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Yager Development

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Yager Development GmbH
Company typePrivate
IndustryVideo games
Founded1999;25 years ago(1999)
Founders
  • Uwe Beneke
  • Roman Golka
  • Philipp Schellbach
  • Timo Ullmann
  • Mathias Wiese
Headquarters
Berlin
,
Germany
Key people
Timo Ullmann (managing director)
Number of employees
130[1](2024)
ParentTencent(2021–present)
Websiteyager.de

Yager Development GmbHis a Germanvideo game developerbased inBerlin.

History

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YAGER Development GmbH was founded in 1999 by five friends from East Berlin: Timo Ullmann, Uwe Beneke, Roman Golka, Philipp Schellbach and Mathias Wiese.[2]Ullmann and others had previously worked at the Babelsberg developer companyTerra Tools,from which Yager andRadon Labsemerged.[3]

The company developed five of its own games between 1999 and 2024,self-publishedtwo of them and worked on severalco-developmentprojects.[4]

The studio's first work,Yager,released in 2003, was released in the USA in 2004 under the title Aerial Strike: Low Altitude - High Stakes. To more clearly represent a distinction between the first game's name and the studio's name, the company is officially spelled asYAGER(in capital letters) and the 2003 game asYager.[5]About nine years later, in June 2012,Spec Ops: The Line,the second title developed by YAGER Development, was released. The game was internationally praised in particular for its sophisticated plot and staging, which repeatedly presents the player with morally critical decisions.[6]At theGerman Developer Awards2012,Spec Ops: The Linewon the most prizes with five awards, namely in the jury category as “Best Action Game” and in the academy categories “Best German Game”, “Best Storyline”, “Best Graphics”. and “Best Console Game.” At the same time, YAGER Development was named “Best Studio” in Germany[7]andSpec Ops: The Linewon numerous international awards.[8]

AtE32014 in Los Angeles it was announced that YAGER had taken over the development ofDead Island 2instead ofTechland,but publisher and rights holderDeep Silverwithdrew responsibility from the development studio in July 2015. The reason given was differences in the view of the game.[9]Furthermore, YAGER's collaboration with Six Foot on the development ofDreadnoughtwas announced at E3 2014. The game was released for thePlayStation 4in June 2017[10]and forPCin October 2018[11]while the publishing was taken over by Grey Box. ForDreadnought,YAGER received the German Developer Prize 2017 in the “Best Technical Achievement” category.[12]

In 2019, YAGER announced the release of the PvPvEFPSThe CycleintoEarly AccessduringGamescom2019 Opening Night Live. This was the first game in the studio's history developed and published by YAGER and was initially only available on the PC via theEpic Games Store.[13]The game ran for 3 seasons but underwent a pivot in 2021 from the original PvPvE looter shooter approach to an FPSextraction shooter.In June 2022, the title was officially released asThe Cycle: FrontieronSteamand EGS.[14]

In 2020, the Chinese online companyTencentacquired a minority stake in YAGER. Tencent wants to help the studio expand its development and publishing activities. Regardless of Tencent's participation, YAGER continues to run the studio independently and develop its own games.[15]In June 2021, Tencent acquired a majority stake in the studio.[16]In January 2024, YAGER carried out a significantrebrandingof the studio, announcing not only a new logo, website, and corporate identity, but also a completely new communication strategy.[17]As part of this communication, YAGER's past and current co-development projects with other studios were also announced, including withFuncomonDune: Awakening[18]and with Sharkmob onExoborne.[19]

YAGER currently employs around 130 people at its headquarters inBerlin-Kreuzberg,making it one of the largest game developers inGermany.[20]

Developed Games

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Release Year Title Genre Publisher(s) Platform(s)
2003 Yager Combat Flight Simulation THQ Microsoft Windows,Xbox
2004 Aerial Strike: Low Altitude - High Stakes Combat Flight Simulation DreamCatcher Interactive,Kemco Microsoft Windows,Xbox
2012 Spec Ops: The Line Third Person Shooter 2K Games Linux,macOS,Microsoft Windows,PlayStation 3,Xbox 360
2017 Dreadnought Combat Flight Simulation Grey Box Microsoft Windows,PlayStation 4
2019 The Cycle FPS Looter Shooter YAGER Development Microsoft Windows(EGS)
2022 The Cycle: Frontier FPS Extraction Shooter Yager Development Microsoft Windows(EGS/Steam)

Co-Developed Games

[edit]
Development year Title Genre Publisher Release Year
2012 - 2015 Dead Island 2 Action Role-Playing Game Deep Silver 2023
2018 HYENAS First Person Shooter Sega cancelled
2018 - 2021 Outriders Co-OpAction RPGShooter Square Enix 2021
2022 - 2024 Dune: Awakening Open World Survival MMO Funcom to be announced
2023 - ongoing Exoborne Third Person Extraction Shooter Sharkmob /Level Infinite to be announced

References

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  1. ^Fröhlich, Petra (15 August 2024)."Die größten Games-Studios in Deutschland 2024"[The largest game studios in Germany in 2024].GamesWirtschaft(in German).Archivedfrom the original on 15 August 2024.Retrieved15 August2024.
  2. ^"25 Jahre Computerspiele von Yager: Fünf Freunde bewahren den Tüftlergeist aus DDR-Tagen".Der Tagesspiegel Online(in German).ISSN1865-2263.Retrieved6 May2024.
  3. ^Gießler, Denis (21 November 2018)."Videospiele in der DDR: Die Stasi spielte mit".Die Zeit(in German).ISSN0044-2070.Retrieved6 May2024.
  4. ^"Portfolio".YAGER - TRUE TO THE GAME.Retrieved6 May2024.
  5. ^"About".YAGER - TRUE TO THE GAME.Retrieved6 May2024.
  6. ^Axel Hengstbach (29 June 2012)."Test: Actionspiel für PC, PS3, Xbox 360. Spec Ops – The Line: Das Anti-Kriegs-Kriegsspiel"[Test für PC, PS3 und Xbox 360. Spec Ops – The Line: The anti-war war game].COMPUTER BILD SPIELE(in German). Archived fromthe originalon 14 November 2012.Retrieved6 May2024.
  7. ^"Golem.de: IT-News für Profis".golem.de.Retrieved6 May2024.
  8. ^"Awards".YAGER - TRUE TO THE GAME.Retrieved6 May2024.
  9. ^Matthew Handrahan, ed. (15 July 2015)."Yager dropped from Dead Island 2 after 3 years".GamesIndustry.biz.Retrieved6 May2024.
  10. ^"Dreadnought Out Today, New Details on Havoc Mode".PlayStation.Blog.6 June 2017.Retrieved6 May2024.
  11. ^Khan, Imran."Layoffs At Dreadnought Developer Six Foot (Update: Studio Confirms)".Game Informer.Archived fromthe originalon 25 December 2018.Retrieved6 May2024.
  12. ^"Timo Ullmann on LinkedIn: Dreadnought just received an Award for Best Technical Achievement at the… | 11 comments".linkedin.Retrieved6 May2024.
  13. ^Dornbush, Jonathon (19 August 2019)."Yager's The Cycle Now Out in Early Access on Epic Games Store - Gamescom 2019".IGN.Retrieved6 May2024.
  14. ^McWhertor, Michael (25 May 2022)."Spec Ops: The Line studio to launch The Cycle in June, after nearly 3 years of early access".Polygon.Retrieved6 May2024.
  15. ^Gameswirtschaft (10 February 2020)."Tencent steigt bei Berliner Studio Yager ein".GamesWirtschaft.de(in German).Retrieved6 May2024.
  16. ^Danielle Partis, ed. (22 June 2021)."Tencent acquires majority stake in Yager".GamesIndustry.biz.Retrieved6 May2024.
  17. ^"We are celebrating 25 years of YAGER!".YAGER - TRUE TO THE GAME.24 January 2024.Retrieved6 May2024.
  18. ^"YAGER supports Funcom with the co-development of Dune: Awakening".YAGER - TRUE TO THE GAME.24 January 2024.Retrieved6 May2024.
  19. ^Admin (25 April 2024)."YAGER uses its Extraction-Shooter experience to support Sharkmob".YAGER - TRUE TO THE GAME.Retrieved6 May2024.
  20. ^Gameswirtschaft (24 January 2024)."Yager: Neuer Marken-Auftritt zum 25jährigen Jubiläum".GamesWirtschaft.de(in German).Retrieved6 May2024.
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