Today at pcgames.de: Stefan Berger, Business Development Manager at Jowood.
PC Games: Stefan, you've been working at Jowood for 10 years now, are still active in the business, and know the company like few others do. In short: How's it going for you now? What are you working on?
Stefan Berger: I'm dealing with several business transactions at the moment. As you must surely know by now, the company's days are over, and its assets are being liquidated.
PC Games: In your opinion, what was it that drove Jowood to its end?
Stefan Berger: I'd say it's the bad sells, which have come as the result of bad product quality. It's not much of a secret that our products didn't meet high standards. If the buyers are content, and the demand for a sequel high, all is well. Sadly, this wasn't always the case for our games. That was our fault, first of all, and there can be no sugarcoating it.
PC Games: The conflict with developers, studios and publishers was inevitably carried out in the eyes of the public. Do you agree that Jowood cared more about itself than developing games?
Stefan Berger: No, even if that's how things turned out to be. We spread ourselves too thin, tried all that was available to us, including distribution, publishing, developing, etc, which really can't be said of many companies. One could see our efforts as having bitten more than we could chew.
PC Games: You were responsible for business development, and for deciding who gets to develop which game. Which choices would you repeat today, and which of them do you regret?
Stefan Berger: In my ten-year stint at Jowood -- which I don't want to miss one bit -- I worked in almost all areas. It could be said that I strove for too much -- in game design, marketing, developing or anywhere else, but we lacked focus to really pinpoint those "must have" areas. We were a small team that aimed too high. "If only I could have done this, or that." There's no other option but to learn from our mistakes and hope not to repeat them in the future.
PC Games: At what time were you most fond of your work at Jowood?
Stefan Berger: I've always been more or less happy. I've been through both good and bad times with Jowood, but there's one specific thing I look back on with joy: The solidarity of the company. I got to know a lot of people, whom I really enjoyed conversing with at various events. Those were good days, despite all our problems, and we always tried to save our own necks. It made us stick together.
PC Games: The insolvency administrator intends to sell off the whole company by the end of June. What of your games? What will happen to them?
Stefan Berger: Our games will be transferred to the new owner, and they will be republished, and, hopefully, sold again. This doesn't apply only to roleplaying games such as Gothic, The Guild and Spellforce, but also to more classic games like Die Völker, Aquanox and so on. There are still possibilities to polish and build on certain game brands.
PC Games: What about games you've already announced, such as
Faith in Destiny and
Fall of Setarrif?
Stefan Berger: That's to be decided by the new owner.
PC Games: The rights for Gothic will soon return to Piranha Bytes. Can you confirm this for us?
Stefan Berger: There are valid agreements which state that Gothic 4 and its addon can be republished within a specific period of time. This agreement will be respected even by the new partner, if need be. Gothic 5 and further titles will be the property of Piranha Bytes; this was agreed upon many years ago.
PC Games: Jowood was criticised severely by fans, and rightly so. Were there times when you felt you didn't deserve this?
Stefan Berger: No. I believe we've made enough mistakes so as to merit heavy criticism. But in all fairness... Yeah, we've misstepped a lot, and in my opinion, the biggest blunder was wanting to do too much. We always endeavoured to develop the proverbial golden-egg-laying goose. 10 USPs (
Unique Selling Proposition), 2000 features, and so on. This was often too much for the developers, confident though they were. The bigger the game is, the higher the error count, and the harder it is to find a market for it. We've had to learn this through the years. It's important to stay focused and develop clear strategies for each area. I find it a pity that people always talked about downsides and sought to blame a single party. There are always two or more parties working together in a business connection, and that's where the "if only I could do this and that" argument arises, which I don't want to discuss in public. It's a matter of internal discussion between the partners.
PC Games: What plans have you got once your ties to Jowood are cut?
Stefan Berger: We'll just have to wait and see. Time will tell, and I'm looking forward to it.