Last weekend the GG Bavaria took place for the second time in the north of Munich.
At the trade fair the focus is on developers from Bavaria, but also other parts of Germany. A total of over 5,100 visitors found their way to Motorworld Munich over two days, almost twice as many guests as last year.
We were there and could just feel the crackling of the indies in the air.
The still very young trade fair had everything you need for a good gaming event on around 1800m² of event space. Over 30 games from developers, mainly from Bavaria, could be played, cosplayers were represented as well as the Bavarian e-sports team and as part of the Career Days there were diverse lectures on topics such as game development, game design or music and sound in games.
Most games, such as the visual novel “The Murder Hotel” from Wegenbartho Games or EcoGnomix, an extremely charming roguelite city builder from Irox Games, are currently only planned for release via Steam. But one can hope that some of these titles will make it to the Xbox in the long term.
Other titles such as those from Thera Bytes, including the farm management game “Project Yoda” or the base builder “Zombie Cure Lab”, are also being developed for the Xbox Series consoles parallel to the Steam release. Much of it could be played live and, unlike the big role model Gamescom, with virtually no waiting times. But all the stations were full throughout.
For those looking to get into the games industry, there was a career test in game form at the “Start Into Media” stand. There was the opportunity to find out for you whether you would be more suitable for level design, development, storytelling or the many other aspects of game development if you entered the gaming industry.
The appearance of Bavaria's State Minister for Digital, Dr. Fabian Mehring, who from the exhibitors' point of view is clearly trying and motivated to promote the games industry in Bavaria more and more. The trade fair is supported by, among others, the Bavarian Ministry of Digital Affairs.
State Minister Dr. Mehring:
“GG Bavaria 2024 is Bavaria’s brilliant start to our Year of Games. “It’s all the greater that we have together put a big exclamation mark behind the games industry in the Free State with a phenomenal record number of visitors.”
After an extremely difficult year for the games industry in general, with unprecedented number of job cuts at studios large and small, it is particularly pleasing to see so much support being shown at GG Bavaria. The developers were visibly enthusiastic at their stands and you could just feel the passion for the industry.
At the gallery, numerous artists also had the opportunity to present and sell their games and anime-inspired works. We were even able to discover a stand with vintage consoles and Xbox games from the first two consoles there. Other retro titles could also be played on the respective original consoles.
In many ways, GG Bavaria feels like a miniature Gamescom, which often even seems more accessible thanks to its indie charm. We are excited to see what the future of this trade fair looks like and how many visitors will venture to the south of Germany next year. A new edition for 2025 has already been confirmed.
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