Sunflowers

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Sunflowers GmbH

logo
legal form GmbH
founding 1993
resolution 2007
Reason for dissolution Takeover by Ubisoft
Seat Heusenstamm , Germany
management Adi Boiko , Founder / President
Wilhelm Hamrozi, CEO

The Sunflowers Interactive Entertainment Software GmbH was a German manufacturer of computer games based in Heusenstamm in Offenbach district in Hesse , near Frankfurt am Main . The company had specialized in the strategy genre and was best known for the sequel The Fugger II and Anno 1602 . Sunflowers developed the Anno brand through its sequels into one of the most successful German computer game series. In 2007 the founders sold the company and its brands to the French publisher Ubisoft .

history

The company, founded in 1993 by Adi Boiko and Wilhelm Hamrozi, started out as a game developer in Langen . The company developed, among other things, The Fugger II , a sequel to the trading simulation published by Bomico in 1988. After the disappointing sales figures for TechnoMage - The Return of Eternity , Sunflowers dissolved its own development department in 2002 and has since concentrated on development cooperation with independent developer studios . A collaboration with Timegate Studios for the game Kohan had previously been terminated in January 2001 due to different business strategies .

The development strategy game series Anno , initially developed by the Austrian studio Max Design , advanced to become Sunflowers' most successful brand . After Anno 1602 and Anno 1503 , the founders of Max Design dissolved the development team and withdrew from game development. Sunflowers therefore handed over the development of Anno 1701 to the Mainz studio Related Designs . Further collaborations existed with the Bulgarian Black Sea Studios and the Berlin Game Development Combine (SEK-Ost). In the case of Related Designs and SEK Ost, Sunflowers also acquired a minority stake of 30% in the company. Sunflowers had previously owned 40% of the shares in Max Design.

Despite high investments of 8 million euros in SEK Ost's strategy game ParaWorld , which it claims to be the most expensive German game development, the title was not successful. In October 2006, Anno 1701 finally appeared and replaced ParaWorld as the most expensive German computer game up to that point. Both predecessors together had sold around 4.5 million copies at that time, which is why Anno 1701 went on sale with a circulation of one million copies, 450,000 copies for the German market alone. In addition, Sunflowers had announced an expansion of the series to the handheld Nintendo DS for April 2007 at the Games Convention . In January 2007, Sunflowers and Buena Vista Games announced a cooperation in the release of the title developed by Keen Games .

Also in January, SEK Ost ceased business operations and dissolved. The lack of economic success of ParaWorld , which exemplified the increased costs and risks in game development, and the dependence on the Anno brand led to sales talks lasting several months. On April 11, 2007 it was announced that the French publisher Ubisoft Sunflowers would take over. Through this acquisition, Ubisoft also secured a 30% stake in Related Designs , which was previously held by Sunflowers.

The Sunflowers founders Adi Boiko and Wilhelm Hamrozi later announced the establishment of a new company focused on MMOGs , some of the Sunflowers employees were to be taken over.

Products

  • ADAM - A journey through the body
  • American Dream
  • Anno 1503 (2002)
  • Anno 1602 (1998)
  • Anno 1701 (2006 for PC and 2007 for Nintendo DS)
  • Atlas
  • Upswing East (1993)
  • Blinky Bill 1: The Secret of the Haunted Cave
  • Blinky Bill 2: The adventurous trip in a balloon
  • The Universe of Professor Pi
  • The Treasure of Venice (1997)
  • The Adventure World of Numbers (1998)
  • The Adventure World of Words (1998)
  • The Fugger II (1996)
  • The pirate island
  • English 1 plus
  • English 2 plus
  • Globetrotter destination: Australia
  • Holiday Island
  • Holiday Island relaunch
  • Holiday Island Scenario Disk
  • Children discover the Bible
  • Knights of Honor (2004)
  • Leonardo's journey in time
  • Leonardo in dreamland
  • Leonardo in space
  • LexiKIDS
  • Magic of Endoria
  • Nectaris (1995)
  • Noddy
  • ParaWorld (2006)
  • Railway Challenge
  • TechnoMage: The Return of Eternity (2002)
  • TMX English
  • Tuneland
  • Urmel's film studio
  • Urmel's great flight
  • Zurk and the animals of the rainforest

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Thorsten Wiesner: Sunflowers stops internal development. In: Golem.de. Retrieved November 24, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Thorsten Wiesner: Sunflowers cancels agreement for strategy game Kohan. In: Golem.de. Retrieved November 24, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Max Design - mass layoffs among Anno programmers. In: Gamestar. Retrieved November 24, 2018 .
  4. ↑ Panagiotis Kolokythas: Anno War: Sunflower starts new "Anno" project. In: PC world. Retrieved November 24, 2018 .
  5. ↑ Thorsten Wiesner: Sunflowers cooperates with Bulgarian developer Black Sea. In: Golem.de. Retrieved November 24, 2018 .
  6. ↑ a b Thorsten Wiesner: Sunflowers participates in the Berlin developer SEK. In: Golem.de. Retrieved November 24, 2018 .
  7. ↑ Jens Ihlenfeld: Ubisoft buys Sunflowers. In: Golem.de. Retrieved November 24, 2018 .
  8. ↑ Paraworld - real-time strategy on the home straight. In: GameStar. Retrieved August 19, 2018 .
  9. ↑ Most expensive game from Germany. In: n-tv. Retrieved November 24, 2018 .
  10. ↑ Andreas Sebayang: Anno 1701 in 3D and Anno DS with pen control. In: Golem.de. Retrieved November 24, 2018 .
  11. ↑ Anno 1701 - Coming for Nintendo DS. In: GamePro. Retrieved November 24, 2018 .
  12. ↑ Lars Winckler: Dinosaurs bring down PC game studios. In: The world. January 22, 2007. Retrieved August 19, 2018 .
  13. ↑ Christian Burtchen: " Put in the right hands" - Interview with Adi Boiko. In: PC Games. May 15, 2007, accessed November 24, 2018 .
  14. ↑ Ubisoft press release of April 11, 2007: "With the acquisition of SunFlowers, Ubisoft adds the well-known ANNO brand to its portfolio"
  15. ↑ GamePorts.net of April 12, 2007, 12:25 pm: "Sunflowers - New company in planning" ( Memento of April 6, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  16. ↑ Golem.de of April 12, 2007, 7:22 pm: "Sunflowers founders do not go to Ubisoft"
  17. ↑ http://www.feibel.de/index.php?id=7&catId=77&prodId=2748
  18. ↑ http://www.feibel.de/index.php?id=7&catId=36&prodId=2566