Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck was at gamescom in Cologne for the first time in 2023. The man doesn’t seem to have much connection to video games, but he has read up on it and makes an effort, believes our author Schuhmann.
With what slogan did Habeck open gamescom? Habeck was appointed Federal Minister of Economics on December 8, 2021. Games funding is in his department, and his ministry also awards the German computer games prize, which was so controversial in a category in 2023.
Actually, Habeck should have opened gamescom 2022, but he was unable to keep the date: the energy crisis intervened
He opened his premiere at gamescom with a view to moderation Viola Tensil, who also had to skip gamecom in 2022, with the saying:
“We have something in common. I wasn’t there last year either. You had Corona and I had Putin.”
That gave scene applause.
Habeck’s clip went viral on Twitch:
Habeck probably has little connection to gaming, but did not do the Amthor
How did Habeck work? During the approximately 15-minute speech, one notices that Habeck does not have much connection to video games, but did not want to show it. However, he didn’t make the mistake of pretending to be the mad gamer in front of the Lord: he probably didn’t want to look like Phillip Amthor.
He keeps talking about the value of gaming itself. Play forme culture. When you play, you tell stories, create worlds, try things that are not possible in everyday life: that has always brought mankind forward. You can experience things while playing that are otherwise denied.
Although these are all things that could also be said about board games: which, one gets the impression, are played more often at Habeck than the new Call of Duty or FIFA.
A colleague of Habeck also sought contact with these “strange people on the Internet”
Rezo confronts Karl Lauterbach with playing a first-person shooter with Merkel
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Games can contribute to peace
Habeck even says, with regard to the war in Ukraine: If you play together, you might not shoot at each other in the real world. The opposite of the politician who blames real-world violence on “evil video games,” as recently the President of France did.
The Federal Minister of Economics recognizes the economic importance of gaming: It is now as big as large parts of the creative industries as a whole and which in turn is larger than many a classic branch of industry.
Therefore, it is the goal and the task that as much as possible a good part of the production of games is made in Germany and Europe.
Germany is good at consumption – “People are catching up” in production
This is how he sees the gaming industry in Germany: Habeck admits that there are problems:
“You have to be self-critical. We are good in Germany when it comes to consumption, we are catching up when it comes to production.”
He blames the weakness in Germany as a gaming location for the fact that the funding was politically neglected for a long time and was then too hesitant to support the industry with money. Other European countries would have done better. He probably means:
All 3 European countries have model studios that have established themselves internationally with their AAA games.
When a German studio last tried an AAA title, it failed so catastrophically that it had to close shortly afterwards.
Money is scarce in Germany because people are so strict about budgeting
Habeck then explains that he would have liked to bring 30 million euros with him, but he didn’t have them with him.
Germany has imposed much stricter fiscal requirements than other countries. You have to get creative with the funding.
Habeck complains that you only spend the money you have: Nobody in business does that, even privately you take out a loan when you buy a house or a car. He urges people to invest more.
In the following, the Green Party politician presents some models of how to try to pump more money into Germany as a gaming location through venture capital, start-up funding, various funding pots or tax advantages. A lot sounds vague here, however, and there are no concrete commitments. You have to explore first.
How did it go after that? As reported by gameswirtschaft, Habeck had a meeting with some of the most important international gaming publishers such as Phil Spencer (Xbox) and Yves Guillemot (Ubisoft) after his speech.
On Thursday morning he then completed a two-hour tour of the trade fair.
Robert Habeck believes that if you play together, you might not shoot at each other. The President of France has a different take on video games:
French President Says Video Games Are Partly Responsible For The Riots