InnoGames GmbH

History

The software developer in Hamburg began back in 2003. At the beginning of that year, the brothers Eike and Hendrik Klindworth began creating the browser game Tribal Wars together with Michael Zillmer. They were motivated by the idea of making a game that they themselves would enjoy playing and that would offer a fun gaming experience for a long time. What was originally intended as just a hobby project grew much more quickly than expected. After the game was officially launched in June 2003, the number of players increased to several thousand by early 2004, so that a second game world had to be introduced. The game was improved continuously in the meantime and by fall 2005, the number of players had expanded to about 50,000.

From hobby to profession

Because the growth continued at a fast pace, the three company founders decided to work full-time on the development and operation of browser games in 2005. By the end of that year, they published a new version that offered drastic visual improvements. InnoGames was founded in early 2007 to handle the operation and continued development of the game. Since then, the company's growth has continued to accelerate, and with over 100 million registered players, InnoGames is now one of the largest operators of Massive Multiplayer Online (MMO) games in the world. Not only has the number of users grown, but so has the company: 250 employees from over 20 nations now work full-time in the Hamburg-headquarters. InnoGames also shows great growth potential internationally. On April 1 2010, InnoGames became the first German browser game provider to start a subsidiary in Korea. InnoGames Korea Ltd. is a 100% subsidiary of InnoGames GmbH. Sang-Soo Lee directs the company together with Michael Zillmer. In May 2010, the investor group Fidelity Growth Partners Europe (FGPE) joined InnoGames with a minority share. In addition to the financial support, this makes an international partnership network available to InnoGames, which will continue to accelerate the worldwide expansion of the game development house. In February 2013, InnoGames opened a location in Sao Paulo, Brazil to expand its market share in the region that has become increasingly important to the online games industry. Marcus Imaizumi is tasked with leading InnoGames Brazil and significantly growing the brand in South America.

Past, and Present

In 2012, InnoGames had the most succesful start of a browser game world wide: Forge of Empires. The game reached more than five million users within the first six months and also turned out to be the best start of a game in the history of InnoGames.

In 2013, InnoGames focused a lot of its efforts into the development of mobile apps. While Grepolis and Tribal Wars had already gotten their first apps on Android and iOS, Forge of Empires was about to follow. A great achievement for InnoGames in April of this year: Forge of Empires scored the “best browser game“ award from “Deutscher Computerspielpreis“.

2014 was a huge year for InnoGames! In March of this year, the company moved into a new, bigger office in Hamburg City South and started an in-house business center for start-ups and young entrepreneurs: the InnoHub! By this time, the company already had 350 employees in total. The InnoGames Game Jam is the biggest event of its kind in Germany, with 130 participants in the company´s office. And before the end of the year, InnoGames added a new game to its portfolio with the big launch of Tribal Wars 2.

In 2015, InnoGames wants to accomplish even more and continue to conquer the mobile games market. The company has opened new office rooms in Dusseldorf and works towards this goal. The Forge of Empires iPad and iPhone apps have been followed by an app for Android devices, at the beginning of the year, and InnoGames intends to grow approximately the same number of employees as in 2014.

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