GolemLabs

GolemLabs Studios Inc
Industry Computer and video game industry
Founded 2000
Headquarters Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada
Products SuperPower
SuperPower 2
Owner

Independent/Privately held[1]

CEO: Jean-René Couture (2014)[2]

GolemLabs Studios Inc is a French-Canadian computer games developer based in the town of Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada[3] and was founded in 2000. According to the founders, "GolemLabs was born out of our desire to never get bored at work. Almost 15 years later, much to the dismay of our spouses and our accountants, the desire is still going strong. And why not? With its mission of producing intelligent and one of a kind video games, the company helps filling the increasing need for novelty and originality in the industry." [3]

The company's first developed title, SuperPower, was published by DreamCatcher Interactive on March 27, 2002. [4] The sequel, SuperPower 2, was published by DreamCatcher Interactive in North America on October 11, 2004 and in the EU on November 19, 2004. [5]

Two different remastered versions of SuperPower 2 were finally released with Nordic Games as publisher: SuperPower 2 Steam Edition, released on Steam on April 18, 2014,[6] and an unnamed version on Good Old Games/GOG.com on August 13, 2015. [7]

With GolemLabs as development company, THQ Nordic has scheduled The Guild 3 for release in the second half of 2017.[8]

Games developed

Title Release date Platform Publisher
SuperPower March 27, 2002[4]PCDreamCatcher Interactive
SuperPower 2 North America: October 11, 2004 /
EU: November 19, 2004 [5]		PCDreamCatcher Interactive
SuperPower 2 Steam Edition April 18, 2014 [6]PCTHQ Nordic
SuperPower 2 (unnamed,
DRM-free, remastered
version at GOG.com) 		August 13, 2015 [7]PCTHQ Nordic
The Guild 3 Announced: 2017, second half [8][9]PCTHQ Nordic

Company history

Years of turmoil followed the release of SuperPower 2, with the Financial Crisis and the Great Recession soon looming over the market at large. Ironically for GolemLabs, this famous Depression-times styled wording, used in SuperPower 2, soon hit the company itself. Forbes explained the everyday situation in 2012 like this: 

"Whether it’s selling stuff on eBay, or offering B&B, you can’t have too many strings to your financial bow, especially when dark economic clouds are looming".[10]

Akin to this deep macroeconomic SuperPower 2 study, we find that: Hard Times Are Still Hoover-ing Over Us[11] at "Great Depression", Hooverville.

During the Financial Crisis and the following Great Recession, both customers and investors for the gaming industry faced difficult times, spending was low, frugality was encouraged, resulting in investments and sales both drying up also for the gaming industry. An example of this is Obsidian Entertainment's history with the old THQ, the publisher going bankrupt in late 2011 caused by the publisher's own commercial failures: The old THQ's Reorganization, financial struggles (2010–2012) & the old THQ's Bankruptcy and liquidation, THQ Nordic (2012–present).

At the same time, JoWooD Entertainment, publisher of The Guild Series, went into administration. They had received Metascore ranging from mediocre to below average (The Guild 2 Venice flagged red, 49%) for their niche games and were bogged down by a lawsuit filed by JoWooD against Koch Media GmbH for €2.36 million ($3.06 million) plus interest.[12] This caused their newly acquired subsidiary Dreamcatcher Interactive, GolemLabs' publisher for SuperPower 1 & 2, to file for bankruptcy. Then Nordic Games (2011–2016) acquired the rights & labels from JoWood and Dreamcatcher.

So a decade after GolemLabs' last published title, two different remastered versions of SuperPower 2 were finally released with Nordic Games as publisher: SuperPower 2 Steam Edition, released on Steam on April 18, 2014,[6] and an unnamed version on Good Old Games/GOG.com on August 13, 2015. [7]

Since then, Lars Wingefors' company (Swedish entrepreneur, Nordic Games) as the new owners of the rights for The Guild series, "was able to hire the Canadian developer GolemLabs in 2014", (2013 according to insider sources[13]) "for the sequel of the popular The Guild series.[14] Extensive work has since 2013 been done on The Guild 3 with GolemLabs as developer, and with Heinrich Meyer, one of the designers and authors of the first two The Guild games as producer.[15][16][17] THQ Nordic, "has been passionately committed on supporting and expanding the "Guild" games."[18] This partnership with GolemLabs, who has a long experience in strategy games, combines the creative talents of both companies to expand on the potential of this beloved franchise."[19]

Vienna, Austria, August 12, 2016: Nordic Games had acquired the rights to the THQ brand name, and reincorporated & renamed itself with a fusioned name: THQ Nordic[20], and went public with its own listing on the stock exchange. This ment even better times for GolemLabs, if successful. Swedish press instantly labeled Lars Wingefors as a "Super Entrepreneur" and "billionaire", hailing the move as a great commercial success.[21] Sweden, being the land of Ingvar Kamprad, the man behind IKEA.

By this time, The Guild 3 community had long since made it clear that: 

"So The Guild 3 has something to prove. Now under a different publisher, Nordic Games, there is more time and funding to do things right."[22]

There is a connection between game quality, Metacritics and earnings. The new funding (finances) and therefore prospects were better after THQ Nordic took over.[23] This spells better time & funding for GolemLabs as developer, a better game delivered for the gaming community, better reviews from the press & better Metacritics, better earnings for the owners, shareholders & the market; a classical win-win situation.

The Guild 3 will act as a change of platform, superceeding The Guild 2 as a new, more modern, up-to-date & better platform for expansive content, user generated content and modding for another decade or more.[24] This is similar to the role e.g. each new generation of the game engine Source plays in the Half-Life, Steam world and ecosystem[25], or Unreal Engine [26], now roughly representing each new console generation.

THQ Nordic has scheduled The Guild 3 for release in the second half of 2017.[8] In 2015, an alpha version of the game was shown to the public at Gamescom, according to German PC Games, relaying footage from THQ Nordic & GolemLabs' room there.[27] As of August 2017, the company was in the last stages of development.[28]

References

  1. ↑ https://www.linkedin.com/company/golemlabs-stutdio
  2. ↑ "The Guild 3 PC preview - "Gamescom 2014: Not your mother's The Guild" - Hooked Gamers". www.hookedgamers.com.
  3. 1 2 "GolemLabs". GolemLabs.
  4. 1 2 "SuperPower for Windows (2002) - MobyGames". MobyGames.
  5. 1 2 "SuperPower 2 for Windows (2004) - MobyGames". MobyGames.
  6. 1 2 3 "Steam Community :: Discussions". steamcommunity.com.
  7. 1 2 3 "Release: SuperPower 2". GOG.com.
  8. 1 2 3 "Release date - UPDATE 2017 :: The Guild 3 General Discussions". steamcommunity.com.
  9. ↑ "The Guild 3 on Steam". store.steampowered.com.
  10. ↑ https://www.forbes.com/sites/investor/2012/06/28/the-great-depression-ii-five-ways-to-survive/#48faa9e32475
  11. ↑ https://www.cs.mcgill.ca/~rwest/link-suggestion/wpcd_2008-09_augmented/wp/h/Herbert_Hoover.htm
  12. ↑ http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.256472-JoWooD-Declares-Bankruptcy
  13. ↑ "The Guild 3 PC preview - "Gamescom 2014: Not your mother's The Guild" - Hooked Gamers". www.hookedgamers.com.
  14. ↑ http://theguildgame.com/#about-the-guild-3
  15. ↑ https://www.golem.de/news/wirtschaftssimulation-golem-labs-entwickelt-die-gilde-3-1408-108620.html
  16. ↑ http://theguildgame.com/soundtrack-musicians-and-compositions/
  17. ↑ THQ Nordic https://www.hookedgamers.com/pc/the_guild_3/preview/article-1234.html
  18. ↑ "Guild 3 - THQ Nordic GmbH". www.thqnordic.com.
  19. ↑ "GolemLabs". GolemLabs.
  20. ↑ https://www.thqnordic.com/article/nordic-games-reincorporates-thq-nordic
  21. ↑ https://www.va.se/nyheter/2016/11/07/superentreprenoren-som-tar-sitt-spelbolag-till-borsen--thq-nordic-varderas-till-12-miljarder/
  22. ↑ https://www.hookedgamers.com/pc/the_guild_3/preview/article-1310.html
  23. ↑ https://www.hookedgamers.com/pc/the_guild_3/preview/article-1310.html
  24. ↑ https://www.thqnordic.com/games/guild-3%7CTHQ Nordic -> The Guild 3 -> Features -> Scenario Editor.
  25. ↑ https://www.engadget.com/2015/03/13/valve-steam/
  26. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unreal_(video_game_series)#Games
  27. ↑ PC Games - Die Gilde 3 Gameplay - Gamescom-Präsentation - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ge9HAHGQl3k
  28. ↑ "The Guild 3 – by THQ Nordic". theguildgame.com. Retrieved 2017-08-06.
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