Bavaria's Digital Minister Mehring increases budget for Games/Bavaria initiative

As Bavaria's new Digital Minister, Dr Fabian Mehring has also taken a clear stance on the games industry: "Games are not a hobby for IT nerds, but the Formula 1 of digitalisation. This industry of the future generates enthusiasm for the digital world and - almost in passing - develops tomorrow's innovations for Bavaria's economy and in the field of everyday digitalisation. I want to provide the greatest possible political support for this," said Mehring at the presentation of the funding decision for 2023 and 2024 to the Initiative Games/Bavaria.

As Bavaria's new Digital Minister, Dr Fabian Mehring has also taken a clear stance on the games industry: "Games are not a hobby for IT nerds, but the Formula 1 of digitalisation. This industry of the future generates enthusiasm for the digital world and - almost in passing - develops tomorrow's innovations for Bavaria's economy and in the field of everyday digitalisation. I want to provide the greatest possible political support for this," said Mehring at the presentation of the funding decision for 2023 and 2024 to the Initiative Games/Bavaria.

The funding decision for the two years amounts to 1,052,000 euros, which is around 150,000 euros more than in previous years. The increase of more than 15 per cent will be used, among other things, to further strengthen the 2023 GG Bavaria event.

In this context, Minister Mehring even declared 2024 to be the "Bavarian Year of Games": "The games industry is a real driver of innovation in digitalisation. That is why we are developing the sector into a flagship of the Bavarian Ministry for Digitalisation. While the federal government is proving to be unreliable and unpredictable when it comes to funding, Bavaria is actually increasing its funding for the games industry. The Ministry of Digital Affairs is reliably on the side of the games industry and supports this promising and fast-growing branch of the Bavarian digital economy," said the minister.

Mehring's strong support for the games industry is not to be taken for granted. His party, the Freie Wähler, has hardly taken a position on games in the past. When it came to the protection of minors, there were even occasional critical voices, reminiscent of the "killer game debate". Furthermore, after the cabinet was announced, the question of responsibility for games initially remained open, as the responsibility of the FFF Bayern, which organises and is responsible for the allocation of Bavarian games funding, was transferred from the Digital Ministry to the State Chancellery. However, it is now clear that the FFF Bayern will continue to organise the funding, but the main contact for the games industry in Bavarian games policy will remain the Ministry of Digital Affairs and thus Dr. Fabian Mehring, who will oversee the funding budgets. Against this backdrop, his statement is a more than welcome signal after Bavaria recently lost ground to Berlin, NRW and Hamburg as a games location within Germany.