Travian Games GmbH, based in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, is a medium-sized German company in the

software industry The software industry includes businesses for development, maintenance and publication of software that are using different business models, mainly either "license/maintenance based" (on-premises) or " Cloud based" (such as SaaS, PaaS, IaaS, ...

that has specialized in developing and marketing PC and

browser games A browser game is a video game that is played on the internet using a web browser. They are sometimes referred to more specifically by their format, such as Adobe Flash, Flash games or HTML5 games. They are generally free-to-play and can be eithe ...

. Travian Games is the largest video games company in

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

, ranks among the top 10 largest game studios in Germany, and is a member of the GAME Federal Association of the German Games Industry.

History

In 2003, company founder Gerhard Müller and his team developed the first version of the strategy

browser game A browser game is a video game that is played on the internet using a web browser. They are sometimes referred to more specifically by their format, such as Flash games or HTML5 games. They are generally free-to-play and can be either single-pl ...

Travian ''Travian: Legends'' is a persistent, browser-based, massively multiplayer, online real-time strategy game developed by the German software company Travian Games. It was originally written and released in June 2004 as "Travian" by Gerhard Mü ...

''. The

free-to-play "Free-to-play" ("F2P" or "FtP") video games are games that give players access to a significant portion of their content for free. The term "free-to-play business model" or simply, "free-to-play model", refers collectively to business models tha ...

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

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

. In 2006, their flagship game ''

'' 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 Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

developer studio Northworks which, with the support of the City of

's prototype sponsorship, had until then been able to launch two

on the market, including ''goalunited''. In the following year, Travian Games GmbH was awarded the Prize for the Best German

Publisher Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

GameStar ''GameStar'' is a monthly-released PC gaming magazine in Germany. It is the best-selling German-language magazine focused on PC gaming and it also hosts the largest video gaming-related portal in the German-speaking internet. ''GameStar.de'' i ...

. Moreover, Travian Games acquired the majority stake in the

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

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 Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by former Apple Inc., Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry ...

on the successful

PC game A personal computer game, or abbreviated PC game, also known as a computer game, is a video game played on a personal computer (PC). The term ''PC game'' has been popularly used since the 1990s referring specifically to games on "Wintel" (Micr ...

series '' FIFA Manager''. To mark the 10-year anniversary of the flagship game, ''

'', which continues to be offered as ''Travian: Legends'', the new

''Travian Kingdoms'' was developed under the direction of company founder Gerhard Müller. The online

racing game Racing games are a video game genre in which the player participates in a motor racing, racing competition. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to fantastical settings. They are distributed along a spectrum between more re ...

''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 ''PC Games'' is a monthly-released PC gaming magazine published by the Computec Media GmbH in Germany. History ''PC Games'' was founded in 1992 and included a 3½-in floppy disk, which was changed to a CD-ROM in 1995. By 1999 it became the ...

with strong

multi-player A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...

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

, 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 '' Crowfall'' (ArtCraft Entertainment) in 2016, and for the

massively multiplayer online game A massively multiplayer online game (MMOG or more commonly MMO) is an online video game with a large number of players to interact in the same online game world. MMOs usually feature a huge, persistent world, persistent open world, although t ...

(MMOG) '' Shroud of the Avatar'' (

Portalarium Portalarium, Inc. was a video game developer based in Austin, Texas that was formed in September 2009 by Richard Garriott, together with his longtime game industry partners, Dallas Snell and Fred Schmidt. Portalarium marks Richard Garriott's first ...

) 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 ne
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.

Games

Travian Games has been expanding across the full breadth of the online gaming entertainment sector for years and is currently represented on the market with its 4 live products: '' Travian: Legends'', ''Travian Kingdoms'', ''Rail Nation and'' ''goalunited LEGENDS.'' Products from the Travian Games portfolio are played in more than 200 countries around the globe and translated into up to 42 different languages. In this way, the company is able to reach more than 150 million registered and confirmed users worldwide. The products by Travian Games GmbH have also received multiple awards and are recognized for the long-lasting fun they provide.

Current games

*'' Travian: Legends'' (

strategy Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "troop leadership; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the " a ...

MMOG A massively multiplayer online game (MMOG or more commonly MMO) is an online video game with a large number of players to interact in the same online game world. MMOs usually feature a huge, persistent open world, although there are games th ...

) *''Travian Kingdoms'' (strategy MMOG) *''Rail Nation'' (transport economy

simulator A simulation is an imitative representation of a process or system that could exist in the real world. In this broad sense, simulation can often be used interchangeably with model. Sometimes a clear distinction between the two terms is made, in ...

MMOG) *''goalunited LEGENDS'' (

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

manager MMOG)

Travian Games as a third-party publisher

In 2017, Travian Games announced its support for the Texan developer studio

in the release of the

'' Shroud of the Avatar'' for the European market, as well as in South and Central America, the Middle East and North Africa. The online game was created by well-known game designer

Richard Garriott Richard Allen Garriott de Cayeux (''né'' Garriott; born 4 July 1961) is a British-born American video game developer, entrepreneur and private astronaut. Garriott, who is the son of NASA astronaut Owen Garriott, was originally a game designer ...

. Portalarium confirmed on 28 November 2018 that Shroud of the Avatar is no longer being published by Travian Games. Travian Games GmbH acts as third-party

publisher Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

for the

MMORPG A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game. As in role-playing games (RPGs), the player assumes the role of a Player charac ...

'' Crowfall'', which is set to launch in 2019. The game is being developed by ArtCraft Entertainment, based in Texas. The first client-based game in the company's history attracted around US$2.8 million, making it the most successful

crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and Alternative Finance, alternative finance, to fund projects "withou ...

project in video game history. Over the years, the company discontinued its third-party marketing activities due to a lack of success.

Charitable commitment

Travian Games assumes

social responsibility Social responsibility is an ethical concept in which a person works and cooperates with other people and organizations for the benefit of the community. An organization can demonstrate social responsibility in several ways, for instance, by do ...

as part of various charitable projects. Since 2010, the company has been supportin
GamesCampMunich
– a conference for young students and those interested in the

video game industry The video game industry is the tertiary industry, tertiary and quaternary industry, quaternary sectors of the entertainment industry that specialize in the video game development, development, marketing, distribution (marketing), distribution, ...

. The company additionally became a sponsor for th
Munich Children's Hospice Foundation
in 2017. Not only does the company raise

donation A donation is a gift for Charity (practice), charity, humanitarian aid, or to benefit a cause. A donation may take various forms, including money, alms, Service (economics), services, or goods such as clothing, toys, food, or vehicles. A donati ...

s for the organization, it also engages in

voluntary work Volunteering is an elective and freely chosen act of an individual or group giving their time and labor, often for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency ...

for the

charity Charity may refer to: Common meanings * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sha ...

. In addition, Travian Games GmbH uses

green energy Energy is sustainable if it "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." Definitions of sustainable energy usually look at its effects on the environment, the economy, and so ...

from Bavarian

hydro-electric power plant Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and also mo ...

s. The supplier, Polarstern, is one of the Ökotest test winners; it supplies the electricity and supports a family in

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

in the construction of a micro

biogas Biogas is a gaseous renewable energy source produced from raw materials such as agricultural waste, manure, municipal waste, plant material, sewage, green waste, Wastewater treatment, wastewater, and food waste. Biogas is produced by anaerobic ...

installation for each of its customers. This kind of installation changes the lives of entire families and promotes sustainability.

References

{{reflist

External links

Travian Games GmbH
- official website Browser-based game websites Companies based in Munich German companies established in 2004 Video game companies of Germany Video game development companies Video game publishers