Video games in Germany


has the second-largest video games player base in Europe, with 44.3 million gamers in 2018, after Russia. Consumers in Germany spent €5.87 billion on video games over the course of 2021, a 3 percent year-on-year increase from 2020. The video game market in Germany grew by 6 percent to €6.2 billion in 2019.
The annual Gamescom in Cologne is the world's largest video game expo by number of attendees.

Home production

Origins

German production of popular video-games began principally on the 16-bit systems such as the Commodore Amiga and Atari ST in the 1980s, although a number of successful titles were also released on the Commodore 64 which dominated the 8-bit computer market in the country at the time. Popular developers of the 16-bit era included Thalion, Factor 5 and Blue Byte. Blue Byte and Factor 5 remain in existence in 2006 and produce titles for Windows PCs.

Modern day

By 2002, German games were heavily tilted toward construction and management simulations, according Der Spiegels Frank Patalong. He noted that "nowhere else in the world are simulations as successful as here at home. Titles such as The Settlers, Die Völker Anno 1602 have dominated the German sales charts for years". Released in 1998, Anno 1602 by Sunflowers Interactive was Germany's best-selling computer game of all time as of December 2002, with sales of 2.5 million copies worldwide and 1.7 million in the German market. Its sequel, Anno 1503, broke its sales record to become Germany's fastest full-price computer game to reach 500,000 domestic sales. It ultimately sold over one million units in German-speaking countries, and, when combined with its predecessor, reached 4.5 million sales worldwide by October 2006. The titles began the Anno series.
One of the most famed titles to come out of Germany is Far Cry by Frankfurt-based Crytek, who also produced Crysis. Factor 5 had been concentrating on the Star Wars: Rogue Squadron series of video games from 1999 until 2003, and released Lair, an action game for the PlayStation 3, in 2007.
Ascaron produced the Elite homage Darkstar One, and continued to produce the popular Anstoss series of football games, the first two installations of which were released under the title On the Ball in English-speaking countries.
The German Government, as a part of the Gamescom fair, has introduced an investment programme aimed towards the countrywide online games industry, with a purpose to offer assistance of as much as 50% of the cost of development.

Companies

Game developers from Germany

CompanyLocationFoundedKnown for
314 Arts OHGCoesfeld2014Vengeance, Projekt Z: Beyond Order
A Grumpy FoxFrankfurt2017Lunistice
Aesir InteractiveMunich2013 Police Simulator: Patrol Officers
Animation Arts CreativeHalle2003Secret Files series, Lost Horizon, Lost Horizon 2
Black Pants StudioBerlin2010Tiny & Big in Grandpa's Leftovers, About Love, Hate and the other ones series, On Rusty Trails
bleakmillBerlin, Glasgow2017Industria series
Hamburg2009Supremacy 1914, Call of War 1942, Conflict of Nations: WW3, Iron Order 1919.
Chimera EntertainmentMunich2006Angry Birds Epic, Angry Birds Evolution
Claymore Game StudiosDarmstadt2020Commandos: Origins
Clockwork OriginsErlangen2018Elemental War series, Tri6: Infinite
Common ColorsLangen2016PRIM
CrytekFrankfurt1999Crysis series, Far Cry, Warface, Hunt: Showdown
Daedalic EntertainmentHamburg2007Deponia series, The Whispered World
Deck13Frankfurt2001Ankh series, Jack Keane, Blood Knights, Lords of the Fallen, The Surge
Don VS Dodo GmbHMunich2020Industry Giant 4.0
EgosoftWürselen1988X series
Elaborate GamesWürzburg2019Elaborate Lands
Electrocosmos Berlin2012Runic Rampage, The Plague Doctor of Wippra
Encrypt GamesGermany2020Lake Haven
Envision Entertainment Ingelheim2013Path of War, Pioneers of Pagonia
Fishlabs Hamburg2004Galaxy On Fire series, Chorus, Goat Simulator: Remastered
FluppisoftNeubiberg2015Brick Rigs
Fourexo EntertainmentDresden2020Highrise City
Gaming Minds StudiosGütersloh2009DarkStar One, Patrician IV, Port Royale 3, The Dark Eye: Demonicon, Railway Empire
Gentlymad Studios UG Wiesbaden2014In Between , Endzone: A World Apart
Grimlore GamesMaxvorstadt2013SpellForce 3: Soul Harvest, SpellForce 3: Fallen God, Titan Quest II
Hexagon Sphere Games UGHanover2020Sphere - Flying Cities
InnoGamesHamburg2007Tribal Wars, Forge of Empires
Mülheim1997 Knights and Merchants, Santa Claus in Trouble
Frankfurt2005Secret Files: Tunguska, Anno: Create A New World, Sacred 3
King Art GamesBremen2000The Book of Unwritten Tales, The Dwarves, Iron Harvest
Limbic EntertainmentLangen2002Might & Magic Heroes VI series, Might & Magic X: Legacy, Might & Magic Heroes VII series, Tropico 6 series
Mad about Pandas UG
Berlin2005Hitchhiker - A Mystery Game
Navel GbRLudwigsburg2013Mimics, Tilt Pack, Sling-A-Thing
Nine Worlds StudiosMunich2021Tropico 7
OMYOG GamesCologne2020Project Ferocious
Proxy StudiosErlangen2009Conquest: Divide and Conquer, Pandora: First Contact, WH40K: Gladius – Relics of War, ZEPHON
Radical Fish GamesSaarbrücken2010CrossCode
Randwerk CooperativeBerlin2020ABRISS - build to destroy
Reakktor Studios Hanover2014Toxikk, G-Rebels
Realmforge StudiosMunich2008Ceville, M.U.D. TV, Dungeons, Dark, Spacebase Startopia
Related Designs Mainz1995Anno series, No Man's Land, Might and Magic: Heroes Online
Siactro Cologne Bonn Region2011Super Kiwi 64
Stefan Kelnberger GmbHUntergriesbach2021Railroads Online
SureAITutzing2003Mad Restaurant People, Dreadful River. Mods for The Elder Scrolls & Fallout series.
Ubisoft BerlinBerlin2018Far Cry series
Ubisoft Blue ByteDüsseldorf1988The Settlers series, Assassin's Creed Identity
Yager DevelopmentBerlin1999Dead Island 2, Spec Ops: The Line

Former studios

Co-development

Game publishers from Germany

Former publishers

Games

Popular titles from Germany

  • Ambermoon
  • Ankh
  • Anstoss
  • Anno series
  • AquaNox series
  • BeamNG
  • Brick Rigs
  • Crazy Chicken series
  • CrossCode
  • Crysis series
  • Deponia series
  • Desperados series
  • Elex series
  • Enshrouded
  • Everspace series
  • Far Cry series
  • FIFA Manager series
  • Gothic series
  • Katakis
  • Knights and Merchants: The Shattered Kingdom
  • Lunistice
  • Might and Magic series
  • * Heroes of Might and Magic series
  • Risen series
  • Sacred
  • Signalis
  • Spec Ops: The Line
  • SpellForce series
  • Star Wars: Rogue Squadron series
  • The Dark Eye franchise
  • * Original Realms of Arkania trilogy
  • * Drakensang duology
  • The Great Giana Sisters
  • The Settlers series
  • Tropico series
  • Turrican
  • X series

    Consumption

Within Germany there is a popular taste for historical trade and warfare simulations, notably exceeding that of many other countries. Some German-developed titles in this genre, such as 1602 A.D. and its sequels, and The Patrician, have also been successful abroad.
Vehicle simulator games are also very popular in Germany. Many add-on developers for established simulator franchises, including Train Simulator and Microsoft Flight Simulator, are based in Germany, with one of the most popular, Aerosoft, being based in North Rhine-Westphalia.
First-person shooters have also been traditionally quite popular in recent years, and there has been [|considerable debate about and censorship of] the violent content of many such games. Consequently these games, especially uncut versions, became highly coveted in gaming circles for many years.