Double Feature: Milestones 2008 & 2007 | Kalypso Media Blog

13. August 2021

Double Feature: Milestones 2008 & 2007

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We’ve reached the home stretch of our milestone timeline for #15YearsOfKalypso! Are you as excited as we are? Today, we’re taking a closer look at the milestones from 2008 and 2007. We’ve got some fun stories to share, so let’s get right to it!

Milestone 2008: Realmforge and the Mystery of the Cakes

Once upon a time, there were three diligent developers working on the point-and-click adventure game Ceville under the company name ‘Weltenschmiede’. In 2008, after a great collaboration, the three employees became twelve and Realmforge Studios, our first in-house studio, was born. Since then, the 26-strong team has gone from strength to strength with titles like DARK, Spacebase Startopia and the Dungeons series.

‘Weltenschmiede’ did sound a bit German though, so they decided to translate it to English and voilà, ‘Realmforge’ was born. Speaking of names – they also live up to their well-known and beloved sense of humour when naming their games! Realmforge always gives their projects the most generic working titles they can think of, so that it never becomes the final name of the game. We think that works like a charm: Dungeons (3), DARK…

Over the years, more internal traditions have been established – *cough* frogs *cough* – so for first days, birthdays, anniversaries or other celebrations, there are always a few frozen cakes in the kitchen, complete with a note NOT to eat them before 12pm so they can defrost! Consequently, around 11:30 a.m., there isn’t anything left of the cake display.

Fittingly, Realmforge Studios also has the highest milk consumption of all internal studios, and that includes our headquarters in Worms!

We just can’t get enough of our Munich-based development team and we’re eagerly looking forward to more tales from the Realmforge crypt.

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Milestone 2007: Schnitzel, Gluhwein and Christmas

Let’s jump even further – after all, this is a double feature! In 2007, just one year after our founding, we opened our first location in England. Thanks to our early internationalisation, we were able to quickly gain a global foothold.

Andrew Johnson, Managing Director UK/Vice President USA, still remembers how he regularly came to Worms, where our headquarters is located, during the early days of the UK office.

“We have been to the German headquarters many times. I especially remember the Christmas parties. There was delicious Indian food and then we went bowling for about 2 hours and I think we were all completely wiped out! Visiting Germany during Christmas time is like a dream! The Christmas markets with their mulled wine just draw us in.”

Another fun fact about Andy himself: “Personally, I’m very partial to Wiener schnitzel, as everyone will tell you. If it’s on the menu I will be pretty much guaranteed to have it as long as the sauce is on the side.”

And with those lovely closing words, we reach the end of another Kalypso milestone blog post.

If you’d like to prepare for our upcoming birthday on August 16th and review the past #15YearsOfKalypso, check out our blog category for plenty more fun memories!