German city claims to be the next dev hotbed

Germany’s second-largest city, Hamburg, is in love with its video games.

A recent survey of the area has revealed that the industry workforce there has more than doubled in the past five years, and the market itself has for the first time overtaken the music industry’s.

Market analysis conducted by the gamecity:Hamburg network suggests that the area will see some 300 new, full-time game industry jobs arrive this year, amounting to a growth rate of 17.5 percent. The report points out that an additional 150 freelance jobs will be created this year.

Perhaps more striking is that Hamburg’s games industry workforce stood at around 800 back in 2004. Just five years later, and that figure has more than doubled to 1,700.

The data for this was sought from 190 “gaming-related” companies, of which there were around 60 developers and publishers.

Furthermore, the German Trade Association of Interactive Entertainment Software (BIU) had recently reported a 14 percent increase in game sales across 2008, an increase which saw the game market push past the music market for the very first time in the area.

However, of the 190 companies surveyed, only 35 were prepared to talk about revenue expectations in the current year. Five of the 35 believed they would make a loss this year, while the other thirty said they expected gains.