Germany has the second-largest video games player base in Europe, with 44.3 million gamers in 2018, after Russia."Germany Games Market 2018" , New Zoo, July 25, 2018 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 (who were responsible for developing the entire Turrican series) and Blue Byte. Blue Byte and Factor 5 remain in existence in 2006 and produce titles for Windows PCs.
Early 2000s 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 [and] 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 ( 'Kickoff') 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
Company Location Founded Known for 314 Arts OHG Coesfeld 2014 Vengeance, Projekt Z: Beyond Order A Grumpy Fox Frankfurt 2017 Lunistice Aesir Interactive Munich 2013 (Founded) Police Simulator: Patrol Officers Animation Arts Creative Halle 2003 Secret Files series, Lost Horizon, Lost Horizon 2 Black Pants Studio Berlin 2010 Tiny & Big in Grandpa's Leftovers, About Love, Hate and the other ones series, On Rusty Trails bleakmill Berlin, Glasgow 2017 Industria series Hamburg 2009 Supremacy 1914, Call of War 1942, Conflict of Nations: WW3, Iron Order 1919. Chimera Entertainment Munich 2006Angry Birds Epic, Angry Birds Evolution Claymore Game Studios Darmstadt 2020 Commandos: Origins Clockwork Origins Erlangen 2018 Elemental War series, Tri6: Infinite Common Colors Langen 2016 PRIM Crytek Frankfurt 1999 Crysis series, Far Cry, Warface, Hunt: Showdown Daedalic Entertainment Hamburg 2007 Deponia series, The Whispered World Deck13 Frankfurt 2001 Ankh series, Jack Keane, Blood Knights, Lords of the Fallen, The Surge Don VS Dodo GmbH Munich 2020 Industry Giant 4.0 Egosoft Würselen 1988 X series Elaborate Games Würzburg 2019 Elaborate Lands Electrocosmos Berlin 2012 Runic Rampage, The Plague Doctor of Wippra Encrypt Games Germany 2020 Lake Haven Envision Entertainment Ingelheim 2013 Path of War (2015, mobile), Pioneers of Pagonia Fishlabs Hamburg 2004 Galaxy On Fire series, Chorus, Goat Simulator: Remastered Fluppisoft Neubiberg 2015 Brick Rigs Fourexo Entertainment Dresden 2020 Highrise City Gaming Minds Studios Gütersloh 2009 DarkStar One, Patrician IV, Port Royale 3, The Dark Eye: Demonicon, Railway Empire Gentlymad Studios UG Wiesbaden 2014 In Between (2015), Endzone: A World Apart Grimlore Games Maxvorstadt 2013 SpellForce 3: Soul Harvest, SpellForce 3: Fallen God, Titan Quest II Hexagon Sphere Games UG Hanover 2020 Sphere - Flying Cities InnoGames Hamburg 2007 Tribal Wars, Forge of Empires Mülheim 1997 (Founded) Knights and Merchants, Santa Claus in Trouble (series) Frankfurt 2005 Secret Files: Tunguska, Anno: Create A New World, Sacred 3 King Art Games Bremen 2000 The Book of Unwritten Tales, The Dwarves, Iron Harvest Limbic Entertainment Langen 2002 Might & Magic Heroes VI series (Co-dev.), Might & Magic X: Legacy, Might & Magic Heroes VII series, Tropico 6 series Mad about Pandas UG (Ex-kunst-stoff GmbH till ~2016) Berlin 2005 Hitchhiker - A Mystery Game Navel GbR Ludwigsburg 2013 Mimics, Tilt Pack, Sling-A-Thing Nine Worlds Studios Munich 2021 Tropico 7 OMYOG Games Cologne 2020 Project Ferocious Proxy Studios Erlangen 2009 Conquest: Divide and Conquer, Pandora: First Contact, WH40K: Gladius – Relics of War, ZEPHON Radical Fish Games Saarbrücken 2010 CrossCode Randwerk Cooperative Berlin 2020 ABRISS - build to destroy Reakktor Studios Hanover 2014 Toxikk, G-Rebels Realmforge Studios Munich 2008 Ceville, M.U.D. TV, Dungeons, Dark, Spacebase Startopia Related Designs (Blue Byte Mainz) Mainz 1995 Anno series, No Man's Land, Might and Magic: Heroes Online Siactro Cologne Bonn Region 2011 Super Kiwi 64 Stefan Kelnberger GmbH Untergriesbach 2021 Railroads Online SureAI Tutzing 2003 Mad Restaurant People, Dreadful River. Mods for The Elder Scrolls & Fallout series. Ubisoft Berlin Berlin 2018 Far Cry series Ubisoft Blue Byte Düsseldorf 1988 The Settlers series, Assassin's Creed Identity Yager Development Berlin 1999 Dead Island 2, Spec Ops: The Line
Former studios Company Location Founded Known for Ascaron Gütersloh 1992 (Defunct 2009) Sacred, DarkStar One Attic Entertainment Software Albstadt 1990 (Defunct 2001) Realms of Arkania: Shadows over Riva CAPS Softwaredesign ULM Germany 1994~ (Defunct ~1996) Arcy 2, Jack Flash, Bot Soccer Coreplay Munich 2007 (Migrated to THQ Nordic as Grimlore Games in 2013) Germany's Next Topmodel 2009, Ion Assault, Jagged Alliance: Back in Action EA Phenomic Ingelheim 1997 (Defunct 2013) SpellForce: The Order of Dawn eleven Software Germany 1992~ (Defunct ~1994) Dynatech, 2 adult games Factor 5 Cologne 1987 (Defunct 2011) Star Wars: Rogue Squadron (series), Turrican Fusionsphere Systems Aichach 2006 (Defunct 2017)(Merged into Animation Arts) Secret Files series House of Tales Bremen 1998 (Defunct 2010) The Mystery of the Druids, The Moment of Silence, Overclocked, 15 Days Intergenies Coesfeld 1999 (Inactive after 2017) DoveZ - The Second Wave Kritzelkratz 3000 GmbH Würzburg 1996 (Inactive after 2016) Go Kart Challenge (1999), Far West (2002. Co-dev.), Railroad Pioneer LightBrain GmbH Ellerau 2001 (Defunct 2009) BomberFUN Massive Development Mannheim 1994 (Defunct 2005) AquaNox Master Creating GmbH Hamburg 2001 (Defunct 2007) Krakout Unlimited, Restricted Area, Legend: Hand of God Mimimi Games Munich 2011 (Defunct 2023)Shadow Tactics, Desperados III, Shadow Gambit Germany (Frankfurt?) 1993 (Defunct 2005) Mr. Nutz: Hoppin' Mad, Tunnel B1, Armorines: Project S.W.A.R.M. (GBC), Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX (GBC), Legend of Kay NumLock Software Ludwigshafen 1994 (Defunct/inactive 2008) Metalheart: Replicants Rampage, Campus: Student Life Simulation Piranha Bytes Essen 1997 (Closed 2024) Gothic series, Risen series, ELEX series Playcademy Germany 2012 (Est.) (Defunct 2018) Mobile/Hidden object games: eg. Farmington Tales, Tales of Lagoona Radon Labs Berlin 1995 (Defunct 2010) Drakensang: The Dark Eye Hanover 1991 (Defunct 2012) Subtrade, Bermuda Syndrome, Neocron, Black Prophecy Software 2000 (Ex-Cybernetic Corporation) Eutin 1987 (Defunct 2002) Pizza Tycoon, Exploration, Ocean Trader, Swing (1997), Fast Food Tycoon Spellbound Entertainment Offenburg 1994 (Defunct 2012) Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive, Robin Hood: The Legend of Sherwood Berlin 1998 (Defunct 2007) Diggles: The Myth of Fenris, ParaWorld Tantalus Software Germany 1995~ (Defunct ~1995) Abaron (1995) Thalion Software Gütersloh 1988 (Defunct 1994) Amberstar, Ambermoon Westka Interactive GmbH (Westka Kommunikation GmbH) Cologne 1993 (Defunct 2002) The Famous Five: Kidnapped!, Arcatera: The Dark Brotherhood Hattingen 1996 (Closed by JoWood in 2005) Panzer Elite, Söldner: Secret Wars
Co-development Company Location Founded Known for Notes Conitec Datensysteme GmbH(Also 'Conitec Datasystems, Inc.') Dieburg 1985 Middleware engine; former publisher. Also hardware & software. Deep Sky eG Berlin 2023 Co-dev: games, VR/XR. Ref. Hamm 1990 Dev, co-dev, porting. LAB132 Ostfildern 2017 Dev, co-dev, porting, VR. MAWI United GmbH Wuppertal 2009 Sells AAA environment asset packs; makes high end animations, VFX, cinematics, pipeline development & real-time 3D renders (including tech demos). NeoBird GmbH & Co. KG Nuremberg 2012 Dev, co-dev, AR/VR, gamification, serious games, mobile & web apps, 3D Viz, real-time 3D. NUKKLEAR GmbH Hanover 2011 Dev, co-dev, porting. Bought by Jumpgate AB in 2023. The Light Works - Digital Imagery Cologne 1996 2D/3D digital graphics, illustrations, cutscenes Ref.
Game publishers from Germany