Former type Public Fate Closed down Headquarters Liezen, Austria Founded 1995, Liezen, Austria | Industry Video game industry Parent Nordic Games Defunct 2011 | |
 | ||
Formerly called JoWooD Productions Software GmbH (1995–2000)
JoWooD Productions Software AG (2000–09) Products Gothic series
SpellForce series
The Guild series Founders Hans Schilcher, Andreas Tobler Video games Arcania: Gothic 4, Gothic 3, Gothic II, SpellForce: The Order of Dawn, SpellForce 2: Shadow Wars | ||
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 and all assets were purchased by Nordic Games.
Their 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. They also released Sam & Max and Neighbours from Hell. They also worked on AquaNox: Angel's Tears for the PlayStation 2.
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 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. 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, in efforts to move to the North American gaming markets. In October 2009 it was announced that JoWooD has changed its name from JoWooD Productions Software AG to JoWooD Entertainment AG. At the same time JoWood also announced an agreement has been established between them and Valve Corporation to make future JoWooD titles available via Steam.
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 Nordic Games. 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. 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.
In the year 2014 the company Touchit Studio entered into a partnership with JoWood Entertainment, and rewriting all the rights of the game Neighbours From Hell in the distribution and editing in the Company Touchit Studio.
Touchit Studio was founded in Germany in the year 2009 by programmer and teacher John Doe.