2003 founder alexander r sner klaas kersting headquarters karlsruhe germany key people alexander r sner ceo 1 number of employees 450 2014 website official page gameforge is a provider of online games . it represents a group of companies that operates internationally and has its headquarters in karlsruhe germany . it distributes roughly 20 games translated into over 50 languages with about 400 million registered users . 2 their portfolio contains client based massively multiplayer online games mmogs such as tera metin2 runes of magic wizard101 and s.k.i.l.l. special force 2 as well as browser based online games such as ogame bitefight or ikariam . they also operate mobile games . gameforge employs a staff of over 500 and was founded by its chief executive officer alexander r sner and former ceo klaas kersting in 2003 . 3 contents 1 business model 2 history 2.1 2003 to 2010 2.2 2010 onwards 3 references 4 external links business model edit gameforge was one of the first companies in europe to offer its games using the free to play business model . game access and clients are mostly free of charge . the products are financed by shop systems where players can buy comfort and service functions such as mounts to ride or equipment and personalisations for money . gameforge was one of the first western companies to adapt to this invariably important business model that has its origins in asia . history edit the company was founded in december 2003 under the name of gameforge gmbh in karlsruhe by alexander r sner and klaas kersting . one of the company s first titles was ogame which alexander r sner had developed prior to the company foundation all by himself . in september 2006 the company s legal structure was converted into an incorporated company which took the name gameforge ag . it functions as a holding of the affiliated company gameforge 4d gmbh . gameforge currently operates and markets twelve client based online games nine browser games and five mobile games . 2003 to 2010 edit the years from 2006 to 2010 were characterised by a strong growth in the number of players and employees . in 2007 the company had about 100 employees ; the number increased to 200 by the end of 2008 to 360 by the end of 2009 and finally to 450 in 2010 650 including those from frogster interactive pictures ag . in november 2011 the company announced a realignment of internal structures . following the integration of gameforge and frogster s operating units client games and web games were replaced with development and publishing sections . in addition to structural measures the workforce was reduced and products that were not meeting expectations were adjusted . in 2009 the company reached the mark of 100 million registered players . by the end of 2010 the number grew to 200 million and in 2011 to 300 million . the number currently stands december 2013 at about 400 million registered players . in 2007 gameforge founded its first foreign branch gameforge sarl established in paris . after buying french development studio nevrax the subsidiary was commissioned to market the game the saga of ryzom . it was only a moderate success leading to the sale of ryzom in 2009 . gameforge owned other offices abroad including gameforge holding malta ltd. with headquarters in piet . in november 2007 gameforge ventured into the u.s. market as the first german online games company and founded gameforge productions inc. based in san francisco . lars koschin was placed in charge of branch management overseas . on april 23 2008 gameforge announced the establishment of four development studios . ticking bomb games based in hamburg was to develop several pc games then be marketed by gameforge . managing directors were tobias severin and marco schultz ; who both already had many years of experience in the game development field . ralf c. adam was introduced as a consultant allowing them to make use of his 16 years professional experience . their first game gilde1400 a browser game based on pc game the guild was released late october 2009 . the beta phase ran for two weeks before it was published . the end of january 2009 brought the establishment of the second developer rough sea games based in mannheim germany . just like ticking bomb the studio was to take over development of pc and browser games . matthias schindler was elected ceo . he had been working in the game development for 15 years . in addition to the hamburg and mannheim studios the company also co operated with two other development studios steroid interactive mainz and inflammables heidelberg . all four studios were gradually decommissioned the offices in hamburg mainz and mannheim were sold on 1 january 2011 ; inflammables closed with the end of hellbreed in late 2011 . at the end of 2008 the foundation of a subsidiary in the united states together with frogster interactive pictures ag was unveiled . gameforge was to be the primary stakeholder with 75 percent and following the purchase of 470 000 shares it was to then have acquired a stake of up to 20 percent from frogster . however this joint venture was not achieved conflicts of interest arose regarding the details . the company chose instead to become active with its own subsidiary frogster america inc. 2010 onwards edit on march 19 2010 klaas kersting former ceo of gameforge ag announced his departure from the company . during 2010 gameforge took a majority stake in frogster interactive pictures ag further expanding its share . on july 3 2012 a rebranding of its subsidiary frogster interactive pictures ag and associated subsidiary companies was announced . frogster was renamed gameforge berlin ag subsidiary frogster online gaming gmbh was merged into gameforge berlin ag . frogster america inc. was renamed to gameforge america inc. frogster pacific gmbh to gameforge pacific gmbh . starting 2011 an increasing saturation of the entire industry began to spread . though sales still made up eur 133 million in 2010 in 2011 it rose only to eur 140 million . this was despite the number of players rising by a third from 200 million august 2010 to 300 million august 2011 . the result was the dismissal of 100 employees in november 2011 as well as the shutdown of recently launched games hellbreed and mythos . production of the much anticipated star trek infinite space was postponed and after an unsuccessful search for a co publisher finally stopped a year later . frogster even had a sales decline of 16 % on the previous year . competitors such as zynga and bigpoint also had similar problems leading to layoffs and closures of subsidiaries and games . in january 2012 gameforge sold subsidiary chili entertainment gmbh to hitfox for an undisclosed amount . the online advertising portal ad2games was sold with it . in the second half of 2012 gameforge ventured into the mobile games market . this began with five first generation games all very similar in gameplay . these games are free of charge to download and finance themselves via a built in shop and micropayment system . in early 2013 crystal runner the forgotten caves a more complex second generation mobile title was published . players had to pay a fee for installation . mobile games were already contributing several million euros to consolidated revenues in 2013 . furthermore special force ii became the first shooter the company has ever licensed . the company s most recent pay to play title tera which had monthly costs for game access was released in may 2012 and then converted to the company s usual free to play model in february 2013 . this means that with the exception of one single mobile game all games that the company offers are free to play and are financed through micro transactions . in november 2012 it was announced that the marketing departments of offices in berlin and karlsruhe were to be merged leading to 20 jobs being cut within marketing pr and business development . in the same month the company announced a separation from the former ceo of frogster online gaming gmbh seth iorio . a closure of the berlin site was not considered . on april 22 2013 gameforge revealed that the location in berlin was to be dissolved from the 30th of september 2013 . organizational and economic motives were stated as reasons . ceo alexander r sner announced that the remaining 150 approx . employees were offered continued employment at the karlsruhe offices . in 2008 gameforge won the red herring 100 europe award as the only german game company . additionally the two founders and former ceos klaas kersting and alexander r sner were elected entrepreneurs of the year in 2008 . in the years 2008 and 2009 gameforge won the technology fast 50 award . while gameforge won the award in the category rising stars in 2008 the company was already entered in the normal category in 2009 and was able to reach second place with a 5 year growth of 6261.19 or 19 percent more than 2000 percent ahead of bigpoint gmbh their closest competitor . likewise gameforge won two stevie awards as the most innovative company of the year in europe and best new product or service of the year media & entertainment in 2009 and was able to prevail against bigpoint . in the same year the company won the technology pioneer award presented by the world economic forum davos . in 2010 gameforge was named top job top employer and great place to work in the context of 100 best companies to work for in germany 2010 . in 2011 computerwoche placed alexander r sner at number 42 of the 100 most important figures in the german it . in addition gameforge won a stevie international business award for the games portal gameforge.com as well as a distinguished honoree award for the star trek infinite space trailer . in 2012 further awards followed with the red herring award and the silver award at the international business awards stevies references edit 1 corporate.gameforge.com 02.12.2015 . corporate website gameforge about us 2 12.02.2014 corporate website gameforge about us 3 12.02.2014 external links edit gameforge ag german branch gameforge productions inc. u.s. branch retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title gameforge & oldid 743457150 categories video game companies of germanycompanies established in 2003browser based game websitesgaming miniatures companiesinternet companies of germany navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages catal deutschespa ol fran ais italianomagyarnederlandspolskiportugu srom n suomit rk e 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