Archive notice: This article was originally published on July 13, 2007. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
It is of great importance both for Bavaria as a media location and as a technology location. Today’s Round Table was about identifying the necessary need for action in order to strengthen Bavaria’s position in the digital games industry and further expand the location’s attractiveness”, Huber said after the meeting at the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs.
There had been agreement on a number of fields of action. One focus of design was the further improvement of the training of specialists for this emerging industry, which is already complaining of a shortage of highly qualified specialists. To this end, close cooperation between companies and existing training institutions was agreed and concrete further discussions were announced. Minister Huber welcomed the willingness of participants to bring their expertise together more strongly and thus make even better use of the existing potential. “We will further strengthen and expand the digital games industry network”, Huber said.
The round emphasized the great importance and diversity of digital games. There were, for example, good strategy– or sports games as well as entertainment software in the education and family sector. This had to be highlighted, but at the same time the issue of youth protection had to be taken very seriously. Violent games, however, had only a very small share of the total volume overall. Prof. Wolf-Dieter Ring, President of the Bavarian Regulatory Authority for New Media, announced that he wanted to conduct an active public discussion on this.
The round agreed that digital games represent a quite considerable economic factor with a pace-setting function for many other areas. They could no longer be imagined away from practical life. The round will probably be continued in the autumn.
More than 20 high-ranking representatives of game manufacturers, IT companies, associations and specialist media had accepted Economics Minister Huber’s invitation to the first Gaming Industry Round Table. With a revenue volume of almost 5 billion euros for hardware and software, Germany occupies a leading position in the digital games industry in Europe alongside Great Britain and France. Bavaria is one of the leading locations for digital games. A great many renowned companies such as Activision, Disney, Koch Media, Microsoft, Midway, Nintendo, Sega, Take 2 and Viven-di Games have branches in the Free State.
