Games Lift: An Incubator With Quantifiable Success

Gamecity Hamburg makes the case that its Games Lift incubator delivers measurable value for young game studios, arguing with outcomes rather than assertion. Launched in 2020, the program has operated through repeated swings in the games industry, and the article frames its results against the difficult conditions facing early-stage teams in Germany and worldwide. Graduating teams remain in the Gamecity network, which has been built over more than twenty years and is presented as a key resource for solving practical problems through personal contacts.

The headline figure is 19 successful follow-up funding applications by alumni, which the program attributes largely to its pitch training in a competitive and confusing German funding landscape. Many alumni received Gamecity's Prototype Funding after the program, while others secured Press Start scholarships, including the inaugural-year participant Julia Reberg with "Alchymia," Team Godcomplex with "Stack'em'up," and three teams from the current cohort. Further support came from nordmedia and Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg. Ole Jürgensen landed a coveted Meta Horizon store placement for the VR arcade battler "Crumbling."

Shipped products serve as a second indicator. "Crumbling," Impawsible Games' "Ninja Brigade feat. Jonah Weingarten" on Steam, and Roman Fuhrer's "Leif's Adventure" are all released, and Gamecity tracks every former team's milestones, from live Steam pages to trade fair appearances.

Awards form the third measure, with two Deutscher Computerspielpreis wins for incubator projects. Light of Atlantis won the prototype category in 2023, and Misgiven won in 2024, with REPLICORE nominated that year. Pipapo Games, a 2023 cohort team, won the Ubisoft Newcomer Award at the Deutscher Entwicklerpreis and earned a 2025 Best Prototype nomination for "Map Map – A Game About Maps," though Blob the Klex took the prize. The article closes by inviting readers to judge the program's worth by these alumni results. Sidebar content notes the 2025 call for applications, offering five teams 15,000 euros each, a 1,000 euro coaching budget, and a three-month workshop phase.