JoWooD Entertainment AG (formerly JoWooD Productions Software AG, commonly referred to as JoWooD) was an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

video game publisher A video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that have been developed either internally by the publisher or externally by a video game developer. They often finance the development, sometimes by paying a video game developer ( ...

that was founded in 1995. JoWooD went into administration in 2011 and all assets were purchased by

Nordic Games The Nordic Games were the first international multi-sport event that focused primarily on winter sports, and were held at varying intervals between 1901 and 1926. It was organized by Sweden's Swedish Central Association for the Promotion of ...

. Its games include the futuristic racing car game ''

Beam Breakers ''Beam Breakers'' is a racing game released in 2002. It was published by JoWooD Productions and developed by Similis. The game takes place in the year 2173. It features flying cars in the city of New York. Gameplay The highways of New York Cit ...

'' which was released in 2002,

action role-playing game An action role-playing game (often abbreviated action RPG or ARPG) is a subgenre of video games that combines core elements from both the action game and role-playing genre. Definition The games emphasize real-time combat where the player h ...

s in the ''

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

'' series, the ''

SpellForce ''SpellForce'' is a real-time strategy and role-playing series created by Phenomic and currently owned by THQ Nordic. The first release was published by JoWooD Productions and Encore Software in 2003, and by THQ Nordic in 2017. Setting and p ...

'' series, and the '' Industry Giant'' series of games. Other titles include ''Transport Giant'', '' World War III: Black Gold'', ''

The Sting! ''The Sting!'' (released in German-speaking regions as ''Der Clou! 2'') is a strategy/adventure video game developed by Neo Software and released by JoWooD Productions on 1 July 2001. It is the sequel to 1994's '' The Clue!'' (known as ''Der Clo ...

'', ''

Hotel Giant ''Hotel Giant'' (), known in North America as ''Maximum Capacity: Hotel Giant'', is a business simulation game developed by Enlight Software and published by JoWood Productions for Windows. The soundtrack was composed by Bjørn Lynne. Gameplay ...

'', and other games of the ''Giants'' series.

History

JoWooD Productions Software AG was founded in 1995 in

Ebensee Ebensee am Traunsee (Central Bavarian: ''Emsee'') is a market town in the Traunviertel region of the Austrian state of Upper Austria, located within the Salzkammergut Mountains at the southern end of the Traunsee. The regional capital Linz lies ...

by Dieter Bernauer, Johann Reitinger, Johann Schilcher, and Andreas Tobler with its headquarters later moved to

Liezen Liezen (Central Bavarian: ''Liezn'') is a municipality in the Austrian federal state of Styria, district capital of the district of the same name and economic center on the River Enns. Population Politics Since 1995, the left-wing SPÖ party ...

. It owned five subsidiaries in the last years:

DreamCatcher Interactive DreamCatcher Interactive Inc. (also known as DreamCatcher Games) was a Canadian video game publisher founded in 1996 by Richard Wah Kan. It was best known for its adventure games. In 2006, the company became a subsidiary of JoWooD Entertainmen ...

, JoWooD Distribution Services, JoWooD Deutschland, JoWooD Iberica and Quantic Lab. In May 2002, JoWooD acquired

Ravensburger Interactive Ravensburger AG is a German game and toy company, publishing house and market leader in the European jigsaw puzzle market. History The company was founded by Otto Robert Maier in Ravensburg, a town in Upper Swabia in southern Germany. He bega ...

and its sister company

Fishtank Interactive Fishtank Interactive was a German publishing label and was a division of Ravensburger Spieleverlag's Ravensburger Interactive. It was founded in 2000 to try to expand the horizons of Ravensburger Spieleverlag by publishing more mature games than ...

. In August 2005, JoWooD attempted to end their development agreement with developer

Perception Pty Perception was a media entertainment company working in the video games, film and television space. The company claimed to be working on a video game for the PC and console platforms and to be in pre production on an animated television series ...

because of a lack of quality on their "Stargate SG-1" product. JoWooD carried out this action believing they owned the licence for the game Stargate SG-1: The Alliance, which was disputed by Perception. On 4 November 2006, JoWooD announced the acquisition of

DreamCatcher Games DreamCatcher Interactive Inc. (also known as DreamCatcher Games) was a Canadian video game publisher founded in 1996 by Richard Wah Kan. It was best known for its adventure games. In 2006, the company became a subsidiary of JoWooD Entertainment ...

, in efforts to move to the North American game markets. In January 2007, JoWooD announced a UK distribution agreement with Pinnacle Software to allow the latter to distribute JoWooD's titles. In October 2009, JoWooD changed its name from JoWooD Productions Software AG to JoWooD Entertainment AG. At the same time, JoWood also announced an agreement with

Valve A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically fittings ...

to make available future JoWooD titles on

Steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...

. On 7 January 2011, JoWooD officially filed for bankruptcy and announced that the company would prepare for "a procedure of capital reorganization". 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. In June 2011, JoWooD Entertainment all their assets and its subsidiary, Quantic Lab, was acquired by

. From this point on, JoWooD was no longer operating. All activities of the two companies were taken over by Nordic Games. 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 The Adventure Company was a Canadian video game developer and a former publishing division of DreamCatcher Interactive. It was sold to THQ Nordic GmbH in 2011 following DreamCatcher's parent (JoWooD Entertainment) assets being sold after entering A ...

. Following the acquisition it was announced that JoWood and the Adventure Company would become publishing labels for

, a wholly owned subsidiary of Nordic Games Holding.

Games published

References

{{Authority control Economy of Styria THQ Nordic Video game companies established in 1995 Video game companies disestablished in 2011 Defunct video game companies of Austria Video game publishers Austrian companies established in 1995 2011 disestablishments in Austria