Publisher InnoGames and development studio Ticking Bomb Games have dissolved their partnership and ceased development on the online pirate strategy game Kartuga. In a recent announcement, InnoGames revealed that that the Ticking Bomb games development studio will be closed and all of its employees will be offered a shortened application process at Innogames. The reason given for the dissolution of the partnership is InnoGames’ increased focus on cross-platform games and Kartuga’s failure to meet expectations during its recent closed beta.

Kartuga players will set sail for the final time on July 31st, 2013 when service for the servers comes to an end. More details about the closeure can be found on the Kartuga forums.

Kartuga: Development of Pirate-MMO To Be Discontinued

Publisher InnoGames and Development Studio Ticking Bomb Games End Partnership

Hamburg, July 16th, 2013. Today, online games publisher InnoGames and Development Studio Ticking Bomb Games announced the discontinuation of the pirate-MMO Kartuga. Simultaneously the companies’ partnership was disbanded. Regardless of its potential for success, InnoGames’ growing focus on cross-platform-games played a major role in the decision, along with the fact that Kartuga was unable to fulfill high expectations during its recent closed beta. The development studio Ticking Bomb Games will be closed and all employees are offered a shortened application process at InnoGames.

Hendrik Klindworth, CEO of InnoGames states about the decision: “It wasn’t an easy step for us. During the recent months, Ticking Bomb Games and InnoGames have worked hard on the game. Together with Ticking Bomb Games we have come to an agreement: the priority was to have an organized schedule for the studio’s closure, to keep the employees’ needs in mind, and offer as many of them a position at InnoGames as possible – all those things we’ve managed together.”

“Kartuga had a lot of potential, the exciting setting and high-quality graphics stood out especially, but the closed beta and player feedback showed that it wouldn’t fit the companies’ goals for the future. Now InnoGames can focus even more on cross-platform projects currently in development in-house,” Klindworth continued. Two new titles will be announced later this year.

Klindworth reasoned: “Thanks to the partnership with Ticking Bomb Games, we’ve learned a lot we can apply to future projects. It also strengthened our dedication towards cross-platform-titles, which are playable on a number of internet-based devices, as the future of InnoGames.”

With more than 100 million registered players, InnoGames is one of the world's leading developers and providers of online games. The Hamburg-based company has scored major successes with games such as Tribal Wars, Forge of Empires and Grepolis.

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