Software 2000

Software 2000 was a German game publisher and developer that became one of the biggest German game companies in the 1990s.

Software 2000 was founded 1987 in Eutin (a small town in Schleswig-Holstein) by brothers Andreas and Marc Wardenga. They produced and published games for Amiga, Atari ST, PC and later on for Gameboy Color and the Playstation.

Very successful and even internationally well-known is their "Bundesliga Manager" series (published as "The Manager" in Europe), starting in 1989, which made the sports management genre popular. Also notable are their "Artventure" series of German-speaking interactive fiction games. In the mid-1990s they produced other manager games like "Eishockey Manager" and the "Pizza Connection" / "Pizza Syndicate" series. Notable later games include the puzzler "Swing".

The company produced several titles in parallel with small teams. This strategy proved fatal with the rising standards of full priced games. With sinking sales and important people leaving the company, Software 2000 filed for bankruptcy in 2002.