Gameforge

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Gameforge AG

logo
legal form Corporation
founding December 2003
Seat Karlsruhe , Germany
management Alexander Rösner ( CEO )
Number of employees 300 (2020)
sales 67 million euros (2016)
Branch Online and mobile games
Website corporate.gameforge.com

Gameforge is an online game provider. The internationally active group of companies with its headquarters in Karlsruhe sells 13 games in over 75 countries and has over 450 million registered players. Her portfolio includes client-based massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) such as Aion , TERA , Metin2 , NosTale, Wizard101 or Runes of Magic , browser-based online games such as OGame and Ikariam as well as mobile games. In 2018, the company employed around 300 people in Karlsruhe.

Business model

The company was one of the first companies in Europe to offer online games as free-to-play games. Gameforge usually offers access to the game free of charge. The products are financed through online shops within the games, in which players can use convenience and service functions such as mounts, equipment, customization functions and the like for small amounts. for the game worlds. Gameforge adapted so that one of the first Western companies an extremely successful for the games industry increasingly important nascent business model, which originated in Asia has.

history

Historical logo 2003 to 2007
Historical logo from 2008 to March 2010

The company was founded in December 2003 by Alexander Rösner and Klaas Kersting as Gameforge GmbH in Karlsruhe. One of the company's first games was the browser game OGame , which Alexander Rösner had developed himself. In September 2006 the company was converted into the legal form of a stock corporation under the name Gameforge AG. This acts as a holding company for the wholly owned subsidiary Gameforge 4D GmbH, which has been responsible for the licensing and marketing of client-based MMOs such as Metin2 since 2005 , Gameforge Productions GmbH, which develops and markets browser games such as OGame or Ikariam, and other subsidiaries. Currently (2014) the company operates and markets over 20 titles in the categories of client-based online games, browser games and mobile games.

2003 to 2010

The years from 2006 to 2010 were marked by strong growth in the number of players and employees. In 2007 Gameforge still had 100 employees, at the end of 2008 it was already 200, at the end of 2009 360 and in 2010 around 450 employees (a good 650 including the stake in Frogster Interactive Pictures AG). In November 2011 the company announced a realignment of its internal structures. In the course of the integration of Gameforge and Frogster, the operating units were merged, the workforce was reduced and products that fell short of expectations were discontinued. In 2009 the company reached the mark of 100 million registered players, in 2010 the number grew to 200 million and in 2011 to 300 million. It is currently (at the end of 2013) over 400 million registered players.

In 2007 the company set up its first foreign subsidiary, Gameforge France SARL , based in Paris . After Gameforge bought the insolvent French developer studio Nevrax , the company took over the game The Saga of Ryzom . However, this was only a moderate success, so Ryzom was resold in 2009. Gameforge also had other branches abroad, including Gameforge Holding Malta Ltd. based in Pietà and Gameforge SARL based in Paris. In November 2007, Gameforge was the first German online games company to venture into the USA and founded Gameforge Productions Inc., based in San Francisco .

In April 2008 Gameforge announced the establishment of the first of a total of four developer studios. Ticking Bomb Games , based in Hamburg, was supposed to develop several PC games, which were then to be marketed by Gameforge. The managing directors are Tobias Severin and Marco Schultz, both of whom can look back on many years of experience in the field of game development. Ralf C. Adam was hired as a consultant, who in 16 years of professional experience has already been involved in several games such as Sacred , Gothic II and SpellForce . The developers' first game, Gilde1400 , a browser game based on the PC game The Guild , was released in late October 2009 and was in beta for two weeks before being released.
At the end of January 2009, the second developer studio ,
Rough Sea Games , was founded, based in Mannheim . Like Ticking Bomb Games, it should take over the development of PC and browser games. This time Matthias Schindler, who has been working in game development for 15 years, was elected as managing director.
In addition to the studios in Hamburg and Mannheim, the company also operated two further development studios: Steroid Interactive ( Mainz ) and Inflammables ( Heidelberg ). However, all four studios were gradually dismantled: The branches in Hamburg, Mainz and Mannheim were sold on January 1, 2011, Inflammables closed at the end of 2011 after Hellbreed ended.

Since November 2008 the company has been operating the Gameforge.com (formerly “MMOGame.com”) portal, on which Gameforge games are bundled with information and images on a common platform. Players can manage their game access on the portal. Over time, the portal has been expanded to include additional functions such as friend lists, achievements and game statistics.

At the end of 2008, the company announced the establishment of a subsidiary in the United States in cooperation with Frogster Interactive Pictures AG. Gameforge should be the main participant with 75% and with the purchase of 470,000 shares acquire a stake of up to 20% in Frogster. However, this joint venture did not materialize because of a conflict of interest in the details. The company decided to become active in the USA with its own subsidiary, Frogster America Inc.

Since 2010

In March 2010, the departure of the previous CEO of Gameforge AG Klaas Kersting was surprisingly announced. Why the co-founder left the company was not made public. Kersting “I will continue to support Gameforge in a friendly and advisory way”, it said in a brief company statement.

In the course of 2010, the company took over a majority stake in Frogster Interactive Pictures AG and subsequently expanded its shares. On July 3, 2012, the name change of the subsidiary Frogster Interactive Pictures AG and its subsidiaries was announced. Frogster has been renamed Gameforge Berlin AG, the subsidiary Frogster Online Gaming GmbH was merged with Gameforge Berlin AG. Frogster America Inc. has been renamed Gameforge America Inc. and Frogster Pacific GmbH has been renamed Gameforge Pacific GmbH.

Beginning in 2011, the entire industry became increasingly saturated. While the turnover in 2010 was 133 million euros, it grew to only 140 million euros in 2011, although the number of players increased by half from 200 million (August 2010) to 300 million (August 2011). This led, among other things, to the layoff of around 100 employees in November 2011, the recently launched games Hellbreed and Mythos were crushed, the production of the previously widely acclaimed Star Trek: Infinite Space was postponed and, after an unsuccessful search for a co-publisher, a year then finally set. In 2011, the purchased publisher Frogster even saw a decline in sales of 16% compared to the previous year. Competitors such as Zynga and Bigpoint also had similar problems, with waves of layoffs and closings of branches and games.

In January 2012 the company sold its subsidiary Chili Entertainment GmbH to Hitfox for an unspecified amount. Gameforge also sold the online advertising portal Ad2Games.

In the second half of 2012 Gameforge also ventured into the mobile games market. A first step was taken with initially five "first generation" games , which are very similar in the game principle. These games can be downloaded for free and are financed through a built-in shop. At the beginning of 2013, Crystal Runner: The Forgotten Caves, a much more complex mobile game of the “second generation” , was published, which, however, requires a fee for the installation. Mobile games are expected to contribute several million euros to consolidated sales in 2013.
In addition, Special Force II, the company's first shooter game, was licensed. The company's last game still run with a pay-to-play model, TERA , which is associated with monthly costs for game use, was switched to the otherwise common free-to-play model in February 2013 . This means that all of the company's games can be played for free again and are financed exclusively through micropayments.

In November 2012 it became known that the marketing departments of the Berlin and Karlsruhe locations had been merged, as a result of which 20 jobs in the areas of marketing, PR and business development were cut in Berlin. In the same month the company announced a separation from the previous CEO of Gameforge Berlin AG, Seth Iorio. Closing the Berlin location was not considered, however. On April 22, 2013 Gameforge announced that the Berlin location will be closed with effect from September 30, 2013. The company gives organizational and economic motives as reasons. According to CEO Alexander Rösner, the remaining 150 employees were offered continued employment at the Karlsruhe location.

In July 2013, the so-called “Gameforge judgment” received attention, even outside of the usual press in the industry. The Federation of German Consumer Organizations sued the then operator of Runes of Magic , Frogster, in 2009 because it saw the request “Grab the opportunity and give your armor and weapons that certain 'something” ”in an advertising campaign as an anti-competitive invitation to buy children. After the Berlin Regional Court and the Court of Appeal initially dismissed the complaint, the Federal Court of Justice approved the appeal on July 17, 2013. The advertising, which "is linguistically characterized by the consistent use of direct addressing in the second person singular and predominantly child-typical terms including common anglicisms", was aimed specifically at children. Gameforge appealed against the default judgment . The judgment met with criticism, as the BGH did not give a detailed explanation of why it considered the form of address, commonly used on the Internet, with you and the use of a few anglicisms as "typical for children".

In March 2014, Alexander Rösner announced that he would hand over the operational business to Carsten van Husen. However, he left the company at his own request at the end of 2015.

Frogster Interactive Pictures

Frogster logo from February to July 2012
Frogster logo from 2004 to 2012

The Frogster Interactive Pictures AG was the parent company of the Frogster group with headquarters in Berlin. Gameforge AG has held a majority stake in Frogster since July 2010. Frogster employed around 200 people in Berlin.

History of Frogsters

The Frogster company was founded in 2004 by Christoph Gerlinger, Dirk Weyel and Frédéric Bichat. It emerged from Pointsoft Deutschland GmbH with the help of a management buyout and initially sold PC games of various genres. In 2006 the company was converted into a stock corporation and dared to go public. In 2008 Frogster stopped selling traditional PC games in order to concentrate on the operation and marketing of virtual worlds, so-called massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs). In February 2007 her first MMOG Bounty Bay Online was successfully launched.

In order to achieve a strategic market position, Frogster acquired stakes in the cooperation partners OnlineWelten GmbH (one of the largest German-language internet portals for games) and Yusho GmbH (a service provider and operator of online games), which merged into Frogster Online Gaming GmbH in mid-2008 . The editorial team of OnlineWelten.de still exists, but was sold to IDG- Verlag with effect from May 2, 2011 . In 2006 the management founded Frogster Asia Co. Ltd (initially Frogster Studios Co Ltd.) as a joint venture in Seoul . The company was to market Frogster's online games in Asia and develop its own titles. In 2008, Frogster America Inc. was founded in San Francisco to market the Frogster licenses in North America and in 2010 Frogster Pacific GmbH in Frankfurt am Main was founded for marketing in Australia . Frogster Asia was sold to the managing director Sunny Park in November 2010.

After a joint venture with Frogster Interactive Pictures did not materialize at the end of 2008, Gameforge took over 81.15% of the shares in Frogster through its own subsidiary "Rubin 66. AG" by the end of October 2010 and thus became the main shareholder. It was announced that Gameforge wanted to take over Frogster completely in order to consolidate its position on the international market. On May 13, 2011, a domination and profit and loss transfer agreement was concluded between Frogster and Gameforge with Gameforge AG as the controlling company, which took effect on August 29, 2011. At the time the contract was signed, Gameforge held almost 92% of the shares in Frogster. As of July 11, 2011, the shares of Frogster Interactive Pictures AG are no longer listed in the Entry Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange . The takeover cost a total of around 80 million euros.

As part of the consolidation of the corporate group, the office in San Francisco was closed in November 2011 and the headquarters of Frogster Pacific relocated to the location of the group parent company in Karlsruhe .

With effect from January 1, 2012, Seth Iorio took over as CEO of Frogster Interactive Pictures AG (now Gameforge Berlin AG), replacing the company's founder Christoph Gerlinger, who retired at the end of 2011, in his position as CEO. Seth Iorio previously worked at Gameforge until he joined Frogster as COO after the takeover by Gameforge.

On April 22, 2013 Gameforge announced that Gameforge Berlin AG will be dissolved on September 30th. The company gives organizational and economic motives as reasons.

Awards Frogsters

In 2008, Frogster was named “Landmark in the Land of Ideas”, a location campaign under the patronage of Federal President Horst Köhler .

From 2010 to 2012 Frogster was one of the finalists of the Media Momentum Awards , an award for the fifty fastest growing digital media companies in Europe. In 2010 Frogster took 20th place, 9th place in 2011 and 19th place in 2012.

Games frogsters

The Frogster Group marketed and operated a number of popular client-based online games with Bounty Bay Online, The Chronicles of Spellborn, Runes of Magic and TERA . Runes of Magic in particular developed into an international success and formed the basis for the company's rapid growth. An MMOG development project run together with Runewaker Entertainment was discontinued in April 2011.

The game Mythos , which appeared in mid-2011, quickly turned out to be a flop. Frogster then stopped operating the game on October 27, 2011 after only six months.

Frogster released the premium MMOG TERA on May 3, 2012 in Europe. In mid-July 2012, Frogster announced that Eligium - The Chosen One would be discontinued before the end of the open beta phase due to quality deficiencies.

Awards

In 2008 Gameforge won the Red Herring 100 Europe Award as the only German games company, and the two founders and then managing directors, Klaas Kersting and Alexander Rösner, were named Entrepreneur of the Year 2008. Gameforge won a Technology Fast 50 award in 2008 and 2009 . While Gameforge still won the award in the "Rising Stars" category in 2008, the company started in the normal category in 2009 and was able to take second place with a 5-year growth rate of 6,261.19%. It was more than 2,000% ahead of Bigpoint GmbH, its biggest competitor. Gameforge also won two Stevie Awards in 2009 in the categories “Most Innovative Company of the Year in Europe” and “Best New Product or Service of the Year - Media & Entertainment” and was also able to narrowly prevail over Bigpoint. In the same year, the company received the “Technology Pioneer” award from the Davos World Economic Forum .

In 2010 Gameforge was included in the list of “Germany's 100 Best Employers 2010” as part of a study by the “Great Place to Work” institute. Participation in the study was subject to a fee for the employers assessed.

In 2011, the Computerwoche placed Alexander Rösner in 42nd place of the 100 "most important personalities in German IT". Gameforge also won an “International Stevie Award” for the game portal Gameforge.com and a “Distinguished Honoree” for the trailer for Star Trek: Infinite Space. Further awards followed in 2012 with the Red Herring Award and the Silver Award at the International Business Awards (Stevie).

In 2019, Gameforge also received the “Certification experienced employer attractiveness 'Great Place to Work® Certified'” as well as the awards “Best Employer in Baden-Württemberg 2019” and “Best Employer in ITK 2019” from the Great Place to Work Institute.

Controversies over trade in virtual goods

In March 2011 the online news service gulli.com reported on a lawsuit by the then Gameforge subsidiary Frogster against the player forum elitepvpers.com. The allegation was that gold and accounts for the PC game Runes of Magic had been distributed within the forum “in business dealings” .

In the course of this public discussion, documents were published which showed that Gameforge decided in April 2005 to set up a new company under the name “Ingameparadise Limited” together with the operator of an in-game currency dealer. Gameforge confirmed this in an official statement. Gameforge, however, sold its shares in the company back to the managing director of Ingameparadise at the end of 2005, just a few days after the first advertising campaigns and protests on the part of the players, and put the contract on hold until 2007. From today's perspective, Gameforge consider the business relationship to be a mistake. In 2005, the legal situation regarding the question of whether a third party was allowed to trade in-game currency had not yet been finally clarified. Gameforge announced that it had never received any profit from the business relationship.

Games

Browser-based games: Client-based games:
* These games are only marketed by Gameforge, the development is carried out by another company or the game was only bought by Gameforge after it was completed.
Games no longer operated by Gameforge: 
  • AirRivals *
  • Animas Online
  • Battle of Crowns *
  • Bounty Bay Online *
  • CABAL Online *
  • Civil attack *
  • Cold space
  • Couch potatoes
  • Crystal Runner: The Forgotten Caves
  • DarkPirates
  • Desertwar *
  • Drivals *
  • Drop zone *
  • The tribes *
  • Orcs Must Die! Unchained *
  • Eligium - The Chosen One *
  • Freewar *
  • Funfari
  • Galaxywars *
  • Get7 *
  • Guild1400
  • GoalUnited *
  • Goblin Keeper *
  • Grimace
  • Hellbreed
  • Heropolis *
  • Herrcot *
  • HEX: Shards of Fate *
  • Katsuro
  • King of Castles *
  • KnightsDivine *
  • War game
  • Mafia game
  • MageFight
  • MATCHDAY
  • Metal Damage
  • Monster saga
  • Myth*
  • NoxMortis
  • Oceanfight
  • Pirate Wars *
  • RageClaw
  • RaiderZ *
  • Knight game
  • Ryzom *
  • Seaskulls
  • Second Home *
  • Sigils: Battle for Raios *
  • Space4k
  • Steampunk game
  • Stone age game
  • Therian Saga *
  • Travian *
  • Vampire game
  • vendetta
  • WarpFire
  • Waves of fate (Andaloria)
  • X-Wars *
* These games were only marketed by Gameforge, the development was carried out by another company or the game was only bought by Gameforge after completion.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Gameforge AG | Our games . In: Gameforge AG . ( gameforge.com [accessed July 16, 2018]).
  2. The Games. In: corporate.gameforge.com , accessed May 12, 2015.
  3. Gameforge GmbH becomes a stock corporation . On: galaxy-news.de, accessed on August 27, 2009.
  4. Gameforge company profile. In: xing.com , accessed on January 24, 2014. See press release SKILL - Special Force 2: First-Person-Shooter starts the 2014 esports season on February 2. In: press.gameforge.com , accessed on January 24, 2014.
  5. Major restructuring at Gameforge On: browsergame-magazin.de, accessed on October 14, 2012.
  6. Gameforge attacks the franz. Developer Nevrax ( Memento January 27, 2010 in the Internet Archive ). On: gamaxx.de, accessed on August 27, 2009. See Gameforge taking over MMOG “The Saga of Ryzom” . On: galaxy-news.de, accessed on August 27, 2009.
  7. Gameforge jumps across the pond. In: deutsche-startups.de , accessed on June 7, 2009. See Gamesforge goes USA. In: gamessphere.de , accessed on August 27, 2009.
  8. Gameforge founds developer studio in Hamburg. In: gamessphere.com , accessed August 27, 2009.
  9. Hellbreed - Free action RPG is being discontinued. In: gamestar.de , accessed on October 15, 2012.
  10. The new MMOGAME portal. . In: board.ogame.de , accessed on November 18, 2011.
  11. Gameforge.com portal. ( Memento of January 22, 2011 in the Internet Archive ). In: de.gameforge.com , accessed January 19, 2011.
  12. ^ Frogster America Inc. Founded in San Francisco. In: ign.com , accessed October 14, 2012
  13. Gameforge founder Kersting resigns. In: deutsche-startups.de , accessed on March 20, 2010. See Kersting leaving Gameforge. In: mediabiz.de , accessed on March 20, 2010.
  14. After Exit: Frogster will soon be called Gameforge On: gruenderszene.de, appointed on October 15, 2012.
  15. Hitfox takes over Ad2Games. In: oglabs.de , accessed on February 9, 2012.
  16. The future is mobile: Gameforge is taking off in mobile gaming. In: corporate.gameforge.com , accessed February 14, 2013.
  17. ^ Special Force II - European publisher announced. In: mmoculture.com , accessed February 14, 2013.
  18. 20 positions at Gameforge in Berlin deleted . On: mmofacts.de, accessed on June 14, 2013.
  19. Iorio leaves Gameforge . On: mediabiz.de, accessed on June 14, 2013.
  20. Gameforge: Seth Iorio leaves. ( Memento from May 23, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) In: gamesindustry.biz , accessed on June 14, 2013.
  21. Gameforge closes its Berlin location. ( Memento from May 27, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) In: gamesindustry.biz , accessed on June 14, 2013.
  22. BGH, default judgment of July 17, 2013 - I ZR 34/12, MIR 2014, Doc. 013 - Runes of Magic . On: medien-internet-und-recht.de, accessed on February 11, 2014.
  23. Duzen problematic: Gameforge appeals against BGH judgment. heise.de, January 9, 2014, accessed on February 2, 2014 .
  24. Konstantin Ewald, Felix Hilgert: BGH: Runes of Magic reasoning for the judgment is available - a critical appraisal. Online.Spiele.Recht, January 3, 2014, accessed February 2, 2014 .
  25. Press release 'Changes at the top' On: corporate.gameforge.com, accessed April 1, 2014.
  26. Carsten van Husen withdraws from the operational business of Gameforge AG . Accessed January 15, 2016 at corporate.gameforge.com.
  27. Frogster with a new corporate identity . On: mediabiz.de, accessed on July 18, 2012.
  28. Frogster closes traditional publishing business . On: mediabiz.de, accessed on May 16, 2008.
  29. Frogster merges online subsidiaries Auf: mediabiz.de, accessed on July 14, 2008.
  30. Frogster wants to sell Asia subsidiary . On: mediabiz.de, accessed on November 25, 2010.
  31. Gameforge has made a purchase offer for Frogster shares . On: corporate.gameforge.com, accessed on January 15, 2016. See Gameforge to take over Frogster completely . On: heise.de, accessed on August 19, 2010.
  32. Frogster concludes control agreement with Gameforge . On: it-times.de, accessed on October 14, 2012.
  33. DGAP-Adhoc: Frogster Interactive Pictures AG: Frogster share no longer in the Entry Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange - Gameforge AG compensation offer of 26.00 euros per share . On: dgap.de, accessed on January 15, 2016.
  34. Frogster / Gameforge in an interview . On: youtube.com, accessed on March 20, 2012.
  35. Frogster founder leaves the board . On: it-times.de, accessed on November 2, 2011. See Iorio new Frogster CEO . On: mediabiz.de, accessed on January 16, 2012.
  36. Gameforge closes its Berlin location ( Memento from May 27, 2013 in the Internet Archive ). On: gamesindustry.biz, accessed on June 14, 2013.
  37. Kurzweil the next generations ( Memento from February 26, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) On: land-der-ideen.de, accessed on October 15, 2012. Cf. Frogster is a place of ideas . On: mediabiz.de accessed on October 15, 2012.
  38. Winners . On: gpbullhoundsummit.com, accessed on April 23, 2012. See Top 50 League Tables (PDF; 46 kB). From: gpbullhoundsummit.com, accessed October 14, 2012.
  39. Myth - EU operations will be discontinued . On: gamestar.de, accessed on March 19, 2012.
  40. Eligium - The Chosen One - Frogster is discontinuing the free-to-play MMO . On: onlinewelten.com, accessed on July 3, 2012.
  41. Award overview . Accessed January 19, 2011 at corporate.gameforge.com.
  42. Entrepreneur of the Year 2008 . On: manager-magazin.de, accessed on October 15, 2012.
  43. Deloitte.com: Winner of the Technology Fast 50 competition 2008 ( Memento from October 6, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  44. Deloitte.com: Winner of the Technology Fast 50 competition 2009 ( Memento from October 6, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  45. 2009 Honorees . On: stevieawards.com, accessed October 15, 2012.
  46. List of Technology Pioneers 2009 ( Memento from July 9, 2013 in the Internet Archive ). On: weforum.org, accessed October 14, 2012.
  47. One of the best employers . On: gameswelt.de, accessed on October 14, 2012.
  48. FAZ.net: Business with a beautiful appearance. Retrieved September 15, 2016 .
  49. 2009 Honorees . On: stevieawards.com, accessed November 17, 2009.
  50. Europe 2012 Finalists . On: redherring.com, accessed October 14, 2012.
  51. 2012 Company / Organization Category Stevie® Award Winners . On: stevieawards.com, accessed October 15, 2012.
  52. ^ Gameforge “Great Place to Work®. Accessed April 10, 2019 (German).
  53. Runes of Magic: Frogster wins legal battle against Elitepvpers.com - Golem.de. Accessed March 9, 2020 (German).
  54. Was Gameforge directly involved in a gold seller? ( Memento from January 25, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ), accessed on March 14, 2011. Cf. Gameforge - Earning money with gold trading? On: gamestar.de, accessed on March 14, 2011.
  55. Gameforge comments on Goldseller allegations . On: gamessphere.de, accessed on October 15, 2012.