The story
In 2003, company founder Gerhard Müller and his team developed the first version of the strategy browser game Travian. The free-to-play game was released in the summer of the following year and renamed to Travian: Legends in 2015. The game remains one of the world's most successful browser games to this day. Travian Games GbR was established in Munich at the beginning of 2005. In the fall of the same year, it changed to its current form: Travian Games GmbH. The original staff of four employees, including the founder's brother, Siegfried Müller, and his former school friend, Holger Miller, grew within just a few years to its current size of more than 120 employees. This expansion resulted in Travian Games GmbH becoming the largest employer in the games industry in Bavaria. In 2006, their flagship game Travian already reached a million players.
Due to the increasing number of employees and the focus on new developments, the company relocated to a larger office complex within Munich in 2008 and 2009. In 2010, the company acquired the Hamburg developer studio Northworks which, with the support of the City of Hamburg's prototype sponsorship, had until then been able to launch two browser games on the market, including goalunited. In the following year, Travian Games GmbH was awarded the Prize for the Best German Publisher by GameStar. Moreover, Travian Games acquired the majority stake in the Cologne developer studio Bright Future in 2012. The company had already successfully worked with the studio two years previously to develop the magical garden simulation game Miramagia followed by the MMO browser game Rail Nation in 2013. Bright Future also worked with Electronic Arts on the successful PC game series FIFA Manager.
To mark the 10-year anniversary of the flagship game, Travian, which continues to be offered as Travian: Legends, the new browser game Travian Kingdoms was developed under the direction of company founder Gerhard Müller. The online racing game UnitedGP was also launched on the market in 2014. Since the change in management in 2015, the company has been placing greater focus on developing and marketing PC games with strong multi-player elements, which aim to provide a community-driven gaming experience. The strategic direction of the games developer shifted with the new managing director, Lars Janssen. Travian Games has since concentrated on its core business, developing its own browser games, but it has also expanded its international portfolio. The Bavarian games developer also became a third-party publisher for the massively multi-player online role-playing game (MMORPG) Crowfall (ArtCraft Entertainment) in 2016, and for the massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) Shroud of the Avatar (Portalarium) in 2017.
Over the years, the company discontinued its third-party marketing activities due to a lack of success. In July 2024, with the appointment of the new CEO Viktor Pulz, the strategic direction shifted once again. The company is now focusing specifically on the further development of its successful games (Travian: Legends, Rail Nation, Travian Kingdoms, and goalunited) and is bringing these titles to mobile devices. The most successful title, Travian: Legends, was released as a mobile app for Android and iOS in November 2024.
From Wikipedia’s article on Travian Games, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5