InnoGames

InnoGames GmbH
Subsidiary
Industry Video game industry
Founded 2007 (2007) in Stade, Germany
Founders
  • Eike Klindworth
  • Hendrik Klindworth
  • Michael Zillmer
Headquarters Hamburg, Germany
Key people
  • Hendrik Klindworth (CEO)
  • Michael Zillmer (COO)
  • Christian Pern (CMO)
  • Armin Busen (CPO)
Number of employees
 420 (2018)
Parent Modern Times Group
Divisions InnoGames Düsseldorf
Website innogames.com

InnoGames GmbH is a German video game developer based in Hamburg. Founded in 2007, it focuses on the development of browser and mobile games. The company now has more than 200 million registered players and by 2017, it reached a revenue of €161.5 million.[1]

History

In 2003, founders Eike and Hendrik Klindworth created and released the browser-based online game Tribal Wars as a hobby project. At the end of 2005, the game reached more than 50,000 active players and today has a total of 55 million registered players.[2] Due to the success, the three founders decided to work full-time on the development and publishing of browser games. Then in early 2007, InnoGames was founded to handle the operation and continued development of the Die Stämme (English name Tribal Wars). Since then, the company has developed new games and publishes their games worldwide.[3]

The company released its second game, The West, in 2008. That same year InnoGames moved to Hamburg-Harburg and hired additional employees.[3] As the company continued to grow, they released their third game, Grepolis, on 2009. Since 2013, Grepolis is playable as an app for iOS and Android devices.[4] Its first city-builder, Forge of Empires, was published in 2012. The game includes a journey through time that begins in the Stone Age and guides the player through the ages of human history. As of late-July, 2018, the latest era is the Virtual Future, but further extensions are planned. Forge of Empires was awarded the German Computer Game Prize in 2013 as the best browser game.[5] Since 5 June 2014 the game is also playable as an app on the iPad.[6] The iPhone version followed on September 2014 [7] and the Android version on 25 March 2015.[8] Following Forge of Empires' Android version in 2015, the German developer published its second city-building MMO, Elvenar in April[9]

Further growth

In May 2010, the investor Fidelity Growth Partners Europe (FGPE) joined InnoGames with a minority share. Also in 2010, former Electronic Arts executive Gerhard Florin joined InnoGames as Chairman.[10] By 2016, MTG (Modern Times Group) acquired 35% of the German free-to-play developer.[11] 2016 was also InnoGames' most successful year, having a 68% year-on-year growth.[12] The following year, InnoGames acquired Wooga's strategy game Warlords, promising a relaunch of the game.[13] Later, on 2 May 2017 the Swedish Company MTG increased its stake in InnoGames by buying 51% of the company [14]

Mobile initiative

The first title that the company launched on mobile platforms was Tribal Wars, its founding game. Grepolis, another of its strategy browser titles, was also launched onto mobile platforms in 2013.[15] Finally in 2014, Forge of Empires was also converted to tablet and mobile [16] and increased the company's revenues. InnoGames managed to transition from browser to mobile, even as other studios have faltered. The company now has four studios which develop and maintain their strategy games.[11] Despite focusing on mobile, their CEO has said that the company will continue developing and maintaining browser games in the future [17]

Games developed

Year Title Platform(s)
2003 Tribal Wars Android, Browser, iOS
2008 The West Browser
2009 Grepolis Android, Browser, iOS
2012 Forge of Empires Android, Browser, iOS
2014 Tribal Wars 2 Android, Browser, iOS
2015 Elvenar Android, Browser, iOS
2017 Warlords of Aternum Android, Browser, iOS
2017 Lost Survivor Game pulled before release.
2018 God Kings Not released yet

References

  1. ↑ InnoGames reports revenue growth of 24% last year, up to €161.5m, gamesindustry.biz, 20 February 2018
  2. ↑ "Tribal Wars 2 Launched on iOS, Seamlessly Sharing Data With Android and Browser". 2p.com. 24 June 2015.
  3. 1 2 History: Innogames., InnoGames, 28 August 2012, archived from the original on 13 August 2013
  4. ↑ "Grepolis App Now Available on iPhone". GameCry.com. 4 September 2013.
  5. ↑ "MMO of the Year Hall of Fame". MMO of the Year. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  6. ↑ Shaul, Brandy (5 June 2014). "InnoGames brings Forge of Empires to iPad". ADWEEK. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  7. ↑ Marceau, Erica (29 September 2014). "Forge of Empires now optimized for iPhone". Technology Tell. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  8. ↑ "Forge of Empires Comes to Android". Forge of Empires Blog. 25 March 2015. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  9. ↑ "Elvenar Overview". MMOs.com. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  10. ↑ Matt Martin (2 February 2011). "Florin takes chairman role at InnoGames". GamesIndustry.biz.
  11. 1 2 Handrahan, Matthew (13 Oct 2016). "MTG acquires 35% of InnoGames for €90 million". gamesindustry.biz.
  12. ↑ Tucker, Jake (7 Feb 2017). "Players managed 600m hours of gameplay on InnoGames titles in 2016". Develop.
  13. ↑ Takahashi, Dean (23 February 2017). "InnoGames acquires Wooga's stratgy game Warlords". VentureBeat. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  14. ↑ Winter, Jason (2 May 2017). "Swedish Entertainment Company Buys 51% Stake in InnoGames". Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  15. ↑ E3 – InnoGames' Growth & The Move to Fully Cross-Platform Experiences.Two of six games have a mobile app., RTSGURU, 26 June 2013
  16. ↑ us.forgeofempires.com
  17. ↑ "Interview with Hendrik Klindworth, CEO of InnoGames". F2P.com. 10 Oct 2015.
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