Playing to Win in a Major Business Growth Sector

Think Germany, and you probably don’t think fun and games. But you should. Where else is gaming a special part of the Economics Ministry? Germans are absolutely fanatics for games and represent Europe’s biggest electronic gaming market, with some 49 million active players. To get the latest on this dynamic sector, we talk to one of Europe’s leading games developers and the head of the German Association for the Games Industry.

Our guests  
 
Benedikt Grindel is managing director of Ubisoft Blue Byte and also heads Ubisoft Düsseldorf. Grindel studied mathematics with a minor in business administration at the University of Münster. He joined Ubisoft in 1998 and worked for three years in the marketing and business development department. He then moved to the game development studio Blue Byte after it was acquired by Ubisoft. As a producer, he was responsible for the "The Settlers" brand, and in 2010 he launched the live operation unit at Ubisoft Blue Byte. In 2014, he took on the role of managing director.
 
Felix Falk has been managing director of game since February 1, 2018. From 2009 to 2016, he was managing director of the Entertainment Software Self-Regulation Body (USK). As vice chairman of the International Age Rating Coalition (IARC), he helped develop the global labeling standard for online games and apps during this time. From 2004 to 2009, he headed the office of Monika Griefahn, chair of the Committee for Culture and Media in the German Bundestag. In this capacity, he was responsible for the computer games and, among other things, helped create the the German Computer Game Prize, which was awarded for the first time in 2009.
 
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