Mimimi Games GmbH (formerly Mimimi Productions) was a German video game developer based in Munich that specialised in creating strategy and tactical games. It was founded in January 2011 by Dominik Abé and Johannes Roth, who had previously developed Grounded (2009) while studying video game design. Notable games developed by the studio include The Last Tinker: City of Colors (2014), Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun (2016), Desperados III (2020), and Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew (2023). By November 2021, Mimimi Games employed 38 people.[1] On 29 August 2023, the studio announced that it would be closing down.[2]

Mimimi Games GmbH
Company typePrivate
IndustryVideo games
Founded13 January 2011; 13 years ago (2011-01-13)
Founders
  • Dominik Abé
  • Johannes Roth
DefunctDecember 2023
Headquarters,
Germany
Key people
Johannes Roth (managing director)
Number of employees
38 (2021)
Websitemimimi.games

History edit

Mimimi Games began as a co-operation between Dominik Abé and Johannes Roth, video game design students at the Mediadesign Hochschule [de] in Munich. In October 2008, they began working together under the name "Mimimi" and developed their first game, Grounded, which was released in November 2009.[3][4] The game got second place in the "Gamesload Newcommer Awards" at the 2009 Deutscher Entwicklerpreis and was nominated in the "Best Concept from a Student Competition" category for the 2010 Deutscher Computerspielpreis ceremony.[5][6]

Following Grounded's release, the team began working in the Unity game engine to create a game, later titled daWindci, in which the player would control the weather to direct a hot air balloon to a destination. A prototype for personal computers was shown at Gamescom 2010, where it received positive reception. However, its mouse-based input system was perceived as an obstacle and the studio was advised to bring the game to mobile devices instead. Planning to develop it for iPad devices, the team found that it would need approximately €15,000 to acquire the needed hardware and software, which they could not finance themselves. They thus turned to developer Reality Twist, which agreed to publish the game and Mimimi hired Florian Smolka and Lucas Reiner as artists to overhaul the game's style.

On 13 January 2011, Abé and Roth founded Mimimi Productions GbR, and daWindci was released on 14 April that year. Mimimi Productions was incorporated anew as Mimimi Productions UG in January 2012.[3][4][7]

On 29 August 2023, it was announced that the studio would be closing down due to the rising costs of development and not enough revenue being generated.[8] The studio formally shut down in December of that year.[9]

Games developed edit

Year Title Publisher(s) Platform(s) Ref(s)
2011 daWindci Reality Twist iOS [3]
2014 The Last Tinker: City of Colors Unity Games, Loot Entertainment Linux, macOS, Windows, PlayStation 4 [10]
2016 Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun Daedalic Entertainment Linux, macOS, Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One [11]
2020 Desperados III THQ Nordic Linux, macOS, Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One [12]
2021 Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun - Aiko's Choice Daedalic Entertainment Linux, Windows [13]
2023 Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew Mimimi Games Windows, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S

References edit

  1. ^ Fröhlich, Petra (25 November 2021). "Mimimi Games wächst auf 38 Mitarbeiter" [Mimimi Games grows to 38 employees]. GamesWirtschaft (in German). Archived from the original on 26 November 2021. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  2. ^ Square, Push (29 August 2023). "Shadow Gambit Team Mimimi Forced to Close Over Rising Genre Costs". Push Square. Retrieved 29 August 2023.
  3. ^ a b c Abé, Dominik; Roth, Johannes (15 September 2011). "Die Entstehung von daWindci" [The origin of daWindci]. Making Games [de] (in German). Archived from the original on 3 July 2020. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  4. ^ a b "History". Mimimi Games. 2019. Archived from the original on 13 January 2020. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  5. ^ Odak, Sandro (10 December 2009). "Deutscher Entwicklerpreis 2009: And the winner is... – Deutschlands Spielebranche feiert sich selbst" [German Developer Award 2009: And the winner is... – Germany's game industry celebrates itself]. Gamezone (in German). Archived from the original on 3 July 2020. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  6. ^ Sosinka, Michael (10 March 2010). "Deutscher Computerspielpreis: Die Nominierungen" [Deutscher Computerspielpreis: The nominations]. Gamezone (in German). Archived from the original on 3 July 2020. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  7. ^ Fröhlich, Petra (9 June 2017). "GamesWirtschaft Studiotour Episode 6: Mimimi Productions – München" [GamesWirtschaft studio tour episode 6: Mimimi Productions – Munich]. GamesWirtschaft (in German). Archived from the original on 3 July 2020. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  8. ^ Bonthuys, Darryn (29 August 2023). "Weeks After Releasing An Acclaimed Game, A 15-Year-Old Studio Is Shutting Down". GameSpot. Retrieved 29 August 2023.
  9. ^ Mahardy, Mike (29 December 2023). "Mimimi Games revived a genre, pushed it forward, and then shut down". Polygon. Retrieved 1 January 2024.
  10. ^ Podolsky, Andrew (6 March 2014). "The Last Tinker: City of Colors is an artistic platformer with a handmade feel (preview)". VentureBeat. Archived from the original on 27 November 2016. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
  11. ^ Chalk, Andy (22 November 2016). "Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun demo now available on Steam and GOG". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on 3 July 2020. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  12. ^ Wales, Matt (20 February 2020). "Wild West tactical stealth sequel Desperados 3 now due this summer". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 3 July 2020. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
  13. ^ Smith, Graham (6 December 2021). "Shadow Tactics standalone expansion Aiko's Choice is out now". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 1 January 2022.

External links edit