• 17 grant holders will be exhibiting their games at gamescom, including at the official ‘Press Start’ booth at the Indie Arena Booth, at Home of Indies and at the Business Area.
  • New information and material relating to the grant holders' games and studios now online
  • Trailer featuring scenes from over 50 games

Berlin/Cologne, 7 August 2025: The ‘Press Start: Games Founding Grant’ celebrates its ‘half-time’ at gamescom. From 20 to 24 August, eight titles from funded game developers can be played at several booths. The main point of contact is the official ‘Press Start’ booth at the Indie Arena Booth, where the programme will be presented by three projects. On 18 August, Press Start will celebrate its official halfway point event at devcom in form of an embedded lecture programme for all grant holders. New information as well as pictures and video material on the projects of the 132 funded individuals is now available online at https://games-stipendium.de/en/teams/.

The following games can be played at the official ‘Press Start’ booth at the Indie Arena Booth (Hall 10.2, F010g – E019):

  • ‘Cosmo Drill’ by Happy Hippo
  • ‘Hieronymus’ by Rhenus Vina Musica
  • ‘Seaward’ by THE ROOF Interactive

Right next door at the Hesse booth of the Indie Arena Booth is ‘Garden Ink’ by Kranich Games. ‘Rootbound’ by Brainlag Games is being shown in the Home of Indies (Hall 10.2, E010gD011g). Trade visitors can also take a look at ‘Kiosk Simulator’ by Neptun Interactive at the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW booth in the business area (Hall 4.1, A061/B070). Also represented in the B2B area is ‘Portal to the Cosmobeat’ by 4bpm at the joint stand of Hesse (Hall 4.1, D060g). ‘Bot slash Bot’ by Traveller’s Box will be exhibited both at the ‘Raw Talent’ joint booth in the entertainment area (Hall 10.2, D042g – D044g) and at the Saxony booth in the business area (Hall 4.1. A051g / Bo6og).

All participants in the ‘Press Start’ programme are invited to both gamescom and an exclusive event at devcom. Speakers for the start-up and leadership talks include game designer Kim Belair, co-founder of Sweet Baby Inc, industry pioneer Don Daglow (‘Utopia’, ‘Neverwinter Nights’) and Patryk Grzeszczuk, marketing director at 11 Bit Studios (‘This War of Mine’, ‘The Alters’).

“The Games Start-up Grant is bearing its first fruits! The games exhibited at gamescom are representative of the wide variety of ideas in the grant programme – and are a visible sign of the participants’ progress,” comments Nandita Wegehaupt, Managing Director of the Foundation for Digital Games Culture (Stiftung Digitale Spielekultur), on the developments at ‘Press Start’. “For the grant holders, gamescom is an important milestone: they are about halfway through the grant period. Fittingly we will take a look at the current status of their exciting start-up journey at the mid-term event at devcom.”

“Even at the halfway point of the games founding grant, it is clear how important and helpful this programme is for developers taking their first steps. The first games, which are now on display at gamescom, illustrate the great potential of game developers in Germany. Thanks to the support of the federal government, companies and projects are emerging here that are an important part of the future of Germany as a cultural, digital and economic location,” adds Felix Falk, Managing Director of game – the German Games Industry Association.