- Kick-off event at the Silent Green brings grant holders together with coaches to get to know each other and exchange ideas.
- With talks and workshops on corporate vision, IP and branding as well as awareness and diversity.
- ‘Press Start: Games Founding Grant’ supports 132 game developers from Germany in founding studios and realising game ideas.
Berlin, 10 February 2025: The ‘Press Start: Games Founding Grant’ celebrated its launch in Berlin on 9 February together with the funded game developers. The majority of the 132 grant holders travelled from all over Germany for the event at Silent Green. The scholarship places were awarded by an expert jury in December 2024, with well over 1000 people applying in total. In addition to getting to know each other, the programme included initial presentations and workshops by industry experts as well as opportunities to exchange ideas with the ‘Press Start’ team. The programme partners the Foundation for Digital Games Culture and game – the German Games Industry Association invited people to the event. The ‘Press Start’ programme is funded by the Minister of State for Culture and the Media.
After a welcoming address by Nandita Wegehaupt, Managing Director of the Foundation for Digital Games Culture, and Felix Falk, Managing Director of game – the German Games Industry Association, followed by presentations by Christian Fonnesbech (Leverage Partnership) on IP and branding and Valerie Kentemich (Farbspiel Interactive) on awareness and diversity. The grant holders then got to know their coaches, with whom they subsequently conducted group workshops on the company vision. The coaches present were Jens Bahr (Off The Beaten Track), Laura Kaltenmaier (KI-Garage), Ulrike Küchler (Gamebook Studio), Thomas Lilge (gamelab.berlin), Timo Maier (Serious Playscape) and Masiar Emanuel Nashat (Nashat Solutions). Orientation measures by members of the Press Start team, networking formats and a performance by video artist Jemma Woolmore completed the programme. The evening before, a get-together was also held at the Computerspielemuseum.
‘Thanks to the funding from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, 132 people are now a decisive step closer to establishing their game studio. This will not only benefit them personally, but also the cultural appeal of games in Germany,’ comments Nandita Wegehaupt, Managing Director of the Foundation, on the launch of the “Press Start” programme. ‘Last weekend’s event laid the foundation for our education and networking programme, which we will use to support the scholarship holders in turning their creative ideas into sustainable successes.’
‘The kick-off event for the Games Founding Grant not only marks the start of this unique programme, it is also something very special because of the atmosphere: over a hundred people who want to make a difference come together here. They are united by the goal of setting up their own games company and gradually growing it; they want to create great games and creative innovations. This programme shows once again how great Germany’s creative and entrepreneurial potential is when we look at the games industry,’ says game Managing Director Felix Falk.
