The market for computer and video games is not doing very well at the moment.

The games market in Germany grew by around 2 percent in the first six months of this year.

In the same period last year it was 22 percent.

Like many tech stocks, game makers hit record highs in 2020 and 2021.

Shares in Japanese games and consoles manufacturer Nintendo peaked at 68,610 yen in February 2021.

The price is currently hovering around the 57,000 yen mark, about 17 percent lower.

Gregory Bruner

Editor in Business.

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The Stoxx Global Video Gaming & Esports stock index, which has lost around 23 percent since the beginning of the year, shows that the market is damaged.

The bad situation is also reflected in the reduced presence of developers and publishers at the Gamescom games fair in Cologne.

Large manufacturers such as Activision Blizzard, Sony and Nintendo had canceled in advance.

At 265,000, the number of visitors this year was also around a third lower than in 2019. But representatives of the industry were also vying for the attention of these gaming enthusiasts – as well as that of fans around the world who follow the fair for the sake of the new announcements .

A few stood out who usually act in the second row or are just trying to make a name for themselves.

A comparatively young brand is the Embracer Group.

Emerging from publisher THQ Nordic as a financial holding company in 2019, the Swedish group is making a name for itself these days by buying up many well-known studios and licenses.

In May of this year, for example, she bought some of the studios of the Japanese company Square Enix and sometimes acquired the rights to the "Tomb Raider" brand and its game icon Lara Croft.

In May, when the acquisition became known, the share price rose sharply.

From around 64 Swedish crowns at the end of April, the share climbed by almost half to around 92 crowns at the beginning of June.

Markets react to bad feedback

During Gamescom, Studio Volition, part of the Embracer Group, released the much-heralded reboot of the gangster game series "Saints Row" - to the displeasure of gamers and reviewers alike.

The share price fell 8 percent on August 22.

Embracer shares are currently trading around 15 percent lower than when they opened on August 22nd.

Chinese software giant Tencent fared better.

Its sales have overshadowed the classic game manufacturers for some time.

However, this year marked the first time Tencent had a booth at Gamescom.

With the Tencent Games brand, the company has been known in Asia for some time, but is now trying to make a name for itself in the West as “Level Infinite”.

At the beginning of the fair, developer Funcom showed a preview of an online game based on the Dune book series under the Level Infinite banner.

Riding on the positive mood surrounding further films from the science fiction series, the preview was well received.

In addition, with "Warhammer 40,000: Darktide", Level Infinite showed another much-anticipated game that received positive feedback.

Names from the second row advance

In the French landscape, gaming is actually synonymous with publisher and developer Ubisoft, which has studios around the world.

A lesser-known French representative is publisher Nacon, in existence since 2020.

It emerged from the Bigben Group, which for a long time made money from smaller puzzle and sports games.

Recently, the publisher has been preparing to join the ranks of the bigger names.

Studios belonging to Nacon develop games under the licenses of the fantasy brands "Warhammer" and "World of Darkness", both of which have been established among gamers since the 1980s and 1990s.

A more recent acquisition by Nacon is the Hamburg development studio Daedalic Entertainment, which has made a name for itself with so-called "point-and-click adventures".

In it, a player has to navigate one or more characters through an interactive story while solving puzzles.

Daedalic's games are peppered with witty humor and bizarre characters.

After being largely independent, Daedalic found its way under the Nacon umbrella in April 2022.

The Hamburg company's latest well-known project is the game "Gollum" as an offshoot of the "Lord of the Rings" series.

In addition, Daedalic publishes other games from other developers,

In the spring, Nacon's share price rose quite sharply, even in a short period of time.

From about 4.50 euros in March to over 6 euros in June.

Since then, however, the course has weakened.

In the meantime, it has fallen back to around EUR 4.90.