CipSoft

Last updated
CipSoft GmbH
Company type Private
Industry Video games
Founded8 June 2001;23 years ago (2001-06-08)
Founders
  • Guido Lübke
  • Stephan Payer
  • Ulrich Schlott
  • Stephan Vogler
Headquarters,
Germany
Products Tibia
Number of employees
100 (2024)
Website https://cipsoft.com

CipSoft GmbH is a German video game developer based in Regensburg. Founded in 2001, it is the developer of Tibia . As of August 2024, the company employs 100 people. [1]

Contents

History

CipSoft was founded on 8 June 2001 by Guido Lübke, Stephan Payer, Ulrich Schlott, and Stephan Vogler. [2] The four had developed the game Tibia during their time at university and released it in 1997. After completing their studies, they founded CipSoft to continue the development of the game. [3]

Games

Tibia

Tibia is one of the first online role-playing games (MMORPG) ever created. [4] It is the main product of CipSoft GmbH. On the islands of Tibia players discover a fantastic 2D world where they can go on virtual adventures. The main intention of the game is for the player to develop the character and to prove oneself as a knight, paladin, sorcerer or druid. The fact that Tibia is still based on 2D has never influenced the growth of the number of players. In 2008, Tibia was seen as one of the "8 best MMORPGs for Linux" [5]

TibiaME

TibiaME is the first online role playing game for mobile phones. [6] The story of TibiaME is inspired by the PC game Tibia. As a knight or a sorcerer, the players develop the skills of their selected characters. By exploring large varieties of areas, they will come upon exciting quests and dangerous dungeons where hundreds of players can set their forces together. Communicating and interacting with other players in a diplomacy is only one attractive aspect of TibiaME. The player can log out at any moment of the game and log in later.

Fiction Fighters

Fiction Fighters was a new product, which became available in 2011, but was discontinued during its beta release due to massive lack of player's staying interest – despite a massive marketing campaign. It was an interactive 3D comic, where players entered a parallel comic universe. The players acted and interacted only in comic strips. [7]

Panzer League

Panzer League is a mobile multiplayer online battle arena for tanks. To win the game you have to destroy your opponents and defense systems before blowing up. Matches last 5 to 10 minutes. The game was available for Android and iOS devices. [8] CipSoft ceased the operation of Panzer League on October 30, 2020, after more than 600,000 downloads. [9]

LiteBringer

LiteBringer was a blockchain game developed by CipSoft, fully operating on the Litecoin blockchain. Released on September 15, 2020, LiteBringer offered a unique multiplayer experience with decentralized gameplay, where players had unprecedented control over their accounts and achievements. The game combined elements of a trading simulation and idle RPG, allowing players to level up fantasy characters, embark on quests, and manage resources directly on the blockchain. All in-game items and characters were stored on the Litecoin blockchain, enabling secure and direct transactions between players. [10]

In March 2022, CipSoft announced the discontinuation of further development and active support for LiteBringer. Despite this, the game remains playable without trading fees or subscriptions, leveraging its decentralized architecture on the Litecoin network. [11]

Persist Online

Persist Online is CipSoft's first MMORPG for PC since 1997. Announced in June 2024, the game features action-packed combat against zombies using firearms and melee weapons. It is designed as a true old-school MMORPG where hundreds of players interact on one server in a post-apocalyptic open world. [12] The game will be available for Windows, macOS, and Linux via Steam and will initially be released as Early Access. An announce trailer and the game's Steam page were launched alongside the announcement. [13] All essential information about the game can be found on the official website https://persist.online. Players can join the official Discord and subscribe to the newsletter for updates and playtest opportunities.

Related Research Articles

<i>EverQuest</i> 1999 video game

EverQuest is a 3D fantasy-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) originally developed by Verant Interactive and 989 Studios for Windows PCs. It was released by Sony Online Entertainment in March 1999 in North America, and by Ubisoft in Europe in April 2000. A dedicated version for Mac OS X was released in June 2003, which operated for ten years before being shut down in November 2013. In June 2000, Verant Interactive was absorbed into Sony Online Entertainment, who took over full development and publishing duties of the title. Later, in February 2015, SOE's parent corporation, Sony Computer Entertainment, sold the studio to investment company Columbus Nova and it was rebranded as Daybreak Game Company, which continues to develop and publish EverQuest.

A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game.

<i>Ultima Online</i> 1997 video game

Ultima Online (UO) is a fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released on September 24, 1997 by Origin Systems.

A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system, on different computing systems via a local area network, or via a wide area network, most commonly the Internet. Multiplayer games usually require players to share a single game system or use networking technology to play together over a greater distance; players may compete against one or more human contestants, work cooperatively with a human partner to achieve a common goal, or supervise other players' activity. Due to multiplayer games allowing players to interact with other individuals, they provide an element of social communication absent from single-player games.

<i>GemStone IV</i> 1988 video game

GemStone IV is a multiplayer text-based online role-playing video game produced by Simutronics. Players control characters in a high fantasy game world named "Elanthia". The first playable version of the game was known as GemStone ][ and was launched in April 1988 on GEnie. It was one of the first MMORPGs and is one of the longest running online games still active. Access to the game is subscription-based through its website, with three additional subscriptions levels available, "Premium", "Platinum" and "Shattered", in addition to a free-to-play model introduced in early March 2015.

A massively multiplayer online game is an online video game with a large number of players to interact in the same online game world. MMOs usually feature a huge, persistent open world, although there are games that differ. These games can be found for most network-capable platforms, including the personal computer, video game console, or smartphones and other mobile devices.

Tibia is a multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released in 1997, developed and published by CipSoft. It is one of the earliest and longest-running MMORPGs, reaching its peak popularity in 2007. The game is free to play but players may pay to upgrade to a premium account. Tibia is a two-dimensional tile-based game set in a fantasy world with pixel art graphics and a top-down perspective.

<i>Dungeons & Dragons Online</i> 2006 video game

Dungeons & Dragons Online is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Turbine for Microsoft Windows and OS X. The game was originally marketed as Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach. Upon switching to a hybrid free-to-play model it was renamed Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited. The game was rebranded Dungeons & Dragons Online, with the introduction of Forgotten Realms-related content. Turbine developed Dungeons & Dragons Online as an online adaptation of Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), originally based loosely on the D&D 3.5 rule set. The game is set on the unexplored continent of Xen'drik within the Eberron campaign setting, and in the Kingdom of Cormyr within the Forgotten Realms campaign setting.

Asphere Innovations is a tech holding company and an online game operator under Playpark in Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia. Its headquarters is located in Bangkok, Thailand. Asphere's services are primarily operated within Southeast Asia.

Acclaim Games Incorporated was an American video game company that offered free massively multiplayer online role-playing games on its website upon registration. The company was founded in 2006 and was the successor to Acclaim Entertainment in terms of brand name. After Acclaim Entertainment filed for bankruptcy, former Activision CEO Howard Marks purchased the "Acclaim" name in September 2004 for a reported $100,000. He, along with Neil Malhotra, set up a new company, Acclaim Games, that was to take a different approach to the market than Acclaim Entertainment.

Ntreev Soft was a South Korean video game development studio primarily known for the development of the online multiplayer golf game PangYa as well as the anime-styled MMORPG, Trickster Online.

The history of massively multiplayer online games spans over thirty years and hundreds of massively multiplayer online games (MMOG) titles. The origin and influence on MMO games stems from MUDs, Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) and earlier social games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PlayerAuctions</span> Digital marketplace

PlayerAuctions is a digital marketplace that connects buyers and sellers of various types of gaming genre such as Massively multiplayer online game (MMO) games, First-person shooters (FPS), Multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA), Mobile game, survival games, battle royale game etc. so they can buy and sell digital assets. These include in-game currency, items, skins, accounts, power leveling and boosting services, and CD keys for games and applications. The site is a neutral marketplace that supports player-to-player trading for popular online games such as RuneScape, Old School RuneScape, World of Warcraft, CSGO, PUBG, Path of Exile, League of Legends, Fortnite, Overwatch, GTA V, Warframe, Pokémon Go, Clash of Clans, EverQuest, ArcheAge, Final Fantasy XIV, Apex Legends, Elder Scrolls Online, Habbo, Fallout 76, and over 250 other games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Travian Games</span> German video game developer

Travian Games GmbH, based in Munich, is a medium-sized German company in the software industry that has specialized in developing and marketing PC and browser games. Travian Games also acts as an international publisher for selected game titles. Since 2017, the largest company in the video game industry in Bavaria has been a member of the BIU – Bundesverband Interaktive Unterhaltungssoftware. Moreover, Lars Janssen, CEO of Travian Games, has been serving as a board member of Game – the Association of the German Games Industry since 2018.

Litecoin is a decentralized peer-to-peer cryptocurrency and open-source software project released under the MIT/X11 license. Inspired by Bitcoin, Litecoin was among the earliest altcoins, starting in October 2011. In technical details, the Litecoin main chain shares a slightly modified Bitcoin codebase. The practical effects of those codebase differences are lower transaction fees, faster transaction confirmations, and faster mining difficulty retargeting. Due to its underlying similarities to Bitcoin, Litecoin has historically been referred to as the "silver to Bitcoin's gold." In 2022, Litecoin added optional privacy features via soft fork through the MWEB upgrade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mimimi Games</span> German video game developer

Mimimi Games GmbH was a German video game developer based in Munich that specialised in creating strategy and tactical games. It was founded in January 2011 by Dominik Abé and Johannes Roth, who had previously developed Grounded (2009) while studying video game design. Notable games developed by the studio include The Last Tinker: City of Colors (2014), Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun (2016), Desperados III (2020), and Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew (2023). By November 2021, Mimimi Games employed 38 people. On 29 August 2023, the studio announced that it would be closing down.

The D.I.C.E. Award for Role-Playing Game of the Year is an award presented annually by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences during the D.I.C.E. Awards. "This award honors a title, single-player or multi-player, where an individual assumes the role of one or more characters and develops those characters in terms of abilities, statistics, and/or traits as the game progresses. Gameplay involves exploring, acquiring resources, solving puzzles, and interacting with player or non-player characters in the persistent world. Through the player's actions, his/her virtual characters' statistics or traits demonstrably evolve throughout the game". All active creative/technical, business, and affiliate members of the Academy are qualified to vote for this category. The award initially had separate awards for console games and computer games at the 1st Annual Interactive Achievement Awards in 1998, with the first winners being Final Fantasy VII for console and Dungeon Keeper for computer. Throughout the history of this category, there have been numerous mergers and changes for role-playing related games. The current version was established at the 21st Annual D.I.C.E. Awards in 2018, which was awarded to Nier: Automata.

Astellia was a massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by Korean Studio 8.

<i>Ember Sword</i> Upcoming MMORPG

Ember Sword is an upcoming massively multiplayer online role-playing sandbox blockchain game developed and published by Bright Star Studios for Windows and macOS. Presented from a three-dimensional isometric perspective, Ember Sword players will battle against each other or non-player characters, enhancing their character's abilities by equipping different weapons and armor. Players will be able to trade with each other for resources or loot them from slain foes. The game will integrate the Ethereum blockchain, which will allow for players to use non-fungible tokens to acquire items.

References

  1. Fröhlich, Petra (15 August 2024). "Die größten Games-Studios in Deutschland 2024" [The largest game studios in Germany in 2024]. GamesWirtschaft (in German). Archived from the original on 15 August 2024. Retrieved 15 August 2024.
  2. Gameswirtschaft (2021-06-08). "CipSoft feiert 20. Geburtstag". GamesWirtschaft.de (in German). Retrieved 2023-05-01.
  3. Fröhlich, Petra (8 June 2021). "CipSoft feiert 20. Geburtstag" [CipSoft celebrates 20th birthday]. GamesWirtschaft (in German). Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  4. Tibia among the first role playing games in the world
  5. "8 Best Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPG) For Linux". junauza.com. May 7, 2010. Retrieved 2024-04-30.
  6. "article about TibiaME as the first role playing game for mobile phones". Archived from the original on 2012-03-21. Retrieved 2011-03-23.
  7. "presskit of CipSoft". 2011. Archived from the original on 2011-03-12.
  8. "CipSoft - Panzer League". Archived from the original on September 21, 2018.
  9. "Panzer League will be discontinued at the end of October". CipSoft. October 6, 2020. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
  10. "Release LiteBringer". CipSoft. September 15, 2020. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
  11. "The development of LiteBringer has been discontinued". CipSoft. March 23, 2022. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
  12. "Almost 28 years later, CipSoft announces Persist Online". CipSoft. 3 June 2024. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
  13. "Persist Online Announce Trailer". YouTube. Retrieved 27 June 2024.