JoWooD

JoWooD Entertainment AG (formerly JoWooD Productions Software AG, commonly referred to as JoWooD) was an Austrian video game publisher that was founded in 1995. JoWooD went into administration in 2011 and all assets were purchased by Nordic Games.

JoWooD Entertainment AG
Formerly
  • JoWooD Productions Software GmbH (1995–2000)
  • JoWooD Productions Software AG (2000–09)
TypePublic
IndustryVideo games
FateBankruptcy, assets acquired by Nordic Games GmbH
SuccessorTHQ Nordic
Founded1995 (1995)
Founders
  • Andreas Tobler
  • Hans Schilcher
Defunct2011 (2011)
Headquarters
Rottenmann, Styria
,
Austria
Products
SubsidiariesDreamCatcher Interactive

Its games include the futuristic racing car game Beam Breakers which was released in 2002, action role-playing games in the Gothic series, the Spellforce series, and the Industry Giant series of games. Other titles include Transport Giant, World War III: Black Gold, The Sting!, Hotel Giant, and other games of the Giants series.

History

JoWooD Productions Software AG was founded in 1995 in Ebensee by Dieter Bernauer, Johann Reitinger, Johann Schilcher, and Andreas Tobler with its headquarters later moved to Liezen, Austria. It owned five subsidiaries in the last years: DreamCatcher Interactive, JoWooD Distribution Services, JoWooD Deutschland, JoWooD Iberica and Quantic Lab. In May 2002, JoWooD acquired Ravensburger Interactive and its sister company Fishtank Interactive.

In August 2005, JoWooD attempted to end their development agreement with developer Perception Pty because of a lack of quality on their "Stargate SG-1" product.[1] JoWooD carried out this action believing they owned the licence for the game Stargate SG-1: The Alliance, which was disputed by Perception.[2] On 4 November 2006, JoWooD announced the acquisition of DreamCatcher Games, in efforts to move to the North American game markets.[3] In October 2009, JoWooD changed its name from JoWooD Productions Software AG to JoWooD Entertainment AG.[4] At the same time, JoWood also announced an agreement with Valve to make available future JoWooD titles on Steam.[4]

On 7 January 2011, JoWooD officially filed for bankruptcy and announced that the company would prepare for "a procedure of capital reorganization".[5] However, on 21 April 2011, JoWooD announced that, unable to negotiate with potential investors, they were officially facing bankruptcy proceedings and had withdrawn their application for a recapitalization plan.[6] In June 2011, JoWooD Entertainment all their assets and its subsidiary, Quantic Lab, was acquired by Nordic Games. From this point on, JoWooD was no longer operating. All activities of the two companies were taken over by Nordic Games.[7] On 16 August 2011, Nordic Games announced that it had acquired JoWooD's products and brands and some of the companies labels, including The Adventure Company.[8] Following the acquisition it was announced that JoWood and the Adventure Company would become publishing labels for Nordic Games, a wholly owned subsidiary of Nordic Games Holding.[9]

Games published
Release date Title Platform(s) Developer(s)
14 April 1998 Industry Giant Microsoft Windows JoWooD Productions
11 May 1999 Alien Nations[10] Neo Software
26 October 1999[11] Panzer Elite Wings Simulations
1 December 2000 Thandor: The Invasion Innonics
28 February 2001 Traffic Giant JoWooD Productions
15 June 2001 The Nations JoWooD Vienna
1 July 2001 The Sting! Neo Software
9 October 2001 Zax: The Alien Hunter Reflexive Entertainment
25 October 2001 S.W.I.N.E.[12] StormRegion
20 November 2001 Rally Trophy Bugbear Entertainment
30 November 2001 AquaNox Massive Development
26 November 2001 Gorasul: The Legacy of the Dragon Silver Style
7 June 2002[13] Hard Truck 2: King of the Road SoftLab-NSK
28 June 2002 Arx Fatalis Microsoft Windows Arkane Studios
23 December 2003 Xbox Wizarbox
26 August 2002 Cultures 2: The Gates of Asgard[14] Microsoft Windows Funatics Development GmbH
18 September 2002 Michael Schumacher Racing World Kart 2002 Microsoft Windows Radon Labs
PlayStation
30 September 2002 Industry Giant II Microsoft Windows JoWooD Productions
10 October 2002 Beam Breakers Similis Software GmbH
18 October 2002 Archangel Metropolis Software
25 October 2002 Europa 1400: The Guild 4HEAD Studios
16 November 2002 The Nations Nations Gold Edition / The Nations 2 JoWooD Productions
29 November 2002 Gothic II Piranha Bytes
10 December 2002 K-Hawk: Survival Instinct[15] Similis Software GmbH
13 April 2003 Cold Zero: The Last Stand JoWooD Productions
20 June 2003[16] Neighbours from Hell JoWooD Vienna
4 March 2005 GameCube, Xbox
22 August 2003 Gothic II: Night of the Raven - Expansion Pack Microsoft Windows Piranha Bytes
22 August 2003 AquaNox 2: Revelation Massive Development
30 August 2003 Chaser Cauldron
22 October 2003 Cold Zero: No Mercy[17] JoWooD Productions
29 October 2003[18] Railroad Pioneer[19] Kritzelkratz 3000
31 October 2003[20] Silent Storm Nival Interactive
28 November 2003[21] SpellForce: The Order of Dawn Phenomic Game Development
27 May 2004 Söldner: Secret Wars Wings Simulations
8 June 2004[22] Transport Giant JoWooD Productions
24 June 2004[23] SpellForce: Breath of Winter - Expansion Pack Phenomic Game Development
November 2004[24] SpellForce: The Shadow of the Phoenix - Expansion Pack Phenomic Game Development
11 November 2004 Söldner: Secret Wars Reloaded Wings Simulations
25 February 2005[25] Söldner: Marine Corps - Expansion Pack Wings Simulations
27 March 2006[26] Neighbours from Hell 2: On Vacation JoWooD Vienna
2 March 2005 Legend of Kay[27] PlayStation 2 Neon Studios
Kaiko
20 April 2006 SpellForce 2: Shadow Wars Microsoft Windows Phenomic Game Development
29 September 2006 The Guild 2[28] 4HEAD Studios
13 October 2006 Gothic 3[29] Piranha Bytes
30 March 2007[30] Freak Out: Extreme Freeride PlayStation 2 ColdWood Interactive
28 August 2007 Microsoft Windows
14 May 2007[31] SpellForce 2: Dragon Storm Phenomic Game Development
18 May 2007[32] The Guild 2 - Pirates of The European Sea - Stand-alone expansion pack[33][34] 4HEAD Studios
5 June 2007[35] Space Force: Rogue Universe Provox Games
15 October 2007 SpellForce Universe Edition - Collection pack[36] Phenomic Game Development
15 October 2007 Gothic Universe Edition - Collection pack[37] DreamCatcher Interactive
30 October 2007 Painkiller: Overdose Mindware Studios
15 January 2008 Gothic 3: The Beginning Handy-Games GmbH
28 March 2008 The Golden Horde[38] World Forge
8 July 2008 Painkiller Universe - Collection Pack[39] DreamCatcher Interactive
7 October 2008 The Guild 2 - Venice - Stand-alone Expansion Pack Trine Games[40]
21 November 2008 Gothic 3: Forsaken Gods - Expansion Pack Trine Games
Mad Vulture Games
27 October 2009 Painkiller: Resurrection HomeGrown Games
27 November 2009 Yoga Wii Wii Trine Games
9 April 2010 Torchlight[41] Microsoft Windows Runic Games
12 October 2010 Arcania: Gothic 4 Spellbound Entertainment
Xbox 360 Black Forest Games
September 2011 PlayStation 3
19 October 2010[42] The Guild 2 - Renaissance - Stand-alone expanded edition Microsoft Windows 4HEAD Studios
25 February 2011 Painkiller: Redemption DreamCatcher Interactive
19 June 2012 SpellForce 2: Faith in Destiny Trine Games[40]
Mind Over Matter[43]

References
  1. Jowood Terminates Development Agreement with Perception - PC News at GameSpot
  2. "Video Games, Wikis, Cheats, Walkthroughs, Reviews, News & Videos - IGN". IGN. Archived from the original on 6 February 2012. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
  3. "Aktuelle Aussendungen". euro adhoc - IR-Kommunikation. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
  4. "Rietumu Guide". Archived from the original on 29 June 2010. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
  5. GameZone. "JoWooD Entertainment Files for Bankruptcy". Retrieved 16 April 2015.
  6. "JoWood: Sanierungsverfahren gescheitert, Publisher ist am Ende". PC GAMES. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
  7. "JoWooD - Now Swedish … sort of! - RPGWatch Forums". Retrieved 16 April 2015.
  8. "JoWooD & The Adventure Company, wholly owned labels of Nordic Games". Nordic Games. Archived from the original on 17 August 2011. Retrieved 17 August 2011.
  9. "Nordic Games Holding AB Group Acquires JoWood & The Adventure Company". Nordic Games. 16 August 2011. Archived from the original on 17 August 2011. Retrieved 17 August 2011.
  10. "Alien Nations - PC". IGN. Retrieved 9 December 2013.
  11. "Panzer Elite - PC". IGN. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
  12. "JoWooD Productions - S.W.I.N.E." 24 March 2006. Archived from the original on 24 March 2006. Retrieved 29 January 2017.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  13. "Some Information news - Hard Truck 2: King of the Road Game". ModDB. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
  14. "Cultures 2: The Gates of Asgard". GameSpot. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  15. "K-Hawk: Survival Instinct". GameSpot. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  16. "Neighbours from Hell: Revenge is a Sweet Game (PC CD)". Amazon. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
  17. "Cold Zero: No Mercy". GameSpot. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  18. "KRITZELKRATZ 3000 - Game Development". Kritzelkratz 3000 GmbH. Archived from the original on 11 May 2004. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  19. "Railroad Pioneer - Content". Kritzelkratz 3000 GmbH. Archived from the original on 5 February 2016. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  20. "The Storm is coming! - JoWooD News Archive". JoWooD Entertainment. Archived from the original on 10 September 2004. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
  21. "Welcome at Phenomic Game Development - Latest News". Phenomic Game Development. Archived from the original on 6 February 2005. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
  22. "Transport Giant on Steam". Steam. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
  23. "SpellForce Breath of Winter in UK stores today!". JoWooD Entertainment. Archived from the original on 6 September 2004. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
  24. "SpellForce News Archive". JoWooD Entertainment. Archived from the original on 29 August 2005. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
  25. "Solder: Marine Corps". GameSpot. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
  26. "Neighbours from Hell: On Vacation". GameSpot. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
  27. PAL version of the PlayStation 2 release. Published in North America by Capcom. "Capcom Release Date Info". Capcom. Archived from the original on 1 June 2006. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  28. In cooperation with Deep Silver. "The Guild 2 - DEEP SILVER". Capcom. Archived from the original on 6 May 2007. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  29. EU release in affiliation with Deep Silver. NA release by Aspyr Media.
  30. "Release Data - Freak Out: Extreme Freeride". GameFAQs. Archived from the original on 18 October 2015. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  31. "SpellForce 2: Dragon Storm". Metacritic. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  32. Initially delayed due to logistical issues. "Die Gilde 2: Release des AddOns wurde verschoben" [The Guild 2: Release of the add-ons has been delayed] (in German). Spieletipps. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  33. EU release. Released in AU by N3VRF41L Publishing and in the US by DreamCatcher Interactive.
  34. Also released under the name The Guild 2: Pirates of the High Seas. "The Guild 2: Pirates of the High Seas for PC". GameFAQs. Archived from the original on 5 June 2015. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  35. "Space Force: Rogue Universe". Metacritic. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  36. "SpellForce Universe Edition". IGN. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  37. "Details and Credits - Gothic Universe". Metacritic. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  38. EU region. RU release by Russobit-M
  39. "Painkiller Universe". GameSpot. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  40. "Trine Entertainment Ltd. - Games". Trine Games. Archived from the original on 23 July 2012. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  41. EU retail version. "Torchlight Release Information". GameFAQs. Archived from the original on 22 April 2015. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  42. "The Guild 2: Renaissance". Metacritic. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  43. "SpellForce 2: Faith in Destiny on Steam". Retrieved 8 July 2016.
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