Perception announced a few days ago that it has begun legal proceedings in a Sydney, Australia court against Austrian publisher JoWooD, seeking compensation for damages in excess of EUR 8,000,000 ($11,878,759) it received during 2005’s very public breakdown in relations between the two companies over the mis-managed development of Stargate SG1. Though the license for the Stargate title has defaulted and reverted back to its original owners, both companies are still going at it apparently, with no end in sight. Interesting is that this time around the proceedings are taking place in Australia, it doesn’t look good for JoWooD, with Perception holding the home-field advantage. Can JoWooD survive losing this suit? My money is on no.

Press release after the jump..

Read more of ”Perception sues JoWooD over Stargate fiasco, claims damages in excess of 8 Million Euro“

JoWooD, Austria’s once mighty publishing label, has announced their ongoing negotiations with new developers for the creation of Gothic 4, JoWooD’s lifeline product. It appears that an unknown split has developed between previous developers Piranha Bytes / Pluto 13 and JoWooD, not a surprising occurrence with developers in a relationship with JoWooD. Gothic 4 will be developed by an unknown developer for both console (I’d assume Xbox 360) and PC release, though I find it difficult that a suitable developer could be found to carry the brightly burning torch that Piranha Bytes will be handing off.

Official statement from JoWooD by their outstanding marketing department:

JoWooD confirms having been in promising negotiatons for the development of Gothic 4 on PC and console with various prospective development studios. Releasing Gothic 4 on current-gen console is the next logical step for the Publisher’s strategy. JoWooD puts most of its focus on high quality standards as well as reacting to the communities comments and requests for the sequel to its flag-ship title.

Since Pluto 13 and JoWooD have not come to terms regarding the development of Gothic 4, the collaboration has come to an end. However, JoWooD will continue supporting the released and coming Gothic titles.

Read more: May 23rd in Austria, Gothic 4, JoWooD | Email this | 1 comment

I swear this isn’t a JoWooD financed blog (they couldn’t afford me, har har!), but I just had to throw this one out. In a surprise twist of credibility which can no doubt be attributed to JoWooD’s recent acquisition of Dreamcatcher, JoWooD and Dreamcatcher’s The Adventure Company, have announced they will be partnerting with Telltale Games in publishing Sam and Max Season 1 worldwide. Telltale has been pushing episodic content for awhile now and have only recently been distributed online directly through Telltale’s store and through Gametap. Good for Telltale? We’ll have to see how that goes, I’d have expected a larger partner for an IP with as much credibility behind it as Sam and Max, and JoWooD doesn’t quite have a reputation for developer friendliness, so by means of association I assume that aura spreads off onto The Adventure Company / Dreamcatcher.

Read more: Sam and Max Episodes published by The Adventure Company / JoWooD

Also known as Spaceforce2, Rogue Universe is a “groundbreaking” space-based RPG sim, featuring a non-linear storyline of piracy and blasting, allowing players to choose their path towards becoming the best known pilot in space. Whether it can match the beauty of EVE-Online remains to be seen, but I have to say, it’s always great to see a new space title coming out, since the sci-fi genre just doesn’t seem to get enough respect. Spaceforce: Rogue Universe is slated for release in the 3rd quarter of 2007.

Read more: Spaceforce: Rogue Universe

Proving yet again that JoWooD is at it’s core a feline and it has a handful of lives left, the Austrian-based publisher has announced that Gothic 3 has sold over 500,000 copies worldwide. In another in a long line of uncomfortably-written press releases, execs from JoWooD state they are pleased with the Gothic 3’s status as a “long-seller” and that their “expectations are still outnumbered”, whatever that means. What this means for the Gothic series is you can expect lots of expansions and sequels for many years to come, if JoWooD is able to keep things together for another 3 years.

Read more: Gothic 3 sells over half a mil

Austrian publisher JoWooD recently announced their relaunch and the announcement of the “JoWooD Group”, which will cover all of the brands currently owned by JoWooD, such as G-Stars, SilverLine Software, JoWooD and Dreamcatcher. The relaunch started with an updated web presence for the company as well as a very sterile rehash of their logo and identity, which has stuck with them for years.

“With the re-launch of our web appearance, we are able to show the structure of the JoWooD Productions Software AG clear and transparent,” explains Johannes Natterer, Senior Marketing Manager JoWooD Productions. “All of our target groups, gamers, investors and shareholders get their own information platform. The logo re-launch is the visualization and external communication of our brand reorientation.”

Read more: JoWooD

JoWooD, 4Head and Deep Silver today announced the upcoming add-on for popular European life simulator The Guild. Titled “Pirates of the European Seas”, the upcoming add on bring players to Northern Europe, sailing the seas as a mid-evil pirate or tradesman. Including 3 new maps, 10 new hours of game play, and updated buildings, ships and professions, the The Guild 2 - Pirates of the European Seas is scheduled for release in the second quarter of 2007, which means sometime by Spring 2007, a fact that would be nice to know if only JoWooD’s marketing department had any sense of writing an engaging and clear press release which doesn’t sound like it was written for a pharmaceutical company.

Read more: JoWooD announces The Guild 2 - Pirates of the European Seas

During the third and fourth quarters of 2005, Austrian games developer / publisher, JoWooD, was having another in a long line of rough periods. A surprise and very public split over the Stargate license with developer Perception resulted in a petition to have JoWooD declared bankrupt (which was rejected) and an eventually successful restructuring plan carrying over from 2004 was dampening their Q3 financials, resulting in the reduction in staff and closure of several internal development studios, including JoWooD Vienna (Neighbors from Hell).

Around this time, Q3/Q4 2005, it appears JoWooD entered into negotiations with Silverstar Holdings, a publicly-traded holdings firm who focuses on acquiring controlling interest in strategic companies within the electronic entertainment industry (counting Empire Interactive and Strategy First among their brands). Considering Silverstar’s stated corporate strategy, a full or partial acquisition of JoWooD appeared to be in the cards, only, something seems to have soured along the way, as JoWooD announced a European co-publishing agreement for Gothic III and other titles with Koch Media, a round of successful debt restructuring and a sudden resurgence in stock price. JoWooD seemed to be out of the woods yet again, seemingly thanks to the help of Koch Media, though details of the agreement(s) between them are unknown at this time.

Fast forward to January 2006, where Silverstar Holdings announced via SEC filings that it has filed suit against JoWooD Software Productions AG for breach of contract and seeks restitution for damages in the amount of $850,000 for expenses incurred in connection with the unsuccessful acquisition of JoWooD shares during their discussions the previous year. JoWooD was unsuccessful in having the case dismissed and the hearing appears to have been delayed until this week according to Silverstar Holding’s CEO Clive Kabatznik who states, “We had a hearing in Vienna on Tuesday and have a final hearing scheduled for mid March. We will see what the Austrian legal system will decide.”

More to follow as information becomes available.

Related: JoWooD | Silverstar Holdings | Koch Media

Austrian publisher JoWooD has announced the sequel to their ‘eh’ selling tactical shooter, 2 years after shutting down original Soldner developer Wings Simulations. Though it was said that Soldner 2 would never make it to market, JoWooD seems to have shifted their position, sourcing the continued development to Germany’s gEasy Team Development, a remarkably odd choice considering there are quite a few talented development studios in search of work. But this is JoWooD, so, no surprises as usual. Soldner 2 is slotted for release in late 2007.

Read more: JoWooD announces Soldner 2 | gEasy Team

JoWooD has announced a new distribution agreement with Eidos Interactive, which we all know is one of the world’s leading developers/publishers. The agreement is for Eidos to cover the distribution of JoWooD’s titles in Southern Europe, territories which include Spain, France and Benelux., starting with the upcoming action-FPS “The Mark”.

Read more: JoWood | Eidos Interactive