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Football for Friendship holds expert discussion on sports development during pandemic
Experts of the international online discussion “Motivation and training in the context of the pandemic: the impact of Internet technologies on sports” reached the mutual conclusion that the pandemic will boost the development of e-sports and broaden the way sports are perceived in the world. It’s expected that the existing trend will strengthen: over the past 3-4 years, the audience of e-sports events has grown 5-6 times.
The discussion was initiated by the Gazprom International Children’s Social Programme Football for Friendship, which has, for the first time, brought the entire season online in 2020. Meanwhile, the annual World Championship for Young Participants from more than 100 countries is held in the new football simulator Football for Friendship World. In the future, the app will become a gaming platform where anyone can train, join mixed international teams, and play their favorite game in the Football for Friendship format without leaving the comfort of home.
The guest experts — football players and e-sports players — shared their views on how the pandemic is affecting the training process, and whether e-sports will be able to fully replace traditional sports in the future. Alexey Smertin, adviser to the President of the Russian Football Union and Ambassador of the Football for Friendship programme, and Alexandra Kosteniuk, grandmaster, three-times winner of the World Chess Olympiads, and European Chess Champion, spoke about the impact of the pandemic on professional sports. Igor Bugaenko, head of the Special Projects Department of the Russian eSports Federation (RESF), spoke about the development of Russian e-sports. The discussion was attended by representatives of FC Schalke 04: head of the e-sports division Tim Reichert, League of Legends coach Dylan Falco, and professional FIFA player Tim Schwartmann (“Tim Latka”). The discussion was moderated by Euronews TV host Andy Robini.
Igor Bugaenko expressed his conviction that the pandemic can also have a positive impact on sports: “Despite the cancellation of many offline sporting events, we are doing our best to maintain the quality and spirit of the competitions that are currently held online. The pandemic has affected how people spend their free time. I think the main achievement of this period has been to broaden the way sports are perceived, enabling people to re-evaluate the role of e-sports in the world”. The expert also noted that Russia was one of the first countries to officially recognize e-sports. According to Bugaenko, in the last 3-4 years alone, the audience of e-sports events has grown 5-6 times.
However, according to Alexey Smertin, e-sports are hard to compare to traditional sports, with their “physical overcoming of oneself, pain and hard-to-achieve results”. On the other hand, if we take a professional approach, in both traditional and e-sports it’s important to focus on achieving results; so, in this sense, there’s no difference between them.
Tim Schwartmann (Tim Latka) has a similar view: “If young people want to be successful — be it in e-sports or traditional football — they have to work hard, train a lot for the game, and never rest on their laurels”.
Today, many football clubs are developing e-sports as a separate area. “In recent years, the popularity of e-sports has become evident. By investing time and effort into developing e-sports, we hope to establish a dialogue with the younger generation of football fans”, explains Tim Reichert, head of FC Schalke 04’s e-sports division. Reichert expects that self-isolation will accelerate the merging process of traditional and digital sports several-fold. In his opinion, e-sports and traditional sports already have many things in common: league structures, competitions, psychological demands for players, and regular training.
Alexandra Kosteniuk noted that the past months have become a landmark in the history of sport: “The pandemic has opened up a real Pandora’s box for chess players: if earlier, part of our competitions were already being held online, now it’s the most convenient format for both the audience and participants”. As she explains, the pandemic has stimulated an increased interest in online competitions over the past few months, “even in the case of chess, which is not the most popular sport among viewers, not to mention the world of e-sports in general”.
About the programme:
The International Children’s Social Programme Football for Friendship is implemented by Gazprom since 2013. Over the previous seven seasons, the programme has united over 6 000 participants from 211 countries and regions and over 5 000 000 supporters.
Young Players and Young Journalists are the participants of the programme – boys and girls aged 12 including children with disabilities. Young Players represent different countries and cultures united in the mixed teams. They show that nationality, gender, and physical abilities aren’t a barrier to becoming a team. Young Journalists cover the events of the programme in the International Children’s Press Center. All participants become Young Ambassadors of the programme and continue to share their Football for Friendship experience and promote universal human values: friendship, equality, fairness, health, peace, devotion, victory, traditions, and honour.
UEFA, FIFA, football federations and the world’s leading football clubs, international charity foundations, famous athletes, politicians, and artists support Football for Friendship. The project has received multiple national and international awards in the field of social responsibility, sports, and communications, including the world record for the most nationalities in a football training session in history.
In 2020, Football for Friendship will be held in the online format. A special digital platform will unite over 10 000 players of all ages. It will become the home for international children’s competitions and a playground where anyone will be able to train, join into the international mixed teams and play their favourite game in the Football for Friendship format without leaving the comfort of their home.
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The German Games Industry Association Congratulates Winners of the German Computer Game Awards 2025
Outstanding games from Germany and a great show with many well-known personalities: the year’s best games made in Germany were honoured at the German Computer Game Awards 2025 (DCP) in Berlin. In the Palais am Funkturm, guests from the areas of culture, society, media, politics and the game industry celebrated the creative teams behind the high-quality games. The hosts Katrin Bauerfeind and Uke Bosse led the audience through the entertaining evening, which numerous viewers also followed via live stream.
The winner in the highest-profile category, “Best German Game,” was “Enshrouded” from the studio Keen Games. The coveted award was presented by Federal Minister for Research, Technology and Aerospace Dorothee Bär, who is responsible for computer and video games in the new Federal Government. The survival RPG game also won in the category “Best Innovation and Technology”. The award for “Studio of the Year” went to Megagon Industries from Berlin, the studio behind the successful “Lonely Mountains” games. The games community and DCP jury chose the streamer Stephan Bliemel, known as Steinwallen, “Player of the Year”. For over a decade, Steinwallen has impressively demonstrated in his video streams how history can be successfully imparted through games. Prize money totalling 800,000 euros was awarded in the framework of the DCP 2025.
The German Computer Game Awards were hosted by the German Federal Government and game – The German Games Industry Association.
“We congratulate all the award winners. Impressive variety, captivating stories and first-rate technologies: once again, on the grand stage of the German Computer Game Awards 2025, the enormous strength of German games studios was clear to see. Germany produces exciting games with world-market potential. These successes send a strong signal and show what Germany has to offer as a game production location. Together with the new Federal Government, we want to enable this creative and technological excellence to shine even more brightly on the international stage in the future,” said Felix Falk, Managing Director of game – The German Games Industry Association.
Overview of all the winners of the German Computer Game Awards 2025:
Best International Game (not endowed)
• Split Fiction (Hazelight Studios / Electronic Arts)
Best German Game (endowed with 100,000 euros)
• Enshrouded (Keen Games)
The other nominees each receive 30,000:
• Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders (Megagon Industries)
• Thronefall (Grizzly Games)
Best Family Game (endowed with 40,000 euros)
• PRIM (Common Colors / Application Systems Heidelberg)
Newcomer Award – Best Debut (endowed with 60,000 euros)
• Nordhold (Stunforge / Stunforge & HypeTrain Digital)
The other nominees each receive 25,000 euros:
• Footgun: Underground (Turtle Knight Games / CobraTekku Games)
• Mindlock – The Apartment (Roof Cut Media / United Soft Media)
Newcomer Award – Best Prototype (endowed with 50,000 euros)
• Blob the Klex (Melena Dressel, Alejandro Rebolledo, Laura Octavianus / Hochschule Darmstadt)
The other nominees each receive 25,000 euros:
• MapMap – A game about Maps (HAW Hamburg / Pipapo Games)
• Stuntboost (Julian Höltge, Tobias Kozel)
• Echoes of Mora (HTW Berlin / Meike Strippel et al.)
• Exhibit A (MDH München / Olivia Falke et al.)
Best Innovation and Technology (endowed with 40,000 euros)
• Enshrouded (Keen Games)
Best Audio Design (endowed with 40,000 euros)
• ODDADA (Sven Ahlgrimm et al.)
Best Game Design (endowed with 40,000 euros)
• Thronefall (Grizzly Games)
Best Graphic Design (endowed with 40,000 euros)
• Harold Halibut (Slow Bros.)
Best Mobile Game (endowed with 40,000 euros)
• Duck Detective: The Secret Salami (Happy Broccoli Games)
Best Story (endowed with 40,000 euros)
• Vampire Therapist (Little Bat Games)
Best Serious Game (endowed with 40,000 euros)
• Deine Stimme (Sebastian Grünwald & Reality Twist / Bavarian State Centre for Political Education)
Studio of the Year (endowed with 50,000 euros)
• Megagon Industries (Berlin)
Player of the Year (not endowed)
• Steinwallen
Special Jury Award (endowed with a total of 10,000 euros; the two winners each receive 5000 euros)
• Flipper und Arcade Museum Seeligenstadt
• GAME:IN
The post The German Games Industry Association Congratulates Winners of the German Computer Game Awards 2025 appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
Slotozilla is an industry-leading online casino and slot review platform. Since its inception, the company has published refreshed analyses covering iGaming operators and software – with the intent to provide accurate, informative data for all users.
Throughout 2024, Slotozilla collected relevant data pertaining to player usage of the platform. These insights unveiled clear illustrations of player preferences, gender distribution, age-related data and other appropriate gaming behaviour. The report outlines significant findings laid bare by Slotozilla’s year-long study.
Explosive Global Favourites: The Demo Slots That Dominated 2024
Clear regional preferences were brought to light during Slotozilla’s 2024 analysis, as Book of Ra dominated the European industry. Where’s the Gold represented Australia’s favourite slot, while Plinko, Wolf Run and Sizzling Hot garnered significant attention from a worldwide player base.
Sizzling Hot Deluxe earned plaudits within the French gaming arena – attaining nearly one-quarter of the nation’s demo playtime. Industry developers and operators should expect these slots to influence the iGaming scene in 2025 and beyond.
Beyond the Numbers: Surprising Engagement and Demographic Shifts Revealed
The previous year detailed a clear shift towards all-encompassing domination by particular titles and demographics. For example, Columbus proved a major hit among USA bettors – racking up an average playtime of 194.8 minutes. That figure sits far ahead of the next game in line, King of Atlantis, which garnered 72.5 minutes per average session from French users.
Similar lob-sided statistics exist when comparing gender-based play, as male German players form 73.91% of the nation’s users—potentially guiding marketing efforts.
Modern Industry Impact
Data collected by SlotoZilla evidences various marked industry shifts spanning several key demographics. The report’s holistic view of the modern iGaming industry highlights the increasing necessity for targeted marketing campaigns, relevant themes and boundary-pushing features.
Users located in Australia, Poland and Canada are notable in this regard – as players from all three vital nations tend to access online slots from the age of 25 onward. Strategies around this data are central to maintaining a robust industry.
The post Slotozilla Data Report: Unveiling 2024’s Gaming Statistics appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
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BGC Raises Concerns About Potential Negative Impact of Further Tax Hike on the Gambling Industry
The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) has warned against further new tax rises on members, as it was confirmed Levy payments to the Horseracing Betting Levy Board are expected to increase for the fourth year in a row.
BGC members are expected to contribute a record £108m in Levy payments to the HBLB for last year, new figures reveal.
The figure, provided by the independent HBLB, is an increase of £3m on the previous year.
It is the fourth year in a row that Levy contributions have increased, from £97m in 2021/22, to £100m in 2022/2023, £105m in 2023/2024 and £108m in 2024/2025.
This increased contribution came despite a concerning fall in betting turnover, and amid threats of a further new tax hike on online sports betting.
The independent HBLB said average turnover per race was down by about 8% on 2023/24, representing a 15% fall on 2022/23 and 19% drop on 2021/22.
Meanwhile, earlier this month the Treasury announced a new tax consultation, proposing replacing the three current online betting and gaming tax rates, with a single new one, sparking fears for sports like racing.
Betting and Gaming Council CEO Grainne Hurst said: “For the fourth year running Levy contributions have increased to record levels, demonstrating the growing, long-term investment regulated betting provides British horseracing.
“But it is concerning to see once more that despite record Levy contributions, racing continues to struggle, both as a sport and as a betting product, with betting turnover down again year on year.
“BGC members remain committed fans of racing and recognise better than most the huge economic impact it makes in communities across the country.
“It’s now more important than ever this vital contribution is not undermined by further new tax rises through the creation of a single tax for online betting, which risks driving punters away from the sport, or into the arms of the growing, unsafe gambling black market.
“These parasite operators don’t pay tax, don’t care about safer gambling, and do not contribute a penny to the Levy. The BGC wants sustainable growth, for our members and for racing, but any new taxes would halt investment, hurt punters and harm racing.”
This fourth annual increase is a new record since the Levy collection reforms of 2017/18.
The post BGC Raises Concerns About Potential Negative Impact of Further Tax Hike on the Gambling Industry appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
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