Nordic Games Saves JoWood From Insolvency With Acquisition

Nordic Games Publishing has acquired fellow Austrian game publisher JoWood, acquiring a number of its brands, back catalog and "selected subsidiaries" in the process. The company says that it will re-launch both JoWood and one of its subsidiaries, The Adventure Company, as new publishing labels under the Nordic Games GmbH umbrella. Nordic Games GmbH was founded in Vienna just this year, presumably to handle these newly acquired assets. Its publishing plans include re-launching titles in JoWood's back catalog, as well as developing new titles using its stable of IPs, the company said. Specifically, Nordic mentioned Spellforce, Painkiller, Arcania, The Guild, Panzer Elite, Legend of Kay, The Nations, Safecracker and Neighbors From Hell, "amongst others," as brands the company would focus on. "This new venture will be a fresh start, and we will be introducing new systems, procedures and business ethics to ensure the company goes from strength to strength," said Nordic Games GmbH CEO Lars Wingefors in a statement. While the company did say that it had acquired assets from the JoWood-owned DreamCatcher Interactive, it did not specify any plans to continue using the label. The company did not respond to requests for clarification at press time. JoWood declared insolvency in January of this year after being unable to find enough funding to keep its doors open. After initial negotiations with potential investors failed, the company was eventually acquired by a number of Swedish investors led by Nordic Games CEO Wingefors. Other companies within the Nordic Games Holding family include Scandinavian game distributor Game Outlet, QA outsourcing company Quantic Lab, and We Sing and We Dance publisher Wired Productions.