Hamburg claims "leading" role for development in Germany

The Germany city of Hamburg has claimed to be Germany's "leading centre of the digital games industry" with new data revealing that more than 227 new jobs were creating in the city last year, for a total of more than 2000.

The Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg is the only German federal state to collect detailed job market data on an annual basis and claims that by the end of 2010 an additional 378 new games industry jobs will be added to the current tally of 2127.

In addition, there are over 495 freelancers working in the city and 529 employees of Hamburg-based companies work in branches outside the city.

Today almost 150 Hamburg companies, including 63 developers and publishers, work directly or in support roles within the industry. This figure is down from 190 in 2009, although primarily because the survey now only counts businesses that generate at least half their revenues via games.

"The games industry in Hamburg is showing continuous growth and taking on an increasingly significant role in the local media business. We recognised this trend early on and have given the sector targeted support since 2006," said Dr Nikolas Hill, state secretary at the Hamburg state Ministry of Culture, Sports and Media.

The Hamburg development community is supported by the gamecity:Hamburg network, which boasts 1800 stakeholders from 1000 companies.