The German government not only sponsored the video game awards ceremony, but also offered generous cash prizes to most of the winners. At the German Computer Game Awards on April 18 this year, Baldur's Gate 3 won the award for Best International Game, but it was an award without a cash prize, while Everspace 2 won the award for Best German Game and a prize of 100,000 euros.
The purpose of the cash prize is to support and encourage game development in Germany, and Michael Kellner, parliamentary state secretary at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, said he wants to ensure that German studios will be able to produce games like Baldur's Gate 3 in the future.
According to Kellner, "the breadth and creativity of games developed in Germany must be further expanded and the potential of the industry must be exploited even more", according to Kellner. "As the federal government, we want to make an important contribution to this through our new gaming funding. The funding is to ensure that games like the best international game of the year are also developed in Germany. ”
The funding Kellner is referring to is a grant program launched by the German government in 2020 "to promote the development of computers and video games in Germany in order to achieve international competitiveness." The German Game Industry Association notes that Canada, the United Kingdom, and France have built a stronger game development industry than Germany with the help of similar federal funding programs. (Source: PCGAMER)