Suvarna Garge (Editor)

Egosoft

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Industry
  
Video game industry

Website
  
egosoft.com

Founded
  
1988

Key people
  
Bernd Lehahn (CEO)

Headquarters
  
Würselen, Germany

Egosoft httpslh3googleusercontentcomgomrH2wx6uYAAA

Type
  
Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung

Video games
  
X3: Terran Conflict, X Rebirth, X3: Reunion, X2: The Threat, X: Beyond the Frontier

Egosoft alexei zakharov natalia yakovleva x3 reunion main theme


Egosoft GmbH is a video game developer founded in 1988 and based in Würselen, Aachen, Germany. It became a commercial company in 1990. Its first products were for the Amiga, but it later became a PC game developer.

Contents

Egosoft is best known for its X game series, a series of space simulator games noted for combining open-ended gameplay, dynamic market-driven economy and compelling storyline. The series began in 1999 with X: Beyond the Frontier. Since then, the series has expanded with two sequels and three standalone expansions; the latest being X Rebirth in 2013.

Releases

Egosoft has released a number of products. Several of the X series have been released multiple times in special bundle packs or when a major update to the game was released.

Future releases

In 2000, Egosoft planned a multiplayer online game called Online Universe or X Online. This project was intended to be "the next step in the evolution of Egosoft's X universe." Egosoft has since released a number of games, yet has given little indication of the progress of this project. In 2003 Egosoft staff were working on a later version - codenamed X2OL - which Egosoft Director Bernd Lehahn described as "our long-term goal." There is still no official information on the Online Universe, though there has been speculation that X2 and X3's 2007 uplink feature may be a positive spin-off of the project.

In Q4 of 2009 Egosoft announced that Terran Conflict completed the story started in X: Beyond the Frontier, taken by some to mean the end of the franchise. However, in March 2011 they announced on their X-Universe forums that they would be attending FedCon XX in Düsseldorf on 28 April 2011, and would show preview footage of their current project, previously only referred to by the codename TNBT (The Next Big Thing). However, on 20 April 2011, they released a trailer officially announcing X Rebirth, initially slated for a Q4 2011 release. X Rebirth will take place in the X Universe after a major catastrophe (the shutdown of the series' network of, thus starting a new chapter in the X Universe separate from the original plot line. Rebirth missed its first two proposed release dates (Q4 2011 and 2012) and was eventually released 15 November 2013.

On 7 December 2011, they announced X3: Albion Prelude and revealed a trailer, after stating on the previous day that "There will be something you might not have seen coming. More info soon ;)". Albion Prelude was released on 15 December, only a week after the announcement. It bridged the plot gap between the older X games and the upcoming Rebirth, featuring a storyline only hinted at in the X Encyclopedia. Albion Prelude was scheduled for boxed release at some point in early 2012, and is available free on Steam for those who register the X Superbox, or purchasable including paired with X3: Terran Conflict.

DevNet

Egosoft runs a Developer Network - DevNet - which members may be able to join. It provides an opportunity to test new software and create the scripts for it. Submitting personal information to Egosoft is enough for mere testing, however, access to pages of the higher level requires signing a non-disclosure agreement.

References

Egosoft Wikipedia