Could not fulfil the increased expectations since the success of Hogwarts Legacy: David Haddad. Reports that Haddad, president of Warner Bros. Games, would be leaving the media group began circulating back in January 2025. © BusinessWire/Warner Bros. Games Business Monolith Productions, Player First Games and WB Games San Diego Closed Warner Bros. Games has announced a strategic realignment to focus on key franchises. As a result, the three US studios Monolith Productions, Player First Games and WB Games San Diego have been closed. The Wonder Woman game was also cancelled. After the recent upheaval, it became apparent, but probably not By Marcel Kleffmann • 1 min read
Björn Pankratz and Jennifer Pankratz at gamescom 2023. © GamesMarkt, Marcel Kleffmann Development First Game From Pithead Studio Is Cralon After the end of Piranha Bytes and going indie, Jennifer and Björn Pankratz have announced their first game. It is the 3D dungeon crawler Cralon, inspired by dungeon classics and developed with Unreal Engine 5. Cralon is a 3D dungeon crawler with RPG and adventure elements, inspired by classics such By Marcel Kleffmann • 1 min read
Jens Lauritzson, CEO of Flexion © Flexion Publishing Electronic Arts Partners With Flexion for Alternative Appstores The British mobile games marketing company Flexion has secured another well-known customer and will launch the first mobile games from Electronic Arts in alternative app stores in the first quarter. Most recently, Flexion landed a mobile gaming heavyweight in King. That collaboration was based on the simultaneous launch of the By Stephan Steininger • 1 min read
© TaKeTV Business gamescomLAN Gains Momentum, Doubling Visitor Numbers For the second time, gamescomLAN took place in Cologne, and once again, the offshoot of the world’s most important gaming trade fair was a resounding national success. The final figures from gamescomLAN, held from 21 to 23 February at the Cologne Exhibition Centre, speak for themselves. A total of By Stephan Steininger • 2 min read
© ID@Xbox Publishing ID@Xbox Showcase With Daedalic Entertainment, Okomotive and More Daedalic Entertainment presented Woodo and Okomotive presented Herdling at the ID@Xbox Showcase during IGN FanFest. World premieres included The Lonesome Guild by Don't Nod and Rockbeasts by Team17. IGN opened its annual FanFest with an ID@Xbox showcase. Daedalic Entertainment, in collaboration with developers Yullia Prohorova and By Marcel Kleffmann • 2 min read
© StS Business Funding Applications for Games Projects up to €900,000 Stopped Less than two months after the launch of the games funding programme, the budget allocated by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM) to the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWK) has been exhausted. As a result, an application stop for projects with a funding volume By Marcel Kleffmann • 2 min read
© GDD Business Games Can Be Submitted for the GDD Indie Award 2025 The GermanDevDays Indie Award will take place for the sixth time and, as in previous years, will offer a total of €10,000 in prize money in various categories. Submissions can be made from now until the end of March. Entries for the GDD Indie Award 2025 must be submitted By Marcel Kleffmann • 1 min read
Gothic 1 Remake (Nyras Prologue) / Solarpunk / Bongo Cat © THQ Nordic / rokaplay / BlueBottle Business Many GSA Studios Taking Part in Steam Next Fest Numerous developers and publishers from Germany, Austria and Switzerland are taking part in the Steam Next Fest in February 2025. Some of the games are among these top ten most successful demos. The latest Next Fest, which showcases upcoming games, launched yesterday evening on Steam. There are over two thousand By Marcel Kleffmann • 2 min read
Madeleine Egger and Ruth Lemmen (from left) at Womenize! 2024 © Susanne Müller/Womenize! Business Booster Space Announced Date of Next Womenize! Games and Tech The Berlin-based Booster Space has announced the next Womenize! conference for 4 June, which will mark its tenth anniversary. Ticket sales for the upcoming Womenize! conference, which sees itself as a platform for women, non-binary people and all marginalised voices in the games and tech industry, are set to start By Stephan Steininger • 1 min read
© Playstack Publishing PEGI Reviews Classification Criteria Following Successful Balatro Appeal Following the successful appeal against Balatro's PEGI 18 rating, along with a similar case, the pan-European PEGI system is reviewing its classification criteria. In Germany, the USK had already assigned Balatro a 12+ rating with a content descriptor in 2024. Two successful appeals have prompted PEGI to reassess By Stephan Steininger • 1 min read
Felix Falk, Managing Director game - The German Games Industry Association © Dirk Mathesius/game Business Game Hopes for a Swift Formation of the New Government Even though games and games funding are not Germany’s most pressing issues after the election, the German games industry hopes the new government will begin its work quickly—especially with the next funding freeze just around the corner. The funds allocated by the outgoing government are nearly depleted, as By Stephan Steininger • 1 min read
© Graph by Digital Development Management Business DDM Identifies Nearly 1,000 Deals with a Total Volume of $17.5 Billion According to Digital Development Management’s (DDM) 2024 report, the number of deals has increased, while the total transaction volume has decreased compared to the previous year. However, this decline is solely due to Microsoft’s nearly $69 billion acquisition of Activision, which drove 2023’s transaction volume to an By Stephan Steininger • 1 min read
