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From today on, the team, including the three managing directors of Funatics Software GmbH, reinforce the Dusseldorf studio of online game developer InnoGames. Headquartered in Oberhausen, Germany, Funatics is known in the industry for its games Culture and Valhalla Hills.
Funatics’ founder Thomas Friedmann will join the management at InnoGames as new Studio Director in Dusseldorf. There, he will be responsible for the development of several mobile titles. Friedmann takes over the position from Dennis Rohlfing who established and initiated the Dusseldorf team. On his end, Rohlfing will continue his role as Studio Director in Hamburg, now able to fully concentrate on his tasks in the company´s headquarters. The remaining Funatics founders will also join InnoGames, with Thomas Häuser as Game Head and Thorsten Kneisel as Team Lead Art. During the upcoming months, the Funcatics staff will integrate into various departments within InnoGames.
“We welcome the Funatics team at InnoGames and look forward to the cooperation. Funactics is one of the most experienced and renowned developers of strategy and simulation games in Germany. I have known Thomas Friedmann through his activities in the industry for over ten years and respect him very much”, says InnoGames COO Michael Zillmer.
Thomas Friedmann is looking forward to his new job in Dusseldorf: “InnoGames has a very good reputation in the industry thanks to its stable and healthy growth. Of course, it is difficult to abandon Funatics, but we confidently opted to move to InnoGames because they understand exactly how to develop successful free-to-play games. InnoGames combines creative game design with effective monetization and always has long-term entertainment for players in mind.”
“With about 40 employees, the Dusseldorf studio is a cornerstone of our mobile strategy. The Funatics team knows how to work in a cross-functional way; harvesting the power of small teams just like us. Thus, they fit perfectly into our studio strategy based on scalable and controlled growth on diverse gaming platforms”, says InnoGames’ CPO Armin Busen.
The studio structure divides all InnoGames games into three studios at the company’s Hamburg headquarters, and one studio based in Dusseldorf. Within each studio, established cross-platform titles such as Forge of Empires will work alongside new projects of various genres, and at all stages of production.
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