Berlin After the media-rich visit of the then German Chancellor Angela Merkel in 2013 in the squeaky-colored Berlin office, video game developer Wooga slipped from one crisis to the next: the costs were too high, new releases flopped and numerous employees had to leave. At the end of 2018, the much larger Playtika Group from Israel took over the former stock exchange candidate.
The corona crisis, which gave the entire industry a boost, has also provided Wooga with attractive businesses. The mystery hidden object game “June’s Journey” has now grossed $500 million since its launch five years ago, even though the game itself is free to play. This has been achieved mainly through in-app purchases, players embellish the island, the scene of the game for money and buy help in finding the deceased sister of the protagonist.
Thanks to the success of “June’s Journey”, Wooga is now setting higher goals and wants to significantly increase sales this year. “Wooga is currently making a comeback,” says company CEO Nai Chang, who took over the management of founder Jens Begemann in mid-2020 and has already worked for the gaming division of Google and the major Wooga competitor Zynga from the USA in the past.
According to Nai Chang, Wooga used to dance at too many weddings. Today, the game company focuses on so-called “casual games”. These are games for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, which are rarely played for a long time at a time. “Our games are mainly played by commuters or at bedtime, rather than watching TV or watching Netflix,” says Nai Chang.
The market is big: Felix Falk, Managing Director of the Association of the German games industry “Game”, says: “With 23.5 million players, the smartphone is the most used gaming platform in Germany.“ However, the competition is extremely tough, players of casual games are particularly eager to change. Hits can quickly disappear into oblivion if players turn to newer offers.
Game development is expensive and time-consuming
In addition to Wooga, this was also felt by the “Farmville” developer Zynga, which fell into a deep hole after the hype phase and the IPO in 2013. There was a lack of new bestsellers and dependence on Facebook became a problem when the world’s largest Internet network changed its rules. Meanwhile, the US group was taken over by the “Grand Theft Auto” inventor Take Two.
Developing a casual game like June’s Journey that tells complex stories is time-consuming and expensive. Players want to be constantly supplied with new content. So that Wooga does not take over financially again, Nai Chang tries to cap the expenses: “We want to grow sustainably.“ With regard to the listed parent company, however, the 40-year-old does not want to publish any concrete figures and also leaves open whether Wooga is currently profitable.
Currently, the video game industry is trying to take the momentum from the corona period with it. Game Managing Director Falk explains: “Now that more leisure activities are possible again, the growth is understandably slowing down again.“ In the first half of the year, revenues in the German gaming market only increased by two percent.
Wooga games have many female players
Wooga also make the new privacy rules on Apple devices, which make it difficult to advertise efficiently. According to Nai Chang, Wooga is therefore increasingly focusing on ads in the traditional media of television and print, as well as in podcasts. Wooga also mostly appeals to women, compared to the classic gaming sector, the target group of casual games is still much more mixed. “June’s Journey” has about two-thirds female players.
Wooga has not yet reached this quota in the workforce. However, Nai Chang has set himself the goal of bringing more diversity to the male-dominated gaming industry. Meanwhile, 42 percent of the approximately 300 Wooga employees are women. To this end, the Berliners are already starting at the roots and are looking for candidates early on, for example at talent days.
