Kalypso Media
 | |
| Company type | Games publisher & developer |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | 2006 |
| Headquarters | Worms, Germany |
Key people | Simon Hellwig Stefan Marcinek |
Number of employees | 80[1] (2020) |
| Website | www.kalypsomedia.com |
The Kalypso Media Group is a German developer and publisher of video games. Founded in 2006 in Worms, Germany, Kalypso has grown and now includes four additional sister companies in Germany, England and the United States. It further owns three internal game studios, Realmforge Studios, Gaming Minds Studios, and Claymore Game Studios, while also working with third party studios. Kalypso is best known as the publishers of the Tropico, Sudden Strike, Dungeons and Railway Empire series in addition to others.
History
The Kalypso Media Group was founded in the summer of 2006 by Simon Hellwig and Stefan Marcinek in Worms. Just one year later, a branch was opened in Bracknell, UK, and in June 2009, another in Ridgewood, USA. 2009, the group opened its second UK outlet in the form of Kalypso Media Digital Ltd. in Leicester. Kalypso Media Digital Ltd. is responsible for the online marketing of its own games and the products of other providers.
In November 2008, it founded the subsidiary Realmforge Studios GmbH, based in Munich, and integrated Boxed Dreams, developer of Ceville.[2] At the same time, it acquired the rights to the Tropico series from Take Two Interactive, with the first Kalypso-published game in the series being Tropico 3.[2]
UK-based Ascaron filed for bankruptcy in April 2009. Kalypso was able to acquire rights to its series DarkStar One, Patrician and Port Royale in June 2009, though left other assets like the Sacred series with Ascaron.[3] Kalypso also acquired fifteen former Ascaron employees to establish its second internal studio, Gaming Minds Studio, in Gütersloh, of which they held 60% ownership, the other 40% owned by Daniel Dumont and Kay Struve, former Ascaron employees that were named to run Gaming Minds.[4][5]
In July 2010, Berlin manufacturer The Games Company (TGC) filed for bankruptcy and in September, Kalypso took over, acquiring several brands owned by the insolvent company. Kalypso also brought in TGC's internal studio Silver Style Entertainment and created a third internal studio, Noumena Studios in Berlin.[6] The studio was rebranded as Skilltree Studios in 2014, but in March 2016, Kalypso opted to close the studio.[7]
Kalypso founded a sister company for mobile gaming development, Kalypso Media Mobile, in April 2014 in Berlin.[8] The studio’s first mobile and tablet games were released a year later in May 2015.
In January 2016, Stefan Marcinek sold his shares in the Kalypso and left the company, leaving Simon Hellwig as sole shareholder.[9]
Kalypso acquired the Commandos, Imperial Glory, and Praetorians series from Pyro Studios in July 2018. Pyro, whose work has been more focused on supporting Ilion Animation Studios, welcomed Kalypso's opportunity to bring their titles back to the market.[10] Kalypso later announced high-definition remasters of Commandos 2 and Praetorians for early 2020,[11] and the formation of its third internal studio, Claymore Game Studios, to develop new games in the Commandos series.[12] The company fully acquired the remaining ownership of Gaming Minds from Dumont and Struve in June 2020, with Dumont and Struve still remaining as the studio leads.[5]
Subsidiaries
Kalypso maintains several of its own development studios:
- Realmforge Studios was established in Munich in November 2008 incorporating the team of Boxed Dreams who had developed Ceville.[2] Realmforge oversees development on the series Dungeons and (since December 2020) Tropico
- Gaming Minds Studios was established in Gütersloh in June 2009 following the bankruptcy of Ascaron, incorporating fifteen Ascaron developers into the team.[4] Gaming Minds develops games in the Railway Empire and Port Royale series.
- Claymore Game Studios was established in Darmstadt in December 2019, and is working on a new game in the Commandos series.[13][12]
Notable games published
References
- ^ Fröhlich, Petra (10 January 2020). "Die größten Spiele-Entwickler in Deutschland 2020" [The largest game developers in Germany 2020]. GamesWirtschaft (in German).
- ^ a b c Jenkins, David (8 November 2008). "Kalypso Forms Realmforge Studios, Acquires Tropico 3". Gamasutra. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
- ^ Jenkins, David (4 July 2009). "Kalypso grabs Ascaron assets, founds new studio". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
- ^ a b Cifaldi, Frank (19 June 2009). "Ascaron vets form new Gaming Minds studio". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
- ^ a b Kerr, Chris (9 June 2020). "Kalypso Media has acquired Port Royale developer Gaming Mind Studios". Gamasutra. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
- ^ Graff, Kris (22 September 2010). "Kalypso Acquires Action RPG Demonicon, Other IP From The Games Company". Gamasutra. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
- ^ Günther, Von Yves (30 March 2016). "Skilltree Studios - Kalypso schließt Berliner Studio". Gameswelt.de (in German). Retrieved 2 April 2020.
- ^ Handrahan, Matthew (3 April 2014). "Kalypso Media launches mobile arm". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
- ^ "Hellwig buys out Marcinek in Kalypso MBO". MCV/Develop. 5 January 2016. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
- ^ Donnelly, Joe (12 July 2018). "Commandos acquired by Kalypso Media, plans 'completely new games'". PC Gamer. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
- ^ Wales, Matt (13 November 2019). "Commandos 2, Praetorians HD remasters get January release date on PC". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
- ^ a b Handrahan, Matthew (2 April 2020). "Third internal Kalypso studio revealed as Claymore Game Studios". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
- ^ Blake, Vikki (11 December 2019). "Kalypso Media opens new studio in Frankfurt". MCV/Develop. Retrieved 2 April 2020.