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Deck13 Interactive GmbH

Formerly	TriggerLab GmbH (2001–2002)
Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Video games
Predecessor	Artex Software
Founded	2001; 23 years ago (2001)
Founders	Jan Klose Florian Stadlbauer
Headquarters	Frankfurt, Germany
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Jan Klose (managing director) Mathias Reichert (managing director)
Products	Ankh series Jack Keane series Lords of the Fallen The Surge series
Number of employees	90 (2024)
Parent	Focus Entertainment (2020–present)
Subsidiaries	Deck13 Hamburg Deck13 Montreal
Website	deck13.com

Deck13 Interactive GmbH (formerly TriggerLab GmbH) is a German video game developer and publisher based in Frankfurt. The company was founded in July 2001 by the team behind Artex Software, a studio that primarily developed video games for RISC OS, such as Ankh: The Tales of Mystery. Originally bearing the name TriggerLab, the company was renamed to Deck13 after the release of its first game, Stealth Combat, in 2002. Deck13 is best known for developing the action role-playing games Lords of the Fallen and The Surge. Deck13 also operates a Hamburg-based subsidiary studio, Deck13 Hamburg.

History

Deck13 is the successor to Artex Software, a development team that created the game Ankh for RISC OS. The company was founded as TriggerLab in 2001 by Jan Klose and Florian Stadlbauer. TriggerLab developed Stealth Combat, which was first released in Germany on 25 February 2002; shortly thereafter, on 2 April 2002, the company was renamed as Deck13 Interactive. The name "Deck13" was derived from "DM-Deck16", a game map from Unreal Tournament (1999).

In 2005, the humorous adventure game Ankh was released, which was a remake of the 1997 game Ankh: The Tales of Mystery by Artex Software. As the product sold very well and won several awards (especially in Germany), the sequel Ankh: Heart of Osiris was produced and released almost exactly one year later, reusing elements of the previous title. In August 2007, the adventure game Jack Keane was released which was similar to the Ankh series in terms of graphics and gameplay but which was set in England and colonial India. The third part of the Ankh series, The Battle of the Gods, was released in Germany on 19 November 2007. One of their latest games, the role-playing game called Venetica was released in September 2009 and was the first RPG to be published by the company. Afterwards, Deck13 Interactive was working on Blood Knights, a comic hack-and-slash for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, which was released in 2013.

In 2015, Deck13 released Lords of the Fallen in co-operation CI Games. While a sequel was announced by the publisher, Deck13 was not named as the developer. Instead, the studio was announced to be working with Focus Home Interactive on the then-upcoming The Surge. In September 2016, managing director Florian Stadlbauer announced that he had left the company and had since replaced by Mathias Reichert.

In June 2020, Focus Home Interactive acquired the company for €7.1 million.

In February 2021, Deck13 opened a development studio in Montreal.

Games developed

Cancelled

• The Mystery of the Seven Symbols
• Jade Rousseau: Die Geheimen Evangelien – Episode 2: Die Bruderschaft
• Jade Rousseau: Die Geheimen Evangelien – Episode 3: Das geheime Dossier
• Jade Rousseau: Die Geheimen Evangelien – Episode 4: Der Weg in die Finsternis
• Jade Rousseau: Die Geheimen Evangelien – Episode 5: Die Geister der Vergangenheit
• Jade Rousseau: Die Geheimen Evangelien – Episode 6: Der Zorn Gottes

Games published

See also

• Daedalic Entertainment – German adventure game developer
• House of Tales – German adventure game developer
• King Art Games – German adventure game developer

References

1. Fröhlich, Petra (15 August 2024). "Die größten Games-Studios in Deutschland 2024" [The largest game studios in Germany in 2024]. GamesWirtschaft (in German). Archived from the original on 15 August 2024. Retrieved 15 August 2024.
2. Böke, Ingmar (12 March 2018). "Adventures in Germany and Beyond round table (Part 1) – Page 2". Adventure Gamers.
3. ""Das nächste große Ding" im Visier" [Aiming for "the next big thing"]. Frankfurter Neue Presse (in German). 20 August 2016.
4. "News". TriggerLab (in German). 2002. Archived from the original on 8 October 2002. Retrieved 3 September 2019.
5. Deck13 Interactive GmbH. "Company / Deck13 Interactive". Archived from the original on 29 March 2023. Retrieved 29 June 2023. The small team back then came up with the name Deck13, inspired by the Unreal Tournament Map Deck 16.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
6. Sauer, Tom (1 November 2013). "Blood Knights: Launch-Trailer mit Alysa zum heutigen Xbox 360-Release" [Blood Knights: Launch trailer with Alyse for today's Xbox 360 release]. PC Games (in German). Retrieved 23 September 2016.
7. Purchese, Robert (29 May 2015). "Lords of the Fallen 2 to launch in 2017". Eurogamer. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
8. "Latest Deck13 game officially announced as The Surge". Focus Home Interactive. 7 August 2015. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
9. "Deck 13-Crew segelt künftig ohne Florian Stadlbauer" [Deck 13 crew to sail without Florian Stadlbauer going forward]. GamesWirtschaft (in German). 1 September 2016. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
10. "Focus Home Interactive acquires Deck13 Interactive". Gematsu. 25 June 2020.
11. "Deck13 Interactive opens Montreal studio". Gematsu. 8 February 2021.
12. LeClair, Kyle (7 May 2022). "3D Platforming Throwback Lunistice Receives Release Date - Hardcore Gamer". hardcoregamer.com. Retrieved 17 November 2022.

External links

• Official website

• Companies based in Frankfurt
• Focus Entertainment
• German companies established in 2001
• Video game companies established in 2001
• Video game companies of Germany
• Video game development companies
• Video game publishers
• 2020 mergers and acquisitions