Hamburg, 17 August 2011: The Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg is one of Europe's leading games industry centres, and has clearly topped the list in Germany for years. In Hamburg, the 'games value chain' comprises 146 companies with 2,510 permanent employees. Add to that 382 freelancers, as well as 676 employees of Hamburg-based enterprises working in locations outside the city, and Hamburg arrives at a total games sector workforce of 3,568. These figures are the result of the annual job market survey conducted by the industry network, gamecity:Hamburg. Starting in 2009, Hamburg is the only German federal state to regularly collect and publish job market data for the rapidly emerging games sector.

A continuing upward trend has been evident since 2004. While Hamburg's gaming industry counted some 1,900 permanent employees in 2009, the number of jobs subject to social insurance contribution has since increased by 600. Online game developers in particular have been showing above-average growth, and the 75 game developers and publishing companies based in Hamburg constitute the largest employment segment. The overwhelming majority of these companies are currently seeking additional talent.

In Hamburg, six major companies, each with a staff of more than 100, account for half of the 2,510 permanent jobs. Yet in addition to this, the industry initiative gamecity:Hamburg is achieving much success with its comprehensive service offering in attracting small, up-and-coming games enterprises to Hamburg from all over the country. In all, 102 companies with no more than ten employees were recorded in this years job market survey. Stefan Klein, Managing Director of gamecity:Hamburg explains: "Our annual industry survey allows us to collect valuable information and feedback on the work we do. We also ask the companies to participate in a site ranking, where we pay particular attention to what the newly located businesses report. The fact that Hamburg is ranked ahead of all other federal states every year is not a matter of course. To us, it is the measure of our efforts."

The industrys growth is also reflected by gamecity:Hamburg's membership figures. This year, the network has welcomed 200 new members, bringing the total up to 2,000 individuals representing 1,100 different companies and gamecity:Hamburg remains Germany's No.1 gaming industry network.

Charts and diagrams showing results of the 2011 job market survey are available for downloading at www.quinke-networks.com/LaborMarket2011.zip.

Additional Information:
To learn more about gamecity:Hamburg please visit www.gamecity-hamburg.com. Additional information about the initiative Hamburg@work is available at www.hamburg-media.net.

About gamecity:Hamburg
Gamecity:Hamburg has approximately 2,000 members and is the largest regional network of the games industry in Germany. A division of the Hamburg@work initiative for media, IT and telecommunication, gamecity:Hamburg is concerned with creating optimal local conditions for the digital entertainment industry. Its target groups are computer, console and mobile game developers and producers, as well as related industries such as advertising, technical service providers, online agencies, and music and film production companies from Hamburg and Europe. The network helps companies to establish cooperation agreements and to break into new markets. In addition, gamecity:Hamburg supports local businesses by providing a broad range of services including workshops, industry meetings, joint trade show appearances in Germany and abroad, affordable office space, start-up consulting, qualification programmes and funding for prototype production. To provide demand-oriented training of junior staff, a Games masters degree programme was created in cooperation with the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW Hamburg) which began in the 2010 summer term. Gamecity:Hamburg is a public-private partnership headed by Stefan Klein (Hamburg@work) and Achim Quinke (Quinke Networks).