The German game developer InnoGames has announced plans to shut down its studio in Dusseldorf, roughly four years after setting up shop in the city. The studio will be fully shut down in December 2018.
The company plans to move development of the Dusseldorf team’s unannounced game to its HQ in Hamburg, a relocation effort that extends to any of the 29 developers employed at the Dusseldorf studio willing to move to Hamburg as well.
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The InnoGames Dusseldorf studio was set up in late 2014 following the success of the studios mobile game Forge of Empires. Now the studio notes that it has been struggling to support the remote branch and is merging the office back into its HQ in hopes of facilitating the “seamless teamwork” its leadership says is crucial to designing, launching, and supporting successful free-to-play titles.
“Great depth and an engaging gameplay can only come to life if you follow this data-driven approach that InnoGames stands for,” said CEO Hendrik Klindworth in a press release. “Our work on a production from Duesseldorf showed that we are struggling to support and empower our colleagues in Duesseldorf to the fullest potential across departments due to the distance between our headquarters and our Duesseldorf office. Accordingly, we decided on adapting the organization and to move the team and the production to Hamburg.”