Games Lift: Meet You at the Top (2023)

The 2023 edition of Hamburg's Games Lift Incubator, run by Gamecity Hamburg, opened with a kick-off event on September 18, 2023, at the new SPACE office location in the Speicherstadt. The article's purpose is to introduce the cohort, highlight the program's growth and refinements, and set expectations for coming project coverage.

Twenty-four teams applied this year, and five were selected to span a deliberately wide range of team sizes, backgrounds, genres and goals. Projects pitched at the kick-off include Monodot's "Chaos Royale," positioned as Vampire Survivors meets The Binding of Isaac meets battle royale; Pipapo Games' "Map Map," a four-person cozy mapping game inspired by Geoguessr; Bagpack Games' "We the Valarii," a co-op racer with innovative controls; Markus Koepke's "Journey Beyond the Edge of the World," a moody first-person adventure built around original music; and "Dottobeau," an illustrated adventure that makes mood change a mechanic.

The program is described as demanding, combining workshops, mentoring and scheduled downtime. Workshops have been refined from earlier iterations, with returning speakers incorporating lessons learned and new additions such as Chris Zukowski of "How to Market A Game." Business development expert Cassia Curran, drawing on experience at NetEase and Jagex, reviews each team individually, and some sessions split teams into groups to support that approach.

A new emphasis on collaboration comes with the SPACE location, which offers open and quiet work areas and remains available to teams throughout the program. Detailed presentations of individual teams and projects are promised in the following weeks. Page-sidebar news from 2026 indicates the program has continued, with the 2026 call offering five teams 15,000 euros in funding, a 1,000 euro coaching budget, a three-month workshop phase and mentoring through August 2027.