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The games convention GG Bavaria takes place on February 17th and 18th at Motorworld Munich and we cover the event on-site for you.
Right next to the massive car exhibition, the organizer Games/Bavaria (an association of Bavarian games studios), the eSports and gaming agency MYI Entertainment, Games Bavaria Munich e.V. (an association of Bavarian games studios with currently 16 members) and Sluppke Consulting Project and Event Management use the halls Rotunda and Steam Dome – 1,500 square meters for games in probably every shape and form. While a slightly larger area is available for indie developers in the Rotunda than last year in the ICM in the trade fair district of Munich, the topics of eSports, cosplay, the stage program and the Career Days are located in the Steam Dome. On the upper level Munich eSports e.V. stage a Super Smash. Bros. tournament and in the Artist Alley over 30 artists exhibit their works.
The Bavarian State Ministry for Digital supports Games/Bavaria and the FFF Bayern financially and thus both many of the studios that present games at the event and the event itself. Dr. Fabian Mehring (Free Voters, left in the picture), Bavarian State Minister for Digital Affairs, and Tobias Gotthardt (Free Voters, right in the picture), State Secretary in the Bavarian State Ministry for Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy, opened the event. Dr. Mehring described the games industry as an important driver of innovation in digitalization, reaffirmed the will to continue to promote games both from a cultural perspective and Bavaria as a business location and thus, among other things, to further promote games funding and already referred to the continuation of the event in 2025. The State Minister’s visit was rounded off with handing over a birthday present to the streamer Huebi (part of the streaming crew in the streaming booth alongside Jessirocks, Artemizplayz, fnbuddy, Gaius, Rhenya, Sandianii and Sapure7), a tour of the trade fair and a game of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
The event was very well attended on the first day. There’s significantly more space for play stations and the flow of attendees is a lot smoother compared to last year. In the indie games area, numerous games – both released and upcoming – and prototypes can be played, while the developers or publishers provide an insight into game development that you would not otherwise get. We already reported regarding the line-up, which includes Active Fungus Studios (Detective Schmidt: A Bavarian Tale (formerly Totgeschwiegen) and Detective Schmidt: The Ebbing), SenAm Games (Hauma), Gentle Troll Entertainment (Tavern Talk), Donausaurus (Wiblu) and Once Upon A Tile (Knothorn Studios).
Overall, the event was well received by both the diverse audience and the studios. The optimistic words of the State Minister for Digital also provide hope, after all, funding for games in particular is an important factor in international competitiveness. At the beginning of May 2023, applications for games funding on the state level for 2023 and 2024 were stopped because all of the available funds had been used up. The funding on a federal level varies greatly from state to state, and in some cases there is hardly any or no funding at all. At the GG Bavaria, not only Bavarian studios exhibited their games, but also games from all over Germany. Since many of the playable demos are available to everyone on Steam, we will be devoting ourselves to these demos in a video or livestream that will take place either Sunday or Monday evening on YouTube and Twitch (see below).
We’re granted access to GG Bavaria by the organizer.