NEWS: Gameforge Signs Development Deal with Sparkypants Studios
GAMEFORGE EXPANDS NORTH AMERICAN PUBLISHING PRESENCE WITH DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT WITH SPARKYPANTS STUDIOS
Karlsruhe, GERMANY – Dec 11, 2015 – Gameforge, a leading provider of free-to-play and MMO games for European regions, has signed a publishing agreement with North America-based developer, Sparkypants Studios. The agreement, which includes an unannounced game, is the next step in the Company’s strategy to strengthen and grow the existing product portfolio and expand publishing reach in to North America.
Founded in 2011, Sparkypants Studios re-unites veterans of strategy gaming, including Jason Coleman, CTO and co-founder of Big Huge Games, Art Director and fellow Big Huge Games co-founder Dave Inscore, Design Director Stuart Jeff and Technical Director Pranas Pauliukonis. Members of the Sparkypants team have, in the past helped create award-winning titles like Rise of Nations and Rise of Legends at the original Big Huge Games, as well as games such as Civilization II, Alpha Centauri and Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.
Tim Campbell, Gameforge
More information on the unannounced game will be revealed at a later date.
“The experience and passion that we got in touch with at Sparkypants convinced us that we just found the right partner to expand our publishing activities in the US market,” said Timothy Campbell, Senior Vice President at Gameforge. “After signing the US-license for the powerful digital TCG HEX: Shards of Fate, and bringing more experience within this market to our company by our latest recruitment efforts, we felt a cooperation with a developer based in the North American market was the next logical step for us.”
Jason Coleman, Sparkypants Studios
Jason Coleman, CEO of Sparkypants adds: “At Sparkypants, we were fortunate to have a great team developing an incredibly fun game. What we needed was a publisher who shared our vision and had experience that meshed with our own. We knew right away that Gameforge would be an ideal partner. Press releases often say these things, but it’s hard to overstate how excited we are about this relationship. Beyond the experience that Gameforge brings to areas related to building and running online strategy games, they share Sparkypants’ goal of developing long-term hobbies for players all over the world. Together, we will build a fantastic game experience.”
About Gameforge
With a portfolio of over 20 titles and over 450 million registered players, Gameforge is one of the leading providers of Massively Multiplayer Online games (MMOs) in the western hemisphere. Based in Karlsruhe, the internationally active group of companies offer their games in more than 75 countries. Their portfolio contains client-based games such as the award-winning AION Free-to-Play, TERA: Fate of Arun, Metin2 (Europe’s most successful MMO), HEX: Shards of Fate, Orcs Must Die! Unchained, Sigils: Battle for Raios, Runes of Magic, Elsword and Wizard101. They also offer browser-based online games such as the classics OGame and Ikariam, plus a growing selection of mobile games. The company has around 450 employees. You can find more information at http://corporate.gameforge.com.
About Sparkypants
Sparkypants Studios is an AAA game studio located in beautiful Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 2011, Sparkypants is comprised of veterans of award-winning game franchises such as Rise of Nations, Civilization II, Alpha Centauri, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning and Catan. Sparkypants has always believed that collaboration and iteration are pillars of great game development. Passionate about the games it makes (and plays), Sparkypants is on a mission to redefine the multiplayer strategy space and have fun doing it.
