Video games in Germany

German production of popular video-games began principally on the 16-bit systems such as the Commodore Amiga and Atari ST in the 1980s, although a number of successful titles were also released on the Commodore 64 which dominated the 8-bit computer market in the country at the time. Popular developers of the 16-bit era included Thalion, Factor 5 (who were responsible for developing the entire Turrican series) and Blue Byte. Blue Byte and Factor 5 remain in existence in 2006 and produce titles for Windows PCs.

By 2002, German games were heavily tilted toward construction and management simulations, according Der Spiegel's Frank Patalong. He noted that "nowhere else in the world are simulations as successful as here at home. Titles such as The Settlers, Die Völker or Anno 1602 have dominated the German sales charts for years".[7] Released in 1998, Anno 1602 by Sunflowers Interactive was Germany's best-selling computer game of all time as of December 2002, with sales of 2.5 million copies worldwide and 1.7 million in the German market.[8] Its sequel, Anno 1503, broke its sales record to become Germany's fastest full-price computer game to reach 500,000 domestic sales.[9] It ultimately sold over one million units in German-speaking countries,[10] and, when combined with its predecessor, reached 4.5 million sales worldwide by October 2006.[11] The titles began the Anno series.

One of the most famed titles to come out of Germany in recent years is Far Cry by Frankfurt-based Crytek, who also produced Crysis. Factor 5 had been concentrating on the Star Wars: Rogue Squadron series of video games from 1999 until 2003, and released Lair, an action game for the PlayStation 3, in 2007.

Ascaron produced the Elite homage Darkstar One and continued to produce the popular Anstoss (lit. "Kick off") football series of games, the first two installations of which were released under the title On the Ball in English-speaking countries.

• Ambermoon
• Ankh
• Anstoss
• Anno series
• AquaNox series
• Crysis series
• Far Cry
• FIFA Manager series
• Gothic series
• Katakis
• Risen series
• Spec Ops: The Line
• SpellForce series
• The Great Giana Sisters
• The Settlers series
• Turrican
• X series

Within Germany there is a popular taste for historical trade simulations that exceeds that of many other countries, including home-grown ones such as 1602 A.D. and its sequels and The Patrician (video game).

Vehicle simulator games are also very popular in Germany.[12] Numerous add-on developers for established simulator franchises such as Train Simulator and Microsoft Flight Simulator are based in Germany, with one of the most popular, Aerosoft, being based in North Rhine-Westphalia.

First-person shooters have also been traditionally quite popular in recent years, which has become a controversial debate. There has been much discussion about the violent content of first-person shooter games, and as such these games, especially uncut versions, are highly coveted in gaming circles.