Ankama Games

Ankama Games

Type	SARL
Industry	Video game design (Ankama Games), Interactive communication (Ankama Web), Comic book publishing (Ankama Publishing)
Founded	May 15, 2001
Headquarters	75 boulevard d'Armentières, 59100 Roubaix Cedex 1 - France
Key people	Camille Chafer (lead programmer, co-founder), Anthony Roux (art director, co-founder), Emmanuel Darras (sales manager, co-founder)
Employees	250 (as of May, 2008)
Website	http://www.ankama.com

Ankama Games is a French company, focused on the design of Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (Dofus, Dofus Arena and Wakfu). The company was founded by Anthony Roux, Camille Chafer, and Emmanuel "Manu" Darras. Ankama Games is a subsidiary of Ankama Group. The company name comes from their own names : ANthony, KAmille, MAnu.

History

• 2001, foundation of Ankama, web agency.
• 2003, Ankama Games, subsidiary of the company, began developing its first game, Dofus. Dofus was fully developed in Flash and a beta version was released in October of this year.
• 2004, after nearly a year of beta testing, the game was distributed via Internet and updates were regularly added.
• 2005, Dofus was officially released in September. Ankama Editions was created to develop comic book publishing. Ankama began development on Dofus Arena, the second game by the studio.
• 2006, Wakfu began development.
• 2007, Dofus-Arena version 2 was released, the alpha version of Wakfu was presented for the Japan Expo, and Ankama Animation was created, dedicated to the Wakfu animated series.
• 2011, Wakfu was launched into open beta after more then 4 years of development. The full release was announced to be February of 2012

Video games

Ankama Games create, produce and distribute their own video games:

• Dofus, the first game of the studio, is an MMORPG developed entirely in Flash. The game encourages players to move in a world with lots of quests and scenery with a tactical combat system. The game uses a unique, turn based tactical combat system, which sets Dofus apart from many other MMO's. The game is free to play, but more features are available when the player purchases a subscription to the game.

• Dofus Arena, whose public beta-testing began in early 2006, is the PvP (Player versus player) version of Dofus. The goal is to set up a team by a coach with a budget and then to defeat your opponent. Dofus Arena take the same combat system from Dofus and puts you into an arena setting where you climb a tournament ladder by defeating your opponents.

• Wakfu, an MMORPG developed in 2011, allows players to build a society without any NPC interference. The game takes place in the same world as Dofus, but is set 200 years later.

Comic Book Publishing

Ankama Editions has released a comic called Mutafukaz, which is very successful in France and can also be obtained while buying subscriptions to the Dofus game.

• Artbooks Dofus
• Dofus manga
• Original SoundTrack Dofus
• Mutafukaz comic book (bd)
• Pandala comic book (bd)
• Dofus arena manga
• Maliki, comic book (bd)
• Dofus monster manga
• kuma-kuma manga
• Chaosland comic book (bd)
• Artbook Café Salé
• Dofus mag
• Debaser manga
• Freaks Squeele comic book (bd)

Web

Ankama Web is an interactive communication agency specialized in the new media, the creation of Internet sites and the strategies of buzz marketing. Ankama Web thus develops sites and applications Internet for professionals. Created in 2001, the agency is historically the first pole of activity of Ankama group.

Press

Created on June 15, 2007, Ankama Presse continues the will of the group of to register in a true cultural diversity by proposing with the general public the publication magazines. Dofus Mag is the first leading product d' Ankama Presses. It corresponds to what the Japanese name a mook. This term indicates a hybrid leading product, mixture between magazine and book. Distributed in kiosk, it is intended to be read and preserved as a book.

Animation

ANKAMA Animations, the all new branch of the Ankama group, is in the course of production of its project of cartoon in bond with the future Wakfu video game. This animated series will include 52 episodes/webisodes.

External links

• Ankama Games Portal
• Official site for Dofus
• Official site for Dofus-Arena
• Official site for Wakfu
• Official Mutafukaz website
• Official Maliki website
• International Dofus fan-forums

References