Goodgame Studios
| Goodgame Studios
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|---|---|
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| legal form | GmbH |
| founding | June 2009 |
| Seat | Hamburg (Germany) |
| management | Oleg Rößger, Verena Schnaus |
| Number of employees | 270 (as of January 2020) |
| sales | 132 million EUR (2016) |
| Branch | Computer games |
| Website | www.goodgamestudios.com |
Goodgame Studios is a German game software company based in Hamburg that specializes in the development of computer games for mobile devices and web browsers . All of the company's games are based on the free-to-play principle and are assigned to the genre of massively multiplayer online games . The focus is on development and strategy titles which the company sells worldwide.
history
Goodgame Studios was founded in June 2009 under the umbrella of Altigi GmbH by Nikolai Lücht, the brothers Christian and Kai Wawrzinek and Fabian Ritter. In June 2010, the game developer spotsonfire GmbH and its staff were taken over. As part of its global expansion, the company opened its first overseas offices in Tokyo and Seoul in September 2013.
When it was founded in June 2009, Goodgame Studios had twelve employees.
The social game Goodgame Poker was published as the first game in July 2009. The most successful title to date with more than 70 million users is the MMO building and strategy game Goodgame Empire , which went online in August 2011. With the offshoot Empire: Four Kingdoms , Goodgame Studios released its first game for mobile devices in January 2013. The last time the mobile game Shadow Kings and the browser version Shadow Kings - Dark Ages were released in July 2014. For the first time, development was primarily geared towards mobile use. In the meantime, the further development of the game Shadow Kings has been stopped. The company had 1,300 employees at its peak; Goodgame described itself as Germany's largest games company.
As a result, the company failed to bring a similarly successful product to the market as Goodgame Empire . As with all free-to-play providers, the competition from games such as Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft and Pokémon Go put the core business down, the growth plans were described as overambitious. As of August 2016, the workforce was initially reduced from 1100 employees at that time to 550 employees. At the same time, the two founders Christian and Kai Wawrzinek handed over operational management of the company to Maximilian Schneider in order to focus more on product development again. At the beginning of 2017, another 200 employees were laid off and the Wawrzinek brothers took over management again. According to the annual report published in early 2018, sales in 2016 fell by more than a quarter, from 188 million euros in 2015 to 132 million euros, putting the company just ahead of its competitor InnoGames . The increased competitive pressure, a decline in the number of players and disappointing new developments are seen as the cause.
In December 2017, Goodgame Studios merged with the Stillfront Group from Stockholm, Sweden and is thus listed on Nasdaq First North .
Products
Goodgame Studios specializes in the development of mobile and browser games. All of the company's games are based on the free-to-play principle. The company operates more than ten games in 25 languages and has over 270 million registered users.
At Gamescom 2014, Goodgame Studios announced that it would develop game projects for the core gaming market. Games for the PC and, in the medium term, also for various console systems are planned. The games should also be based on the free-to-play principle. The games with the most registered users include Goodgame Empire and the mobile adaptation Empire: Four Kingdoms, Goodgame Big Farm and Goodgame Gangster.
| Mobile games | Browser Games | Games that are no longer in operation |
|---|---|---|
| Big Farm: Mobile Harvest (since 2017) | Legends of Honor (since 2016) | Goodgame Galaxy (2012-2017) |
| Infernals - Heroes of Hell (2016) | Shadow Kings - Dark Ages (2014) | Goodgame Farmfever (2012) |
| Shadow Kings (2014) | Goodgame Big Farm (2012) | Goodgame Fashion (2011 to November 3, 2016) |
| Empire: Four Kingdoms (2013) | Goodgame Empire (2011) | Goodgame Disco (2011 to November 3, 2016) |
| Goodgame Gangster (2010) (until 2012 Goodgame Mafia) |
Goodgame Magic City (2011-2012) | |
| Goodgame Poker (2009) | Goodgame Café (2010 to November 3, 2016) | |
| Goodgame Farmer (2010 to February 28, 2013) | ||
| Goodgame Hercules (2010-2012) | ||
| Goodgame Heroes (2010-2011) | ||
|
Jump Jupiter (2009-2014) (acquired by Goodgame Studios in June 2010) |
Awards
In 2011, the founders of Goodgame Studios, Kai and Christian Wawrzinek, were named Entrepreneur of the Year in the start-up category by the auditors Ernst & Young Germany. Red Herring magazine nominated Goodgame Studios for the final round of the Red Herring 100 Europe Award in 2012. In 2013 Goodgame Studios received the “MMO of the Year 2013” award in the “Best Portal” category. The following year, the game software company was named “Best European Studio 2014” at the European Games Award. In November 2014, the developer was awarded the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Award as the fastest growing technology company in Germany. Goodgame Studios came fifth in the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Award EMEA.
The games developed by Goodgame Studios have won numerous industry awards:
| year | event | product | category | Art |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | European Games Award | Goodgame Empire | Best European Browser Game | Profit |
| Empire: Four Kingdoms | Best European Mobile Game | Profit | ||
| 2013 | MMO of the Year | Goodgame Big Farm | Best casual browser MMO | Profit |
| Goodgame Empire | Best Strategy Browser MMO | Profit | ||
| 2012 | MMO of the Year | Goodgame Empire | Best casual browser MMO | nomination |
| Goodgame fashion | Best casual browser MMO | nomination | ||
| European Games Award | Goodgame Empire | Best European Browser Game | Profit | |
| BÄM! Award | Goodgame Empire | Best online or social game | Profit | |
| 2011 | German developer award | Goodgame Empire | Best browser game | nomination |
| Best casual game | nomination | |||
| 2010 | Golden sparrow | Jump Jupiter | Best online game | Profit |
| 2009 | Browser game of the year | Jump Jupiter | Best gameplay | Profit |
Controversy
In November 2015, the company laid off 28 employees, some of whom had advocated the establishment of a works council . The company announced that the layoffs were due to "operational reasons". In January 2016 there was a vote on the establishment of a works council, in which 62.8% voted against the establishment of a works council. The works council did not come about. In the run-up to the works meeting, Goodgame described a works council as an “outdated instrument” of co-determination. According to media reports, the company put pressure on the employees both verbally and in writing to prevent the works council. In addition, the remaining employees were intimidated because of the past layoffs. However, the company denies having put any kind of pressure on its employees. An alternative co-determination body was later established. However, this offers employees far less protection than a works council; In this regard, Heiko Hecht spoke of a "[catastrophic] situation" for the employees.
The dismissal of several hundred employees from August 2016 onwards led to another controversy. Goodgame informed some of its employees that they could not expect to be laid off, while the rest of the workforce was initially left in the dark about whether they would continue to work. Malte Mansholt criticized on Stern.de that the employees in question were hanging in a “bubble of ignorance” that was “almost worse than the news of the layoffs per se”. The Hamburg mayor Hansjörg Schmidt accused Goodgame of improper treatment of the employees.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Gameswirtschaft.de: The largest game developers in Germany in 2020. Accessed on January 12, 2020 .
- ↑ a b Goodgame Studios: Sales slump in 2016. Accessed April 13, 2018 .
- ^ Goodgame Studios homepage, accessed October 6, 2015
- ↑ Gründerszene, accessed on January 22, 2016
- ↑ spotsonfire homepage, accessed on October 29, 2014
- ^ Hamburger Abendblatt, accessed on February 5, 2014
- ^ Wirtschaftswoche, accessed on April 16, 2015
- ^ Goodgame Studios homepage, accessed October 29, 2014
- ^ Chip Online, accessed August 24, 2014
- ↑ Shadow Kings: Work on the strategy game is discontinued . February 16, 2015 ( prosiebengames.de [accessed December 13, 2016]).
- ↑ a b c Empire developer: Difficulties with Goodgame. Retrieved September 3, 2016 .
- ↑ Goodgame Studios: Hamburger Spieleschmiede dismisses many employees. Retrieved September 3, 2016 .
- ^ A b Christian and Kai Wawrzinek: Resignation of the Goodgame founders - Golem.de. Retrieved September 3, 2016 .
- ↑ gamesbusiness.de : Goodgame Studios is cutting jobs. August 19, 2016. Retrieved August 22, 2016 .
- ↑ FAZ.net: German computer game manufacturer dismisses many employees. Retrieved May 28, 2017 .
- ↑ Gameswirtschaft: 270 million euros Exit: Stillfront buys Goodgame Studios - GamesWirtschaft.de . In: GamesWirtschaft.de . December 7, 2017 ( gameswirtschaft.de [accessed December 7, 2017]).
- ^ Hamburger Abendblatt, accessed on April 16, 2015
- ↑ Game sauce, accessed on July 10, 2015
- ↑ GamersGlobal, accessed August 12, 2014
- ^ Goodgame Studios homepage, accessed October 29, 2014
- ^ Goodgame Studios homepage, accessed January 11, 2016
- ↑ Gamesmarkt.de: Ernst & Young names Goodgame founders entrepreneur of the year. Retrieved January 12, 2020 .
- ↑ Red Herring Homepage, accessed on October 29, 2014
- ↑ MMO of the Year homepage, accessed October 29, 2014
- ↑ a b c Newsslash, accessed April 10, 2014
- ↑ Handelsblatt Online, accessed on November 28, 2014
- ↑ Deloitte website, accessed November 28, 2014
- ↑ MMO of the Year homepage, accessed October 29, 2014
- ↑ a b c MMO of the Year Homepage, accessed October 29, 2014
- ↑ European-Games-Award.com: European Games Award: These are the winners 2012 ( Memento from March 15, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ BamAward.de: BÄM! The Computec Games Award 2012: The winners ( Memento from September 23, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF, 108 KB)
- ↑ a b Chip Online, accessed December 6, 2011
- ↑ Kinder-Medienland.de: The 2010 Golden Sparrows are awarded! ( Memento from October 30, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ GoldenerSpatz.de: Die Goldenen Spatzen 2010 ( Memento from January 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF, 6 KB)
- ↑ a b c Alexander Demling: The Feel Bad Manager. In: Spiegel Online . January 19, 2016. Retrieved January 19, 2016 .
- ↑ Goodgame employees vote against works council. In: Hamburger Abendblatt . January 19, 2016. Retrieved January 19, 2016 .
- ↑ a b Jakob Koch: "The anti-Verdi propaganda was successful". In: Welt Online. January 20, 2016, accessed January 21, 2016 .
- ↑ a b After 28 redundancies How the Goodgame bosses intimidate employees. In: Hamburger Morgenpost . January 17, 2016, accessed January 19, 2016 .
- ↑ a b Melanie Wassink: Goodgame is cutting hundreds of jobs. In: Hamburger Abendblatt . August 20, 2016. Retrieved November 13, 2016 .
- ↑ Malte Mansholt: Goodgame shocks with mass layoffs - but doesn't say who has to go. In: Stern.de . August 19, 2016. Retrieved November 13, 2016 .