Berlin loses German computer game award 2026 to Munich!

Berlin loses German computer game award 2026 to Munich!

In the exciting race for the German Computer Game Award, Berlin suffered a bitter setback. On June 18, 2025, the organizers announced that the 2026 award ceremony will take place in Munich. This decision was justified with a strong application in Munich, which is underlined by the city's commitment to the Games industry. Dorothee Bär, Federal Minister of Research, Technology and Space, praised the development opportunities that Munich offers for the industry. The years of competition between Berlin and Munich around the dominance in the German Games scene is further fueled. A survey by the "Game" industry association recently showed that Munich was slightly ahead and thus missed Berlin's ambitions for the upcoming award ceremony.

But Berlin does not give up with this defeat. The ruling mayor Kai Wegner leaves no doubt that his goal is the permanent anchoring of the German Computer Game Prize in the capital. Wegner emphasizes that Berlin is the best location for the event because the city has most companies and the most dynamic growth in the games industry. In order to do justice to this claim, the future will already be invested vigorously. From 2026, the new "House of Games" is scheduled to open, which is due to act as the largest center for game developers in Germany. Large and small companies, start-ups as well as cultural and educational institutions are combined under one roof. The Senate Chancellery has announced that it would support the construction of the "House of Games" in 2024 and 2025 with around five million euros each.

A look at the games industry

The German games industry has experienced ups and downs in recent years. The interactive media landscape is booming, which is not least documented by annual gamescom in Cologne, which in 2019 came up with record -breaking 373,000 visitors. Even if the pandemic has thrown its shadows in 2020 and 2021, the sales of the industry in 2020 rose to around 5.3 billion euros, which means fifth place in the global comparison. For comparison: the sales of the book industry amounted to 9.3 billion euros in 2020, while the music industry only recorded 1.8 billion euros.

Berlin can boast that around 350 companies in the computer game industry are located there, which distribute over 4,000 jobs with total sales of over 400 million euros annually. This shows the meaning and potential that Berlin has for the Games industry. The difficulties in this sector cannot be overlooked because there are reports of poor working conditions and high pressure in the studios. Nevertheless, the federal government is promoting the industry with 250 million euros by 2023, which underlines support for developers and their creative ideas.

remains exciting how the competition between Berlin and Munich will develop, while the games industry is continuously changing. It remains to be seen whether the plans for the “House of Games” in Berlin will carry the coat of arms against the defeat of the computer game price. But the future promises to become colorful and dynamic.

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