“We benefit from the fact that Hamburg can make its own state laws and policies while harbouring a gaming scene that is sizable, yet compact and
manageable.” Marc Morian, senior PR manager at InnoGames
Where in the Hamburg area are you established and what’s it like there? Marvin Eschenauer (Bytro): Bytro’s HQ is located in Hamburg, right in the heart of the vibrant district of St Pauli. But it did not start there. Its first game, Supremacy 1914, was developed back in 2009 in a university dorm in Freiburg im Breisgau. It was a few years later that the team moved to Hamburg in order to be closer to the gaming industry.
Gamecity teams past and present celebrate 20 years of supporting Hamburg game development
Marc Morian (InnoGames): Our very first office was established in 2006 in Stade, a small town in the Hamburg Metropolitan Region, which is also the hometown of our founders. In 2007 (the year of InnoGames’ founding), we moved to Harburg, one of the southernmost districts of Hamburg. Seven years later, we rented a six-story office building in Hamburg- Hammerbrook, an area located on the southern tip of Hamburg’s city centre, because we were running out of space. We have stayed there ever since, as it combines a comparatively reasonable cost with great logistics for colleagues both living in Hamburg and in the Metropolitan Region.
Michelle Zou (Bigpoint): We are currently located in Hammerbrook, where we recently moved at the beginning of this year. Hammerbrook is a very central location, only one station away from the main station, which is the biggest public transportation hub in Hamburg. We chose this area because, after implementing our full-remote working policy, our previous office building became too large since many of our colleagues opted to work from home. We believe Hammerbrook has the potential to become a gaming hub in Hamburg.
What benefits are there to being based in Hamburg as opposed to other parts of Germany? Marc Morian (InnoGames): Hamburg is one of Germany’s few city states. So, in many ways that are relevant to us, Hamburg is on an equal footing with area states such as Bavaria or North Rhine-Westphalia. They tend to have deeper pockets, but we benefit from the fact that Hamburg can make its own state laws and policies while harbouring a gaming scene that is sizable, yet compact and manageable. As a result, the relationships between the law makers, the gaming companies and Gamecity Hamburg - the city’s business development initiative for the gaming industry - are comparably close. That’s a huge advantage when it comes to addressing the industry’s needs. The fact that
28 | MCV/DEVELOP August 2023
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