. There, he spoke to the industry present directly, ensuring he would take up the fight for changes that would benefit smaller studios as well, not just bigger ones.
Bavaria’s Digital Minister Fabian Mehring had already used the award warm-up evening of the FilmFernsehFonds Bayern to provide his opinion towards the planned changes in Federal games funding in person. There, he spoke to the industry present directly, ensuring he would take up the fight for changes that would benefit smaller studios as well, not just bigger ones.
Before yesterday’s German Computer Game Awards (DCP) then, the Minister gave a statement to press as well, clarifying some of the points of the federal gouvernments planned new funding strategy he has problems with, as did several of his colleagues in other federal states.
"The fact that the federal government has awoken from its slumber and is now finally presenting the key points for the new federal games funding programme was an overdue step towards finally providing clarity for the games industry. I am pleased that the federal government has now complied with our ongoing demands from Bavaria and put its cards on the table. From Bavaria's point of view, the primary goal must be to restore competitiveness for the development of games in Germany. After the paralysing uncertainty of the nationwide application freeze, planning security and reliability must finally be restored for games companies," Mehring says.
"It is clear that the announced cancellation of the cumulation must not be at the expense of the studios. In Bavaria, I already increased the state's own games funding to a record level of EUR 3.3 million last year. With the first round of funding this year, we have already invested almost 1.7 million euros in Bavarian games projects.
The industry can still rely on Bavarian funding for the rest of the year.
At the same time, we don't want any ideological blinkers on games funding. We welcome the willingness to fulfil our Bavarian wish for tax credits, which of course cannot be done at the financial expense of the federal states. As Minister for Games, it is important to me to give the industry my full backing in order to make the best possible use of its innovative strength and creativity as a driving force for digitalisation."
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Before yesterday’s German Computer Game Awards (DCP) then, the Minister gave a statement to press as well, clarifying some of the points of the federal gouvernments planned new funding strategy he has problems with, as did several of his colleagues in other federal states.
"The fact that the federal government has awoken from its slumber and is now finally presenting the key points for the new federal games funding programme was an overdue step towards finally providing clarity for the games industry. I am pleased that the federal government has now complied with our ongoing demands from Bavaria and put its cards on the table. From Bavaria's point of view, the primary goal must be to restore competitiveness for the development of games in Germany. After the paralysing uncertainty of the nationwide application freeze, planning security and reliability must finally be restored for games companies," Mehring says.
"It is clear that the announced cancellation of the cumulation must not be at the expense of the studios. In Bavaria, I already increased the state's own games funding to a record level of EUR 3.3 million last year. With the first round of funding this year, we have already invested almost 1.7 million euros in Bavarian games projects.
The industry can still rely on Bavarian funding for the rest of the year.
At the same time, we don't want any ideological blinkers on games funding. We welcome the willingness to fulfil our Bavarian wish for tax credits, which of course cannot be done at the financial expense of the federal states. As Minister for Games, it is important to me to give the industry my full backing in order to make the best possible use of its innovative strength and creativity as a driving force for digitalisation."
Never miss anything from the German, Swiss and Austrian games industry again: subscribe for free to our Daily newsletter and get all news straight to your inbox.
