JoWooD - Nordic Games buys Jowood

Gamebanshee has this news, so I'll quote a bit from the press release. Head over to Gamebanshee for the full press release.

Nordic Games Holding AB Group acquires JoWooD & The Adventure Company
Labels to be re-launched under the Nordic Games GmbH brand

Tuesday August 16th, 2011 – Vienna, Austria:

Nordic Games GmbH, part of the Nordic Games Holding AB group announces the acquisition of the JoWooD and The Adventure Company brands, products and selected subsidiaries. JoWooD and The Adventure Company will become publishing labels within Nordic Games GmbH, with the plan to re-launch the huge back catalogue of games and invest in developing the wholly owned IP’s and franchises, including SpellForce, Painkiller, ArcaniA, The Guild, Panzer Elite, Legend of Kay, The Nations, Safecracker, and Neighbours From Hell, amongst others.

Head over to Gamebanshee for the full press release.

More information.

We've posted early newsbit on this a couple of weeks ago, with much less details. It's worth noting that Nordic Games did not acquire JoWooD. They bought the brands, but not the company.

I hope they stuff more bear into Gothic. Put some meat on it's bones.

It's like buying a halfspoiled milk from a clinically dead cow and hope to sell it.

Gothic ?

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Don't Piranha Bytes own the rights to the Gothic series?

Exactly.

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Well this is good news then, Spellforce 2 is one of my all time favorites.
Maybe I will still get a chance to play Faith in Destiny yet.

So PB owns Gothic but these guys own Arcania? How is that going to work exactly?

Well, not much to get excited about. Old wine on new bottles and most of the titles are available from various digital vendors.
Edit: they do mention further developing the franchises but I'm not holding my breath…

So PB owns Gothic but these guys own Arcania? How is that going to work exactly?

That's my question too.
And also, anyone knows what happened to Fall of Setarrif? Is it cancelled or not?

The newsbit made it sound like they bought the Jowood label, I wouldn't put a jowood label on anything even if I was paid to do so.

Originally Posted by Frozen Fireball
That's my question too.
And also, anyone knows what happened to Fall of Setarrif? Is it cancelled or not?

It went into replication late last year and is still sitting in a warehouse until the legal issues are resolved. Rumors say the BVT Fund wasn't amused to find out a stand-alone add-on to a game they've financed was about to come out without their knowledge, even more so when they've discovered it looked remarkably similar to Arcania. Furthermore subtle hints in forum posts indicate that PB isn't convinced there was still an add-on left in the contract between the two companies.

The former JoWooD CM posted that everything has been resolved and an announcent should be awaited for the GC. But he has left the company since then, like everybody else, so things might have changed.

I hope this means Arcania: Gothic 4 - Fall of Setarrif will see the light. While Gothic 4 has some minuses, I enjoyed the game and really looking forward to playing the expansion.

Originally Posted by aries100
Don't Piranha Bytes own the rights to the Gothic series?

Jowood just owns the right for Gothic 4. So they can make as many expansions as they like. But then license goes to PB for Gothic 5. Sound ridiculous, but this is the case.

Originally Posted by Gokyabgu
I hope this means Arcania: Gothic 4 - Fall of Setarrif will see the light. While Gothic 4 has some minuses, I enjoyed the game and really looking forward to playing the expansion.

I enjoyed 10 or so hours of Arcania hack n' slashing but I'm not sure it really needs an expansion. I mean… I didn't even finish it obviously. It's an underrated game though in the sense that as a pure whacky-whacky fantasy game it's not bad. Shame it had the Gothic 4 subtitle.

One wonders if Nordic are not the same people than Jowood just under a new name? If the same folks has it in their hands, nothing would change.

I am hoping for Spellforce 2 Faith In Desitny to be released. I had heard that it was near completion when JoWood went bankrupt, so it might not take too much more work. The only thing that would concern me is that Nordic has only acquired the brands. I would guess it would be hard to pick up another's code and complete it or fix bugs, and since it is JoWood we are talking about, there will be plenty of bugs from my experience.

They could contract the same developer to finish the game.

Originally Posted by DoctorNarrative
I enjoyed 10 or so hours of Arcania hack n' slashing but I'm not sure it really needs an expansion. I mean… I didn't even finish it obviously. It's an underrated game though in the sense that as a pure whacky-whacky fantasy game it's not bad. Shame it had the Gothic 4 subtitle.

If a game has a certain title in front of the number the expectations set according to our past experience with the given title. We have lived that in the past with Ultima 9, Elder Scrolls 4, recently with Dragon Age 2, and also with this game.

Main plus of the game for me was the combat. I've played the game with highest difficulty and enjoyed much, especially loved the dynamic pass between melee, ranged and magic combat. Apart from that, diverse locations and quality graphics also a plus. But, it has certain minuses, dialogues are poorly written and serve as excuses for giving quests, siimplified leveling system not give much option for character customization. Also, invisible walls and game's structure that divided into chapters are shame to previous titles. But after playing two corridor RPGs (Dragon Age 2, Dungeon Siege 3) it doesn't seems that bad. It still left some room for exploration.