Bigpoint
| Bigpoint GmbH
|
|
|---|---|
 |
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| legal form | GmbH |
| founding | 2002 |
| Seat | Hamburg (Germany) |
| management | Jeff Lu |
| Number of employees | 230 (January 2020) |
| sales | 45.5 million euros (2018) |
| Branch | Computer games |
| Website | www.bigpoint.net |
The Bigpoint GmbH is a German software company that was founded in 2002 by Heiko Hubertz and focus on development and sales of browser has specialized and online games. Bigpoint was acquired in March 2016 for around 80 million euros by the Chinese software company Youzu Interactive Co. Ltd. based in Hong Kong.
Bigpoint is one of the largest German computer game companies with around 230 employees and has offices in Hamburg , Berlin , Malta and Istanbul .
history
Bigpoint was founded in 2002 by Heiko Hubertz as m.wire GmbH . In April 2003 the first own browser game , the ice hockey manager "Icefighter", went online. By the end of 2004 two more games had been developed and published, "F1Manager" and "Fußballmanager". In 2005 the company was renamed e-sport GmbH. In 2006, it reached one million registered users. In December 2006 United Internet AG joined Bigpoint as an investor.
By 2007, the number of own games had grown to 22. The company was officially renamed Bigpoint GmbH. In the same year, Bigpoint also won the OnlineStar . In December 2009, Bigpoint GmbH took over the Berlin-based game developer eLofd GmbH, which laid the foundation for Bigpoint GmbH Berlin. Bigpoint has held 49% of the shares in eLofd GmbH since 2005. With the purchase, Bigpoint also took over the games "Land of Destruction" and " XBlaster ". In June 2008, the private equity fund Peacock, which in turn belongs to the American TV broadcaster NBC Universal , and the British financial investor GMT Communications Partners each acquired 35% of Bigpoint. The remaining 30% stayed with the founders. In 2009, Bigpoint reached the 100 million registered player mark and employed over 240 people. In the same year, Bigpoint was the first game software company to be among the winners of the European Business Award. In 2009, sales increased to over 51 million euros. In 2008 it was still 26 million euros.
In 2010, Bigpoint took over the insolvent German game developer Radon Labs , which most recently attracted attention through the computer games Das Schwarze Auge: Drakensang and Drakensang: Am Fluss der Zeit . Radon Labs was fully integrated into the existing “Bigpoint Berlin” studio. In the same year, an office in Silicon Valley near San Francisco and a further branch in São Paulo , Brazil were founded, which existed until 2014. The number of employees rose to over 600 by the end of 2010. At the German Developer Award 2010 , Bigpoint's Farmerama game won first place as “Best Browser Game”, while Bigpoint.com was voted “Best Gaming Portal”. Bigpoint was also able to win a Lara Award in 2010 for “Farmerama”.
In January 2011, Bigpoint took over Planet Moon Studios from San Francisco. In late February, it was announced that the company had entered into a strategic partnership with Electronic Arts in the marketing of online games. According to dpa, the two US investment companies TA Associates and Summit Partners acquired a majority share of 67% of the company for 350 million dollars at the end of April 2011. The former majority owners Peacock Equity Fund and GMT Communications will retain a 2.5% stake. Bigpoint boss Heiko Hubertz still holds a stake of 30.5%. In May 2011, Bigpoint said it had around 800 employees worldwide.
At the beginning of 2012, the economic environment for browser games clouded over, as an oversupply of games depressed margins and large companies in the conventional games industry took market share from pure browser game manufacturers. Bigpoint's main competitor, market leader Zynga , issued a profit warning and announced job cuts. Bigpoint also fell into a downward trend: In October 2012, the company laid off 80 employees at the company's headquarters in Hamburg and closed the studio in San Francisco with 40 employees. Company boss Heiko Hubertz moved to the top of the supervisory board.
In March 2016, Bigpoint was bought by the Chinese software company Youzu Interactive Co. Ltd. for around 80 million euros . based in Hong Kong. On April 1, 2017, Khaled Helioui, who had been CEO since April 2013, left the company. Brian Morrisroe was his successor as Managing Director . Chinese games for mobile phones are to be adapted to the European market. In-house developments are not in progress.
Technology used
Bigpoint games are developed using web technologies such as PHP , Adobe Flash , Java and Unity . Since the games do not have to be installed on the players' computers, they are operated according to the principles of software as a service .
Games developed by Bigpoint
- ActionLeague
- Battlestar Galactica Online
- BeBees
- Chaos cars
- DarkOrbit
- Deepolis
- Drakensang Online
- Elorian
- Fantasy syrup
- Farmerama
- Football manager
- Gangs of Crime
- Germany's Next Top Model - The Game
- Gladius ii
- Hellblades
- Icefighter
- K1 fighter
- KO Champs
- Kultan - The World Beyond
- Maestia - Shattered Light
- Manager games hockey
- Manager games soccer
- Odin's land
- Parsec
- Pirate storm
- Popstars - The Game
- Ramacity
- Rising Cities
- Seafight
- Skyrama
- SpeedCars
- SpeedSpace
- The pimps
- War of Titans
- ZooMumba
Games published by Bigpoint
- 11 managers
- Anophis
- Arenas of Glory
- Case White
- Castle Fight International
- Damoria
- Dolumar
- Drift City
- Generated Affixation: The Nexus Lancinate
- Land of Destruction
- Pirates 1709 International
- Puzzle pirates
- Rangersland International
- Rise of Gods
- Scaph
- SpaceConquer
- Terminator Salvation
- Toon racers
- Wanted
- War story
- War Machines
- WonderKing Online
- X-blaster
- Xhodon
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Gameswirtschaft.de: The largest game developers in Germany in 2020. Accessed on January 12, 2020 .
- ↑ Bundesanzeiger.de: Annual financial statements for the financial year from 01/01/2018 to 12/31/2018, Bigpoint GmbH. Retrieved January 12, 2020 .
- ↑ a b http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL3N16U3MP
- ↑ a b http://www.pcgames.de/Bigpoint-International-Firma-235162/News/Spielefirma-wird-von-Youzu-Interactive-uebernommen-1190065/
- ↑ 3sat - News from May 20, 2011: Successful browser games
- ↑ c't 04/2010, p.86 Social Saat - Farmville, Mafia Wars & Co. - virtual worlds with an addictive factor and thick real sales
- ↑ http://www.golem.de/0612/49620.html
- ↑ Browsergame-Magazin.de: Bigpoint takes over the Berlin game developer eLOFD. Retrieved June 2, 2016 .
- ^ Peacock, GMT agree to majority buyout of Bigpoint , siliconindia news bureau, June 12, 2008.
- ↑ GMT and NBC Universal take over Bigpoint ( Memento December 4, 2008 in the Internet Archive ), Galaxynews.com June 9, 2008.
- ↑ Bigpoint's Sale to NBC-GMT a Big Deal ( Memento of the original from April 16, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. : Online gaming company fetches $ 110 million, signifying continued interest in the space from major media companies and ongoing consumer interest., By JONATHAN MARINO, Mergers & Acquisitions Report via mergersunleashed.com, June 9, 2008.
- ↑ Financial Times Deutschland : Bigpoint - im Spieleparadies ( Memento from January 14, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Bigpoint wins the Ruban d'Honneur at the European Business Award 2009
- ↑ Golem.de : Takeover: Bigpoint saves Radon Labs
- ↑ gamona.de - German Developer Award 2010: Blue Byte the big winner of the evening
- ↑ "Bigpoint" wins the renowned LARA Game Award
- ↑ Golem.de : Bigpoint takes over developer of Planet Moon Studios
- ↑ Bigpoint markets Electronic Arts games
- ↑ mediabiz.de of April 26, 2011: US investors take over Bigpoint majority
- ^ Heise.de of April 26, 2011: Investment companies take over online games provider Bigpoint
- ↑ FAZ.net: Gold diggers in hangover mood. Retrieved June 2, 2016 .
- ↑ Boerse.ARD.de: Zynga becomes a nightmare ( Memento from January 10, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Rachel Weber (October 23, 2012): Bigpoint cuts 120 jobs, CEO leaves role . In: gamesindustry.biz . Retrieved June 2, 2016.
- ↑ http://www.gamestar.de/artikel/bigpoint-120-entlassung-firmengruender-tritt-zurueck-update,3006082.html
- ↑ Bigpoint CEO Khaled Helioui steps down as Youzu outlines new mobile and investment strategy - Article on Pocket Gamer from March 28, 2017 (English)
- ↑ [1]
