JoWooD Entertainment

JoWooD Entertainment AG (formerly JoWooD Productions Software AG; commonly referred to as JoWooD) was an Austrian video game publisher founded in 1995 and traded until 2011 when they filed for bankruptcy and later had its assets acquired by Nordic Games.

Why They and Their Games Sucked

 * 1) JoWooD was known for forcing developers to release games before they are finished, resulting in releasing buggy games, and providing poor support in patching/fixing these games afterward.
 * 2) Many of their PC games are poorly made and most of the time refuse to run.
 * 3) Their buyout of DreamCatcher Interactive, and then a very bad move to the North American market.
 * 4) They treated their developers poorly, like Piranha Bytes (who parted ways with JoWooD after they forced them to rush Gothic 3) and Perception, in which JoWooD claimed they owned the game rights to the Stargate SG-1 franchise, and not Perception.
 * 5) The company only really cared about making money instead of releasing quality products, which might have led to their bankruptcy.
 * 6) Some of their games were shovelware titles, such as Santa Claus Jr. Advance.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) Even though the company was infamous, their games are surprisingly mostly good in a way.
 * 2) Their opening logos from 1998-2004 and 2001-2008 are amazing, even though they are quite long.

Companies or divisions swallowed by JoWooD

 * NEON Software GmbH (Closed)
 * Media Publishing GmbH & Co KG (Dissolved)
 * Wings Simulations GmbH (Closed)
 * Massive Development (Closed)
 * LeisureSoft (Dissolved)
 * Dynamic Systems (Later sold to Koch Media)
 * Ravensburger Interactive Media GmbH (Dissolved)
 * Fishtank Interactive (Dissolved)
 * DreamCatcher Interactive (Now a THQ Nordic publishing label)
 * The Adventure Company (Now a THQ Nordic publishing label)