The German Developer Awards (official name: Deutscher Entwicklerpreis) reward outstanding games and players from the industry in multiple categories each year. In 2024, two of the winners among all 13 categories are Berlin-based.
Vampire Therapist wins the award for Best Game Beyond Entertainment. The game's developer is Berlin indie studio Little Bat Games, formed by writer and voice actor Cyrus Nemati in 2022. The jury in cologne picked Vampire Therapist because it manages to unite the world of visual novels and narrative adventures with modern therapeutic concepts. It encourages the player to think about complex emotional topics and reflect on their own thoughts and beliefs, while it still manages to be entertaining and to present itself in a unique artstyle. Developer Little Bat Games also was a part of the Berlin and Brandenburg joint booth at the gamescom indie showcase 2024.
The Special Award for Social Commitment goes to content creator Sebastian Sterzik and his "Sterzik LAN". At the yearly occuring event, the influencer who is under contract at Berlin-based agency INSTINCT3, gets together with other German content creators to play games and stream the whole activity for 24 hours straight. During that time, they collect money for charity projects. In the 2024 edition of the Sterzik LAN, 24,850€ were raised for "Chance für Kinder e.V.", an organization that provides inclusive gaming devices for children, among other initiatives.
While games with Berlin background were nominated in six other categories, and music sandbox ODDADA by Sven Ahlgrimm and Mathilde Hoffmann was even nominated in four of them, the jury picked other games for these awards in the end. Germany's Best Game of the Year, according to Deutscher Entwicklerpreis, is survival hit Enshrouded by Keen Games from Frankfurt. All winners can be found here.
