Welcome to astragon Entertainment

The company
astragon Entertainment (founded in 1998) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Team17 Group PLC, and  one of the leading German games publishers. Since 2023, German game development studio Independent Arts Software has become a part of astragon Entertainment. As a result, we are now actively involved as developers in the creation of our simulation brands. Our main focus is on developing and publishing sophisticated working simulation games that feature non-violent cooperative gameplay in highly detailed, technical and realistic game environments. Since 2019 we are based in Düsseldorf, the state capital of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany’s most populous federal state. In addition to our modern, open-plan office with numerous flexible workspaces as well as small and large meeting rooms that can be used for group work and discussions, or concentrated, creative solo work, our employees enjoy a flexible home office solution. This option serves as an employee and family-friendly alternative for our team members. We regularly welcome students for internships in various departments, and have also been offering vocational training for clerk for audiovisual media since 2020. astragon Entertainment is a member of “game – The German Games Industry Association e.V.” and “games.nrw e.V.”. 

The people
The astragon Entertainment team consists of about 60 creative minds, who especially value the company’s informal atmosphere, its flat hierarchies and the freedom to achieve one's own goals. Advanced training opportunities ensure necessary professionalization and open up new career perspectives within the company. For us team spirit is not only important when working on our games - regular events such as trade fairs, summer festivals, Christmas parties, workshops and charity events such as the RhineCleanUp are a lot of fun and strengthen our sense of belonging. Speaking of social commitment: Not only do we make a donation to a project dear to our hearts every year in the run-up to Christmas, we also supported the charity online format "Line 42 - The Call-In-Show" of the non-profit association Helden e.V., which campaigned against racism, (cyber)mobbing and for more civil courage in society in 2021. Furthermore, as part of the “Girls´ Day” and Boys´ Day” initiatives, we offer the opportunity for students to gain insights into the world of a game publisher. In addition, we are signatories to the joint declaration of the German games industry for more diversity under the slogan "Hier spielt Vielfalt #TeamDiversity".

The brands
astragon Entertainment’s internationally well-known IPs include Construction Simulator, Bus Simulator, Police Simulator: Patrol Officers and Firefighting Simulator. We attach particular importance to cooperative, non-violent gameplay, detailed and above all realistic game environments as well as long-standing brand cooperations with industry partners from all over the world, which allow us to realistically transfer real-life vehicles and machines into virtual worlds. We are addressing a broad target group of players of all genders and ages and offer them family-friendly entertainment around the fascination of technology. The distribution of high-quality licensed and distribution products such as Farming Simulator and SnowRunner and third-party titles such as Railroads Online and Abriss – build to destroy complete our interesting product range. Our games are available worldwide on various platforms such as consoles, smartphones, tablets and PCs.

• 1998 Press start: rondomedia Marketing & Vertriebs GmbH is founded by André Franzmann and starts operations in Moenchengladbach/Germany. This lays the foundation for the future astragon Group
• 2000 Player Two has entered the lobby Foundation of the subsidiary astragon Software GmbH by Dirk Walner and André Franzmann in Hagen, 2004 move to Moenchengladbach
• 2008 It’s all a simulation, baby: Farming Simulator 2008 and Euro Truck Simulator are released as the first parts of two very successful simulation game series that manage to delight their fans up to the present day
• 2009 In the line of fire: rondomedia launches the license title Real Heroes: Firefighter on Nintendo Wii, thereby proving: players love simulation games on consoles as well
• 2010 Highscore! The German LARA Special Award goes to rondomedia and astragon
• 2011 Farm power! Farming Simulator 2011 wins a German Developer Award in the category „Best Simulation Game“
• 2012 A new dawn: Farming Simulator 2013 becomes the first game of the popular series to appear simultaneously on PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3!
• 2012 Let’s set a new course astragon strategically realigns itself and moves on from being a distributor to becoming an international publisher
• 2013 Build your own world: Construction Simulator 2014 becomes a world hit on mobile devices
• 2015 We are family: rondomedia and astragon now form the astragon group consisting of astragon Sales & Services and astragon Entertainment
• 2016 Be my bus: With Bus Simulator 16 another popular games series makes its return to PC
• 2016 Mod me tender: Farming Simulator 17 becomes the first game worldwide to offer the option of adding user-created mods on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One
• 2017 New Captains on the bridge! Julia Pfiffer and Tim Schmitz take over the management of astragon Entertainment. They are pushing forward the development of own IPs and the expansion of international publishing.
• 2018 Right on schedule: Bus Simulator 18 wows fans with a new game engine and exciting bus brands
• 2018 And the Gamescom Award 2018 goes to: Farming Simulator 19 wins the title of “Best Simulation” in show
• 2019 Boston Tea Party: astragon presents its first booth at PAX East
• 2019 To boldly go, where no astragonian has gone before: The astragon HQ moves to Duesseldorf
• 2021 Party time! We celebrate “20 Years of astragon Entertainment”
• 2021 Even closer: together astragon Sales & Services finally merges with astragon Entertainment
• 2022 On to new horizons: astragon becomes part of Team17 Group plc
• 2023 Boundless Synergy: astragon Entertainment acquires Independent Arts Software, one of the longest serving games development studios in Germany