On May 15, 2022, the new state parliament will be elected in North Rhine-Westphalia. What are politicians and parties planning for the games location NRW?
The Cologne Gamescom as the world’s largest games event, branches of large corporations such as Ubisoft and Electronic Arts, medium-sized publishers such as Astragon, Aerosoft and Thunderful, plus a lively indie scene: there are significantly worse places for game developers than North Rhine-Westphalia.
Politicians have also contributed to the positive development, investing more than €3 million in game studios, trade fairs and events every year. The German Center of Games Competence was also opened last summer.
The importance of the federal state for the computer games industry is reflected in the election programs of those partieswho are applying for election to the Düsseldorf state parliament on May 15, 2022. CDU Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst has only been in office since October 2021 and is starting the race as the successor to ex-Chancellor candidate Armin Laschet.
The footsteps in terms of computer game developers are quite large: Laschet regularly wooed the industry with ‘games summits’ in the state chancellery and an almost complete Gamescom biography. The self-confident goal of his state government – NRW to “Games location number 1” to do – he would also have wanted to implement it at the federal level, which, for well-known reasons, came to nothing.
It is not a foregone conclusion who will be the next Prime Minister of the Rhine and Ruhr: In the polls of the leading institutes, it stands out a head-to-head race between Wüst and the SPD challenger Thomas Kuschaty, who is rather unknown at the federal level. The difference is just 1 to 2 percent, which makes the NRW election particularly exciting.
We looked at the election programs of all six parties that are expected to be part of the newly elected Düsseldorf state parliament after May 15 – of course from the point of view of games and e-sports.
CDU
The Union program (PDF) praises the “diverse and strong media landscape” in NRW and refers to what has been achieved – such as the doubling of games funding.
All in all, almost a whole page is dedicated to the industry. Formats such as the games summit should continue to take place, games development and production in NRW should continue to be subsidized and in the case of e-sports, the CDU wants to work to ensure that clubs can achieve non-profit status – i.e. on an equal footing with sport in the tax code will. In addition, games are to be increasingly used in training and further education.
In a direct comparison, the gaming resolutions of the CDU are named and formulated most clearly.
SPD
Under the slogan “Our Country of Tomorrow” stands the ‘government program’ of the NRW-SPD (PDF). Compared to the CDU, the games concepts are far less specific and detailed. So it says cloudy: “Playing is fun and we have a lot of fun in North Rhine-Westphalia” – well then.
The status as “Games location number one” in Germany should be strengthened by “a new event format with changing locations in North Rhine-Westphalia” is established. What is behind it and to what extent the proposal differs from Gamescom is left open by the SPD on request.
Alliance 90 / The Greens
The NRW Greens rank above 15 percent in polls and could therefore act as a ‘kingmaker’ for the future prime minister. Mona Neubaur is the top candidate at number 1 on the list.
The program inevitably focuses on green issues – climate, environment, transport, social affairs, living space, but also digital issues. The election program (“From here to the future” – PDF) intends to promote the media, film and creative industries – from the point of view of the games industry, it doesn’t get any more concrete than that.
Similar to the SPD, the Greens also want to recognize e-sports as non-profit and support e-sports projects. Interesting: Under the headline “Drug and addiction policy without criminalization” do you want “the legal developments in the gaming sector (digital games) if necessary with educational campaigns” to encounter.
FDP
The Free Democrats are speculating on participating in the government again – with Joachim Stamp at the helm, currently Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Children, Family, Refugees and Integration.
In the election program (“Continue from here” – PDF) the FDP promises to strengthen the film and media foundation and to strengthen the computer games industry through intensified training and further education – an Achilles heel that slows down medium-sized companies and start-ups alike. With the following announcement, the FDP sets its own accent in the promotion of games: “We want to end long-term subsidies through targeted start-up financing for projects with an economic perspective.”
The FDP also wants e-sports “completely” acknowledge: The legal basis for the longed-for non-profit status should be created. In addition, the development of association and league structures is to be accelerated and the construction of e-sports centers including professional e-sports training is to be supported.
The left
The party, which is laboring under leadership chaos and tendencies to self-dissolution, has to worry about state parliament mandates in North Rhine-Westphalia – the forecasts give little hope and range between 2 and 4 percent.
In program (PDF) several aspects of media competence are thoroughly declined; when it comes to gaming and e-sports, however, the left remains pale.
AfD
16 AfD members moved into the state parliament in 2017 – after leaving, the parliamentary group now has 13 MPs. Polls see the party at 7 percent, which makes it likely that it will re-enter the state parliament.
The NRW-AfD wants in its program (PDF) the – original sound – “Outsource previous marginal gaming funding by the Filmstiftung NRW into a separate funding fund and thus strengthen North Rhine-Westphalia as a location”. This bold plan is justified by the fact that “North Rhine-Westphalia developed as a Germany-wide leader in the field of eSports” have. What one thing could have to do with the other remains just as unclear as the AfD’s attitude towards e-sports as such.
Still undecided who to vote for? Support in the voting decision also offers this time the Wahl-O-Mat of the Federal Agency for Civic Educationwhich queries and evaluates party preferences based on given theses.
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