PCGH Retro: Memories of Jowood – Publisher of Gothic 2, Aquanox and industrial giant

Jowood was founded in 1995 as a development studio for computer games. The first big success is the WiSim “Der Industriegigant”, which appears in 1997 and is developed by the company founders themselves. In 1999 “Die Völker” was published by developer Neo Software, with Jowood acting as publisher. To fuel continued growth, Jowood went public in June 2000 and acquired many studios including Wings Simulations in May 2000, Neon Studios in September 2000 and Massive Development (Aquanox) in December 2000. Further acquisitions and the opening of new offices followed.

Jowood: Aquanox, Gothic 2 and Spellforce

During this time, Aquanox 1 (2001) was released, then still under the publisher Fishtank Interactive, and in November 2002 Aquanox 2: Revelation, which, like its predecessor, received high ratings. Jowood had its first financial problems in 2002, when bankruptcy was just averted by layoffs. Through capital increases, further takeovers (Ravensburger Interactive Media) and the success of Gothic 2 (buy now )(November 2002), despite many bugs, the renovation is temporarily positive. In 2003, Jowood also delivered a very good title with Phenomics Spellforce: The Order of Dawn, followed by two add-ons. In the fall of 2003, Gothic 2 will receive a very difficult expansion with “The Night of the Raven”, which again has many bugs and ultimately even needs the help of the community.

Jowood: Secret Wars and studio closures

In 2004 there was another crisis when “Söldner – Secret Wars” by Wings Simulations was released much too early in May 2004 and was almost unplayable. The Jowood company continues to run into problems when internationalization does not progress as desired and the supervisory board resigns in December 2004. A legal dispute brought Jowood close to bankruptcy again, so that at the end of 2005 Koch Media (now Plaion) became an investor. By 2006, the whole company was being turned inside out and an attempt was made to realign it as a pure publisher. As a result, the five internal studios Jowood Vienna, Studio Ebensee, Wings Simulations, Massive Development and Neon Studios will be closed. All running game projects and also the own technology base KRASS-Engine will be discontinued.

The two parts of Die Gilde, which will be published in 2002 and 2006 by the developer 4Head Studios, should not go unmentioned. The many bugs such as crashes or broken saves are reminiscent of Guild 3. In 2003 and 2006 the first two titles in the Spellforce series from developer Phenomic were launched.

Jowood: Turning point with Gothic 3

2006 marks a turning point for Jowood. The state of Gothic 3 at the time of release caused massive trouble, among other things with game journalists, who denied the role-playing game of Piranha Bytes good ratings because of the errors and for that be threatened by a lawyer. But there is also a rift with the developer: Piranha Bytes later accuses Jowood of having been forced into a premature release. The end of the collaboration is a heavy blow for the publisher.

In the gallery: Well-known games from Jowood as developer and publisher

In 2007 the publisher Dreamcatcher (Painkiller) was taken over, Koch Media left again in 2008, 2009 was the last year with good sales. In 2010, sales collapsed by a tenth, management left the sinking ship and the losses ultimately threatened the company’s existence. All hopes rest on Arcania – Gothic 4, but the ratings are only moderate and the sales figures are far behind Gothic 3. All reorganization measures fail, on April 22nd, 2011 it is officially over on 8/21/2011 Nordic Games takes over the helm of the brands.