Yager Development

Last updated

Yager Development GmbH
Company type Private
Industry Video games
Founded1999;25 years ago (1999)
Founders
  • Uwe Beneke
  • Roman Golka
  • Philipp Schellbach
  • Timo Ullmann
  • Mathias Wiese
Headquarters,
Germany
Key people
Timo Ullmann (managing director)
Number of employees
145 [1]  (2023)
Parent Tencent (2021–present)
Website yager.de

Yager Development GmbH is a German video game developer based in Berlin.

Contents

History

Yager was founded in 1999 by Uwe Beneke, Roman Golka, Philipp Schellbach, Timo Ullmann and Mathias Wiese. [2] [3] They are best known for developing Yager (2003) and Spec Ops: The Line (2012). The studio also worked with Deep Silver on Dead Island 2 , until Deep Silver cut ties with Yager in July 2015, three years into the game's development. [4] Subsequently, Yager Productions GmbH, the Yager Development sub-studio set up for the development of Dead Island 2, filed for insolvency later that month. [5] The Cycle , described as a "competitive quest game", launched as an early access game in 2019 and was fully released in 2022, but was sunset in 2023. [6] [7] As of January 2024, the company employs about 130 people. [8]

The company received an investment from Tencent Holdings in February 2020, giving Tencent a minority ownership. According to Yager, Tencent's investment was to help with their development and publication of their current and future games. [9] Tencent increased its stake in Yager acquiring a majority stake in June 2021. [10]

Games developed

YearTitlePlatform(s)Publisher(s)
2003 Yager Microsoft Windows, Xbox DreamCatcher Interactive, Kemco, THQ
2012 Spec Ops: The Line Linux, macOS, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 2K Games
2017 Dreadnought Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 Grey Box
2022 The Cycle: Frontier Microsoft WindowsYager Development

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crytek</span> German video game and software company

Crytek GmbH is a German video game developer and software developer based in Frankfurt. Founded by the Yerli brothers in Coburg in 1999 and moved to Frankfurt in 2006, Crytek operates additional studios in Kyiv, Ukraine and Istanbul, Turkey. Its former studios included Crytek Black Sea in Sofia, Bulgaria, Crytek UK in Nottingham, and Crytek USA in Austin, Texas. Crytek is best known for developing the first instalment of the Far Cry series, the Crysis series, and the open world nature of their games which showcase the company's CryEngine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Techland</span> Polish video game developer and publisher

Techland S.A. is a Polish video game developer and publisher founded in 1991 by Paweł Marchewka. It developed Call of Juarez (2006) and its prequel Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood (2009), as well as Dead Island (2011) and Dying Light (2015). The company is headquartered in Wrocław in western Poland and has offices in Wrocław and Warsaw.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deep Silver</span> Austrian video game publisher

Deep Silver is an Austrian video game publisher and a division of Plaion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rockstar Vienna</span> Austrian video game developer

Rockstar Productions GmbH was an Austrian video game developer and a studio of Rockstar Games based in Vienna. Peter Baustädter, Niki Laber, and Hannes Seifert founded the studio as Neo Software in January 1993 when they neared the completion of Whale's Voyage. The game led Neo Software to early success, as did 1994's The Clue!, which sold over a million copies, and enabled the company to relocate from Seifert's house in Hirtenberg to Vienna. After Neo Software's Alien Nations sold more than a million copies in 1999, Computec Media acquired a majority stake in the company, seeking it to produce online games. It then sold the studio and several other businesses to Gameplay.com in February 2000, which sold Neo Software to Take-Two Interactive in January 2001 in exchange for a Take-Two subsidiary Gameplay.com had obtained earlier.

Germany has the second-largest video games player base in Europe, with 44.3 million gamers in 2018, after Russia. Consumers in Germany spent €5.87 billion on video games over the course of 2021, a 3 percent year-on-year increase from 2020. The video game market in Germany grew by 6 percent to €6.2 billion in 2019.

Nexon Co., Ltd. is a South Korean video game publisher. It publishes titles including MapleStory, Dungeon & Fighter, Sudden Attack, and KartRider. Headquartered in Japan, the company has offices in South Korea, the United States, Taiwan and Thailand.

Spec Ops is a series of tactical shooter video games. The first two games were developed by Zombie Studios, while Runecraft assisted development on the next three games, and the sixth game in 2002 developed by Big Grub.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tencent</span> Chinese conglomerate holding company

Tencent Holdings Ltd. is a Chinese multinational technology conglomerate and holding company headquartered in Shenzhen. It is one of the highest grossing multimedia companies in the world based on revenue. It is also the world's largest company in the video game industry based on its equity investments, with Tencent Games being the subdivision of Tencent Interactive Entertainment Group (IEG) focused on publishing of games.

Plaion is a German-Austrian media company headquartered in Höfen, Tyrol, Austria, with an operating subsidiary based in Planegg, Germany. The company was founded in 1994 by Franz Koch and Klemens Kundratitz. The company operates video game publishing labels Deep Silver, Prime Matter and Ravenscourt, the video game developers Warhorse Studios and Milestone, as well as a film distribution arm, Plaion Pictures. Koch Media's parent company, Koch Media Holding, was acquired by Swedish holding company Embracer Group in February 2018.

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

Bigpoint GmbH is a German video game developer. The company develops stand-alone browser-based games as well as social network games. Bigpoint has over 200 million registered users. Bigpoint.com states that 337,104,419 players are registered in the top right corner, as of 10/10/13. NBCU has featured some of Bigpoint's games on the websites of some of its cable channels.

Robot Entertainment is an American video game developer and publisher based in Plano, Texas. Its founders previously founded Ensemble Studios, which was shut down by Microsoft. Other members of the company founded another studio, Bonfire Studios. Robot Entertainment took over Ensemble's responsibility of maintaining and updating Halo Wars until February 28, 2010, when Microsoft Studios assumed control of the game servers and updates. Also, in January 2011, Microsoft Studios took over updates and servers for Age of Empires III. Robot Entertainment have since released games including Orcs Must Die!, Orcs Must Die! 2, Hero Academy, Echo Prime, Orcs Must Die! Unchained, Hero Academy 2 and ReadySet Heroes.

<i>Spec Ops: The Line</i> 2012 video game

Spec Ops: The Line is a 2012 third-person shooter video game developed by Yager Development and published by 2K. It is the tenth title, as well as a reboot, of the Spec Ops series. In the game, players can hide behind cover, vault over obstacles, and shoot enemies while utilizing a variety of gadgets. Included with the game is an online multiplayer mode, developed separately by Darkside Game Studios, allowing players to engage in both cooperative and competitive gameplay. The player controls Captain Martin Walker, who is sent into a post-catastrophe Dubai with an elite Delta Force team on a recon mission. As the story progresses, Walker's sanity begins to deteriorate as he begins to experience hallucinations and slowly realize the horror of war.

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

Fishlabs GmbH is a German video game developer based in Hamburg. Founded in 2004 by Michael Schade and Christian Lohr, the studio is best known for its Galaxy on Fire series. Following a brief bankruptcy proceeding, Fishlabs was acquired by Koch Media and reorganised as part of their game publishing label Deep Silver.

<i>Dead Island 2</i> 2023 video game

Dead Island 2 is a 2023 action role-playing game developed by Dambuster Studios and published by Deep Silver. It is a sequel to the 2011 video game Dead Island and the third major installment in the Dead Island series. Set about 15 years after the events of Dead Island and Dead Island: Riptide, Dead Island 2 differentiates itself from its predecessors by taking place in the city of Los Angeles, which has been quarantined due to a zombie outbreak. The game was released on 21 April 2023, for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

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

Limbic Entertainment GmbH is a German video game developer based in Langen. The studio was founded in 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leyou</span> Chinese video game holding company

Leyou Technologies Holdings Limited is a Chinese video game holding company based at Lippo Centre, Admiralty, Hong Kong. Founded in 2010, the company originally dealt with poultry through its subsidiary Fujian Sumpo, which had been founded in 1998. After floating on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in January 2011, poultry-based income started to fall in 2013. It agreed to buy a majority stake in the video game developer Digital Extremes in October 2014, renamed itself Leyou in January 2015, and completed the acquisition later that year. It acquired Splash Damage in July 2016 before divesting its poultry business in August, majority-acquired Radiance Games, and invested in Certain Affinity in 2017, and established Athlon Games in 2018. In December 2020, Leyou was acquired by Tencent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tencent Games</span> Video game publishing division

Tencent Games is the video game publishing subdivision of Tencent Interactive Entertainment, the digital entertainment division of Tencent Holdings. It has five internal studio groups, including TiMi Studio Group. Tencent Games was founded in 2003 to focus on online games. In 2021, it launched its international Level Infinite brand, which is stated to be operated from its Singapore office.

Krafton Inc. is a South Korean video game publisher and holding company based in Bundang-gu, Seongnam. It was created in November 2018 to serve as the parent company for Bluehole, founded by Chang-Byung-gyu in Seoul in March 2007, and its subsidiaries. The company has published several notable video game titles including TERA, PUBG: Battlegrounds, New State Mobile,The Callisto Protocol and Moonbreaker. According to Forbes, Chang has a net worth of $2.9 billion and is one of the seven gaming billionaires in South Korea.

<i>The Cycle: Frontier</i> 2022 video game

The Cycle: Frontier was a 2022 first-person shooter video game developed and published by Yager Development. Yager describes this game as a "competitive quest shooter" and labels it with the cross-genre "PvEvP", a combination of player versus environment and player versus player. The game was released on Windows via early access in August 2019, and was launched in full on June 8, 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sumo Group</span> British video game holding company

Sumo Group Limited is a British video game holding company based in Sheffield. It was formed in December 2017 as the parent company for Sumo Digital and Atomhawk, followed by its initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange later that month. Another of Sumo Group's subsidiaries is Secret Mode, a publisher established in March 2021. After purchasing a minority stake in Sumo Group in November 2019, Tencent wholly acquired the company in January 2022.

References

  1. Fröhlich, Petra (16 January 2023). "Die größten Games-Studios in Deutschland 2023 (Update)" [The largest game studios in Germany in 2023 (update)]. GamesWirtschaft (in German). Archived from the original on 21 January 2023. Retrieved 21 January 2023.
  2. Lindemann, Thomas (22 December 2012). "Porträt der Berliner Games-Entwickler von "Yager Design"". Das Games-Feuilleton (in German).
  3. Gießler, Denis (21 November 2018). "Video Games In East Germany: The Stasi Played Along". Die Zeit.
  4. Futter, Mike (14 July 2015). "[Update] Deep Silver Drops Yager As Developer Of Dead Island 2, Yager Offers Comment". Game Informer .
  5. Hurley, Leon (29 July 2015). "Yager's fine. It's just the Dead Island 2 bit that's shut down". GamesRadar+ .
  6. Senior, Tom (20 March 2019). "The Cycle is a 'competitive quester' coming from Spec Ops studio Yager". PC Gamer .
  7. Dornbush, Jonathon (19 August 2019). "Yager's The Cycle Now Out in Early Access on Epic Games Store". IGN .
  8. "Team". Yager. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
  9. Ivan, Tom (10 February 2020). "Tencent invests in Spec Ops: The Line studio Yager". Video Games Chronicle . Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  10. Notis, Ari (22 June 2021). "Tencent Now Owns Majority Of Spec Ops: The Line Studio". Kotaku . Retrieved 22 June 2021.