Beginnings (1990–2011)
In 1990,
Swedish entrepreneur Lars Eric Olof Wingefors founded LW Comics AB, a company to sell and trade second-hand
comic books. In 1993, the company's focus shifted towards video games, becoming a mail-order retailer for secondhand software and cartridges, and finally Nordic Games AB. Its headquarters are located in
Karlstad, Sweden. Over the years, the company added new goods to its portfolio, and established several stores over
Scandinavia. In 2000, British retailer
Gameplay.com acquired Nordic Games for
GB£5.96 million in shares.[
citation needed] After the
dot-com bubble, Wingefors re-acquired the Nordic retail division from financially troubled Gameplay for 1
kr.
[2] In 2004, the company started with a new
outlet store concept and entered into the video game industry.
[3] In 2008, Nordic Games entered game development by creating its own publishing branch, Nordic Games Publishing AB, in order to create products for its outlet stores.
Nordic Games GmbH (2011–2016)
Original Nordic Games logo
In 2011, Lars Wingefors founded Nordic Games GmbH as a Europe-wide video game publisher. On 16 August 2011, it was announced that the new company had acquired assets from
JoWooD Entertainment: its products, brands, and subsidiary
DreamCatcher Interactive, including its
The Adventure Company division. Effectively, JoWooD, DreamCatcher and The Adventure company would further be used as labels of Nordic Games.