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Chancellor Merkel is opening gamescom for the first time

Clessidor

Member
The German goverment also released a short interview last weekend on youtube, in which she answers a few typical questions about the German games industry, training and goverment funding.
Nothing really big actually. She is mostly talking about the status quo.


Merkel is not interested in the EA-booth. Only visits Ubisoft, Sony und Microsoft.

And also no Nintendo. Wonder how they choosed the booth they visit.
 

Deepo

Member
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Yeah yeah the new we-are-hip-and-listen-to-the-youth initiative from CDU. It's just ordinary campaign what you see here. She even gave an interview on fucking Youtube for the first time just to get some points among the young voters. And do you know why she does it? Because her rival Martin Schulz had a little success story with the subreddit The_Schulz and Merkel's election team probably thought "Damn we need to do something similar!!". Merkel would ban all videogames with one strike in Germany if that would help her getting reelected. Bunch of hypocrites nothing more.
Politicians definitely shouldn't campaign ever
 

Staf

Member
What do you mean? She's obviously trying to appeal to all those 15- and 16-year-olds at Gamescom who will most definitely decide the election next month.

Or she thinks it's an industry worthy of supporting. Nah, let's go with the cynical one you fancy.
 

wrowa

Member
And also no Nintendo. Wonder how they choosed the booth they visit.

She's supposed to talk about "important topics" at each booth.

Ubisoft Blue Byte: Game development in Germany from an international point of view. Blue Bytes is not only responsible for some of the more popular German games (Anno, The Settlers), but they are also opening a new studio in Berlin in addition to their offices in Mainz. So, it's a good fit.

Sony: Virtual Reality as an innovative new technology. There she also meets with representatives from Yager and Fizbin to talk about developing games in Germany.

Microsoft: A teacher demonstrates how he uses Minecraft for educational purposes.
 

SilentRob

Member
Or she thinks it's an industry worthy of supporting. Nah, let's go with the cynical one you fancy.

I mean, dude, there's a reason the first time she's visiting gamescom in 8 years is the year it falls in the month before the general election.

Nothing in her party's program or her government's actions in the last years supports that she or anyone else with influence has much of a interest in supporting video games. In fact, the lack of support is one of the most prominent complaints you hear from german developers. You don't have to be cynical to identify this visit as a clear and obvious part of her election campaign.

Also, pretty much half of gamescom is hidden behind 18+ booths you can only enter with the proper wristband. This isn't a show predominantly designed for kids.
 
I mean, dude, there's a reason the first time she's visiting gamescom in 8 years is the year it falls in the week before the general election.

Nothing in her party's program or her government's actions in the last years supports that she or anyone else with influence has much of a interest in supporting video games. In fact, the lack of support is one of the most prominent complaints you hear from german developers. You don't have to be cynical to identify this visit as a clear and obvious part of her election campaign.

What are you talking about? The federal election isn't next week, it's on September 24.
 

Clessidor

Member
She's supposed to talk about "important topics" at each booth.

Ubisoft Blue Byte: Game development in Germany from an international point of view. Blue Bytes is not only responsible for some of the more popular German games (Anno, The Settlers), but they are also opening a new studio in Berlin in addition to their offices in Mainz. So, it's a good fit.

Sony: Virtual Reality as an innovative new technology. There she also meets with representatives from Yager and Fizbin to talk about developing games in Germany.

Microsoft: A teacher demonstrates how he uses Minecraft for educational purposes.

Oh ok. That makes sense.
 

Hektor

Member
It's very clearly about PR and maybe some talks about how to possilby invest into the german game industry, no reason to deny that.

But that doesn't mean you gotta be overly cynical either.

She's interacting with a kingdom hearts cosplayer after all
 

sibarraz

Banned
Even if she is doing it for campaign purposes, you have to admit that is still cool that the prime minister of germany is visiting the event. That gives a lot of credibility to gaming as a more serious medium. Specially compared to 20 or even 10 years ago
 

Sloane

Banned
Gamescon public isn't exclusively 15-16 either.
Also, pretty much half of gamescom is hidden behind 18+ booths you can only enter with the proper wristband. This isn't a show predominantly designed for kids.
They make up a pretty big chunk of the audience though. Couldn't find last year's numbers but in 2015 about 35% were 17 years old or younger, 56% were 19 or younger, and 80% were 24 or younger.
 
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