Up to €60,600 per Funding Month: What Is Behind Four Federally Funded Simulator Projects!

our simulator projects, three funding recipients and a total that can be added up down to the final euro: the German federal government has committed €4,084,120 to Firefighting Simulator: Ignite, ViewApp’s working title ‘Kindheitstraum’, Fernbus Simulator 2 and Tourist Bus Simulator – Mallorca. Almost half of that amount belongs to a game that has already been released. The remaining €2,145,097 is assigned to three projects about which considerably less is publicly known. That difference is exactly what makes the comparison interesting: the funding amounts are precise, but the picture quickly becomes blurred when it comes to team sizes, platforms and development status.

For the monthly comparison, we divided each funding amount by the publicly stated project period or the period that can currently be derived from the funding entry. For the former ‘Project Habanero’, now known as Firefighting Simulator: Ignite, the period is documented precisely by the authorities: from September 15, 2022, to May 14, 2025, or 32 months. That produces a calculated €60,594.47 per funding month. For the three new projects, the publicly accessible overview currently only states the month of the entry and the final month. Counting those months inclusively produces approximately €38,499 for ‘Kindheitstraum’, €20,845 for Fernbus Simulator 2 and €16,008 for Mallorca. These values are not monthly transfers, but an editorial comparison figure.

Firefighting Simulator: Ignite is therefore the most useful reference case. The project received €1,939,023, representing 47.5 percent of all the funding examined here. The game was released on September 9, 2025, for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. Confirmed features include Unreal Engine 5, single-player with an NPC crew, four-player co-op, licensed Rosenbauer vehicles and modding support. At the research cut-off, the Steam version had 1,825 customer reviews, 80 percent of which were positive. At the same time, the date highlights an important limitation of the funding statistics: the official funding period ended almost four months before the release. The end of the funding period and the release date are therefore not the same thing.

The second-largest project is currently known only by its working title, ‘Kindheitstraum’. ViewApp is receiving €962,467 for it, equal to 23.6 percent of the total. The stated period ends in April 2028; based on the monthly information currently visible, that produces an approximate figure of €38,499 per month. ViewApp is known for traffic and public-transport simulations and releases existing products for PC, PlayStation and Xbox. However, that does not reveal what ‘Kindheitstraum’ will actually become. No city or route, vehicles, platforms or release window have been confirmed specifically for the project. Any connection to City Transport Simulator or TramSim would currently be speculation.

Fernbus Simulator 2 is receiving €750,416 and runs until April 2029 according to the funding entry. This gives it the longest period examined here, while its calculated monthly figure of approximately €20,845 remains well below the two larger projects. The name confirms that TML Edition is working on a sequel, but it reveals very little about the actual content. A renewed FlixBus licence, the countries and maps, vehicles, engine, multiplayer features and specific platforms have not yet been confirmed publicly. TML’s official website continues to focus on its released games and The Bus; a dedicated product page for the sequel is not currently visible.

Tourist Bus Simulator – Mallorca has the smallest grant at €432,214. That is 10.6 percent of the four million euros and, with a period ending in July 2028, approximately €16,008 per month. The only reliable conclusion from the project name is that Mallorca plays a central role. Whether it will become a standalone sequel, a larger expansion or another format remains open. The size of the island, the management system, the buses and the target platforms are also unconfirmed. A specific place name may feel more tangible than ‘Kindheitstraum’, but it is not yet a product announcement.

The comparison becomes particularly difficult when team size is considered. Public information does not show how many developers work on each of the four projects on average. A studio’s total headcount would be a poor substitute. For the complete weltenbauer. company, reports in spring 2026 first mentioned 105 and later more than 115 employees; how many of them developed Firefighting Simulator remains unknown. A scenario calculation shows why the missing denominator matters. With 20 project FTE, the Firefighting grant would equal approximately €3,030 per person and month. The corresponding figures would be €1,925 for ‘Kindheitstraum’, around €1,042 for Fernbus Simulator 2 and roughly €800 for Mallorca. These are not salaries, but merely the grants divided by assumed project positions and months.

The four million euros must not be confused with the complete production budgets either. Under the current funding model, start-ups can receive up to 50 percent of eligible development costs, small and medium-sized companies up to 45 percent and large companies up to 25 percent. The older model also had a maximum rate of 50 percent. Even under the most generous assumption, €4,084,120 in funding therefore represents at least €8,168,240 in eligible project costs. If the actual approved rate is lower, the total cost volume rises accordingly. A genuine economic comparison would require the studios to disclose their funding rate, project budget and average number of project FTE.

This leaves a sober but relevant conclusion. Recipients, amounts and final months can be tracked relatively precisely in Germany’s federal games funding programme. Whether a project is being made for PC or consoles, how large the team is, which milestones have already been reached and when the first material will be shown is often left to the studio. This is not evidence that no work is taking place behind the scenes, and it is certainly not proof that funds are being misused. It does show, however, why a precise funding amount does not automatically create a transparent development project. When public money meets private development plans, what information do you think players and taxpayers should receive at a minimum?

Which of the four funding amounts surprises you the most? Which of the three open projects would you like to see first? What information should studios be required to publish when they receive funding?