I wanted to write something to the effect of me being happy that stuff like this would not fly in Germany because...

... damn was I wrong. And even if I already read contracts very, very carefully I will in addition have something new to look for, as even so called "Freizeitwerke" (works during free time) could be claimed exclusively by an employer.

One interesting different is that in most of the US you're usually in the clear if whatever you work on isn't related to your employer's business (although that can be a bit nebulous). However my understanding is that in Germany, even if your side project isn't related to your employer's business you're still required to give them first dibs at licensing any IP you create.

It is purely a contractual question. So if your contract states rules like this - you are right. But without written agreement in the contract your employer has no rights to your work done during your free time.

At least, as far as I understand after reading up on the regulations and the text of the respective laws.

I think my employer has something similar, but it ties in with the no-compete clause. That said, there's more of a gentlemen's agreement in place, and if you verbally mention it to the boss it's fine in most cases.

But having a job in industry X and a side gig / personal project also in industry X is dangerous.

I was under the impression that corporate employed inventors in Germany actually have a limited interest in their inventions that follows them between employers. Could be it’s changed, or my source is simply mistaken, since my knowledge is back from when Kodak AG was still a thing.

I've been guilty once or twice of forming a strong (usually self-righteous) opinion only to have it collapse before I get a chance to enjoy smugly lecturing the Internet. This is interesting. Thanks for posting anyway.

Definitely don’t use employer equipment to produce work that you intend to profit from.

As always, consult a lawyer and understand the implications of any IP assignment clauses in employment contracts. That said, IP assignment clauses are generally intended to cover works related to your employment. If your day job is writing SaaS backend code in Java, a reasonable employer has no interest in paying lawyers to seize your indie video game IP. However, if your day job is writing video games and your passion project is also a video game, your employer has a reasonable position to argue that your video game overlaps too much with your work for hire and could be at risk. This can be true even without an explicit IP assignment clause, so don’t assume the employment contract is the final word on the matter.

Ironically, this means it’s safer to work a non-gamedev day job if your goal is to make video games on the side.

The easiest path might be the one mentioned above: Work a standard day job that pays well, build up a comfortable amount of savings for a decade, and then use that cushion to do what you want. The failure rate for indie game devs is massive, so plan career paths and finances such that it won’t be the end of the world if it doesn’t work out.

Thanks for the always useful reminder. The plan is indeed to work outside the game industry itself, with an eye in part to reducing the chance of this being an issue. Also so my hourly rate can be a solid double what it would be in AAA, ha

I will also add that I am always delighted to violate contract terms that impinge on my personal creative and commercial agency to the extent I can get away with. I am not about to let myself feel bound by something I had to sign in order to eat, except insofar as is prudent and serves my interests

That said, I do also think these noncompete/IP clauses can be reasonable sometimes. I wouldn't work on a commercial indie match 2 game while employed by a AAA match 3 developer