Next stop: Frankfurt
Germany’s thriving banking capital is said to provide all a contemporary developer could need to suceed. Aaron Lee finds out what makes the city a nexus for games studios large and small
RELIABLE AND ABUNDANT transport connections probably aren’t the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Frankfurt. But speak to those that have spent time in this curious metropolis and you find that getting around is one of its greatest strengths, and part of the reason why it has become a bastion for games development. Frankfurt Airport was the third busiest in
Top-to-bottom: Crytek’s Faruk Yerli and Keen Games’ Jan Jöckel. Main image: Frankfurt’s skyline
Europe in 2012, and the eleventh in the world. The city’s main railway station, Frankfurt Central Station, sees about 350,000 using it. Its two underground railway systems connect the relatively small city centre, and population, which just clears 687,000, with its densely populated suburban surroundings. All of this, and the fact that it is Germany’s banking capital is why games developers have chosen to settle here. But while Frankfurt may have all the right
connections, does it still have the capacity to support the changing games development scene that managed to grow there?
GET YOURSELF CONNECTED To answer that question, a look to the studios and what brought them to Frankfurt in the first place is needed. “When we decided to move from the small
Bavarian town of Coburg back in 2006, we asked the 110 employees we had then what city they’d like to relocate to. Frankfurt was
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the winner because of the international flair it has to offer,” says Crytek managing director Faruk Yerli. You can’t discuss games development in this city out without talking about the studio
Frankfurt truly is a great place to live
and meet people, and is definitely allowed to call itself ‘the world’s smallest metropolis’.
Jan Klose, Deck 13
behind Crysis. Crytek is the sector’s biggest employer in the region, making console titles as well as licensing out its own CryEngine, which has helped to ensure that competition in the third-party engine market isn’t a two horse race between Unreal and Unity. “It is a rather small, with a population of less than one million, but it feels like a real metropolis – not only because of its skyscrapers and its many high-rise buildings,” Yerli continues. “Frankfurt airport is another key strength. As one of the main European hubs, it is easy to get direct flights to all major destinations around the world. Its central
location within Europe and Germany also make it a major rail and highway transport hub. Frankfurt is home to many game development studios and internationally operating publishers. All of that makes for a strong and connected game cluster.” Jan Klose, creative director of Deck 13, a long-running Frankfurt studio best known for its comedy adventure brands and RPGs, also has much praise of the city’s infrastructure. “Frankfurt’s city life has experienced an enormous overhaul during the last decade, being topped with the reconstruction of a whole quarter of the old city centre. Shopping, partying or just hanging out at the riverbank is much more attractive now than it used to be,” he tells Develop. “Nowadays, Frankfurt truly is a great place to live and meet people, and is definitely allowed to call itself ‘the world’s smallest metropolis’.” In fact, the city is so well connected that some studios don’t even need to have all their departments in one place to benefit. Cliffhanger, founded by Jan Wagner in 2006, is an independent studio with 35 staff producing core-focused games for mobile and desktops platforms. “Frankfurt is international enough to get people interested in moving here and connected enough to get to anywhere in the world quickly. It is also a great connection spot to advertising and film, sound and
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