As the year comes to an end, most of us are already looking forward to the festive and well-deserved holiday season with our loved ones. But not everyone has this privilege: especially when it comes to children, the most vulnerable members of our society, distress and poverty are particularly devastating as they are not always visible to outsiders.

That is why astragon has decided to support Sterntaler Düsseldorf this year. This valuable organization brightens the lives of children from deprived and disadvantaged families by supporting numerous projects that aim to ensure their mental and physical well-being. With this donation, we hope to contribute to the wonderful work of Sterntaler, which brings smiles, comfort and hope to those in our society who need it most.

We at astragon want to thank you for your cooperation this year and wish you and your loved ones a peaceful holiday season full of love, joy and the warmth of shared moments.
 

astragon joins the official RhineCleanUp initiative once again. Together, we collected trash and junk from the Rhine and nature around the river. All voluntary participants were able to invite their friends and family members to group up for a very important mission. With a delicious snack and cool drinks, we spent together Saturday morning and worked together to protect the environment and nature.

Our office is only a few minutes away from the Rhine – even more motivation to protect the river, which is one of the largest and most important in Europe. It crosses Switzerland, Germany, France and the Netherlands. There is a diverse range of wildlife along the Rhine that is closely related to the river and must be protected. RhineCleanUp is an initiative to ensure that trash and junk on rivers do not get out of hand. There is no doubt that the river shapes the city and is an important attraction for locals and visitors. As a company, we are aware that people are increasingly producing waste, which unfortunately also ends up in our waters and thus in the natural cycle - for example, when it comes to (micro)plastic, which as we all know, poses a real problem. We as astragon are not exempt from this either. This makes it even more crucial for us to protect nature and the city from the overload of waste. This is why we took the opportunity to become part of the annual "RhineCleanUp" event in Duesseldorf, Germany on September 09, 2023.

You can find out more about the Rhine Clean Up here.
 

Together with the entire team and the community, we celebrated the Pride Month 2023 with many exciting activities.

The month of June was dedicated to the motto: stronger together. This slogan is not only implemented into the cooperative gameplay of various simulation games, it also takes center stage in everyday professional life: Various presentations were scheduled this month to raise employee awareness on different diversity topics. In addition, information materials were provided on the topics of diversity, equality and inclusion.

We implemented a special matter of heart by supporting the youth center PULS* in Düsseldorf, Germany. This important youth center offers a safe space for queer youth and an environment of togetherness. We donated a gaming console, additional gaming hardware, and a selection of games to the organization to enable new opportunities for shared gaming experiences at the youth center in Düsseldorf.

As part of the International Women´s Day on March 8, we implemented a campaign as a company. Our actions were to promote more diversity and focus on gender equality in the gaming industry. With 43% female and 2% non-binary employees, we are well above the industry average gender ratio in video game companies.

To kick things off, we released a video series that allowed our own female employees to engage with relevant topics such as diversity, harmful stereotypes, and how to successfully manage a diverse team in two main videos and three clips. By releasing the videos, we aim to boost the awareness of equal opportunities in the video game industry and at the workplace.

astragon Entertainment x International Women´s Day - We celebrate International Women´s Day by promoting more diversity and equity in the video game industry.

Managing a diverse team- Our management team Julia Piffer and Tim Schmitz talk about the advantages of working together in the management position, the importance of having a diverse team and how we as a company promote diversity.

Debunking Stereotypes about Women in Gaming - Our female employees were confronted with some of the biggest stereotypes about women in the gaming community and debunked all of them!

Diversity - We asked our female employees what they appreciate about working at astragon Entertainment.

Favorite Games- We asked our female employees about their favorite astragon games.

Following this, we were able to recruit female streamers with an affinity for simulation games to play selected astragon titles on our publisher channel as well as on their own channels throughout March. Since work simulations are mainly known for their male target group, we wanted to send a signal for diverse simulation games and more female content creators in the public focus.  

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For several years now, we have been inviting pupils to our premises to give them a look behind the scenes of a video games publisher. At this event, we introduced girls to the professions of product managers and producers, while boys were able to familiarize themselves with marketing and communication areas. This way, girls and boys could experience all job opportunities despite possible gender stereotypes.

More information can be found on the Girls´ Day and Boys´ Day pages.

As in previous years, we supported a charitable organization with a donation in 2022. In light of the Ukraine war, this year´s donation went do “LandsAid” to support affected people on-site.

“LandsAid” is a non-profit organization that takes care of the distribution of food, sanitary products and more, as well as the medical care of people in crisis and developing areas. Especially during the cold winter months “LandsAid” offers essential help for victims of war.

More information about the project “LandsAid” can be found here.

The charity call-in format by Helden e.V. and NerdStarTV is entering its second season, and we are proud to be part of the show as the main sponsor!  In "Line 42 - The Call-In Format", viewers can actively participate in the conversation of each respective episode by calling or chatting.

The conversations will be accompanied by the two hosts Sven Fritze and Thorsten Kröber from Helden e.V. The two hosts speak informally, with lots of humor and at the same time highly professionally about topics that are both funny and touching – topics all of us are dealing with every day, for example change, moral courage or awkwardness. But they also don’t shy away from other, more serious content such as loneliness or bullying. In this manner, they provide an important platform to look at diverse aspects of our personal daily lives and will give viewers plenty of opportunities to smile or ponder. Sven Fritze is a trained psychologist, as well as founder and chairman of Helden e.V. Thorsten Kröber is a hypnosis system consultant and managing director of Helden e.V. The non-profit association campaigns against racism and (cyber)bullying in society and aims to strengthen moral courage. Since its founding in 2015, the association has become one of the most important contacts for (cyber)bullying in Germany and has reached over 10,000 schoolchildren.

Learn more about Helden e.V

The second season starts on Friday, October 05, 2021. Every Tuesday, a new episode will be streamed live on the streaming platform Twitch. The episodes will be available also as VOD. The German media company NerdStarTV produces the show. During the livestreams the two hosts will play the recently released Bus Simulator 21.

More Information about NerdStarTV
 

Every year at Christmas, we traditionally donate a certain sum of money to different charity organizations, campaigns, or projects. Last year, we decided to support the project "Herzwerk" with such a donation.

"Herzwerk" belongs to the Duesseldorf chapter of the German Red Cross and supports elderly citizens in need. The non-profit project reaches out to people of advanced age in a variety of ways: The helpers fulfill long-awaited wishes, improve the overall living situation, or provide financial support when immediately necessary.

Lean more about the project “Herzwerk” here