The German Developer Award night belongs to Neoludic Games from Cologne and their Tiny Bookshop, which takes home a hat-trick including the Best German Game award. Stray Fawn from Zurich and Paintbucket from Berlin get two awards, and the FemDevsMeetup receives special honours.
At the German Developer Award 2025 (Deutscher Entwicklerpreis, DEP), the biggest star came from the host town: Neoludic Games from Cologne not only took with them the awards for Best Indie Game and Best Graphics, but the grand prize for Best German Game as well. It was the only studio that received three awards that evening too.
Another huge success comes from Switzerland: Dungeon Clawler by Stray Fawn Games takes Best Casual Game and the Innovation Award home to Zurich. The Swiss studio shares the achievement of having won two trophies this evening with Paintbucket Games from Berlin, who took home Best Game Design as well as Best Game Beyond Entertainment. Toukana Interactive, a Berlin-based studio known for Dorfromantik and Star Birds (Early Access), was named Studio of the Year.
Special honours from the jury went to FemDevsMeetup for their networking efforts for for women, marginalized groups, and allies in the German games industry.
Around 500 guests from the games industry, politics and society attended the gala at the Gürzenich in Cologne. Daniel Budiman and Lynne Glaner hosted the evening. Although a political opening by Nathanael Liminski, the North Rhine-Westphalian Minister for Federal and European Affairs, International Affairs and the Media, Head of the State Chancellery and one of the main sponsors was planned, the minister cancelled last minute due to the conference of Federal Minister-Presidents taking more time than planned. Liminski has send in a remote message though, saying: "Congratulations to all the winners of the 2025 German Developer Award! The annual developers' meeting in Cologne has long been established as the 'Christmas party of the games industry'. North Rhine-Westphalia is delighted to host the event, and we are especially pleased that Neoludic Games, a studio based in the region, has won three awards. Once again, it is clear that North Rhine-Westphalia is the number one games region, offering excellent conditions for developing innovative games. Our new funding programme complements federal funding perfectly, laying the foundation for the sustainable growth of gaming companies in the Rhine, Ruhr and Lippe regions. Together, we want to take the industry to the next level."
The award show was political nonetheless, with several speakers and laudators, not least among them the organisers themselves, affirmed the stance of the German games industry to support a free and liberal democracy. They voiced the hope of many members of this highly globalised industry to play a part in bolstering society against the rise of rightwing parties through the narratives, messages and emotions in their games. These refreshingly open addresses, combined with the genuine moderation style of Daniel Budiman and the professional voiceover introduction of each nominee by Lynne Glaner and their open admiration for the art that was honoured there made the German Developer Award 2025 a special event: As the unofficial Christmas party of the industry, as an unconstrained yet elegant way to celebrate German video games and as a place to be among kindred spirits in hard times.
Best German Game
Studio of the Year
Best Indie Game
Best Casual Game
Best Game Beyond Entertainment
Best Audio Design
Best Game Design
Best Graphics
Best Story
Best Technical Achievement
Innovation Award
Ubisoft Newcomer Award
Special Award of the Jury
NRW Funding Award
The German Developer Award has been presented since 2004 for the development of outstanding video and computer games from German-speaking countries, making it the oldest award for games from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Since 2022, the award has been organized by games.nrw e.V.. With the establishment of the non-profit foundation Gameskultur & Entwicklerpreis gGmbH in November 2025, the regional association, as a shareholder, will hand over the event to the gGmbH from 2026. The German Developer Award 2025 was supported by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, KölnBusiness, and game - Verband der deutschen Games-Branche e.V.
