JoWood axes two studios in Germany and Austria

Austrian publisher JoWooD has announced that it is to shut two of its studios, with its development location in Ebensee, Austria, closing its doors along with German development studio Wings Simulations.

Around 30 employees will be hit by the cutbacks, which have been made as part of an ongoing restructuring plan at the company and are down to a "deficit in sales and distribution" as well as concerns over the quality of products being worked on.

Wings Simulations is best known for its most recent title, Soldner: Secret Wars, which received weak reviews when it launched in the middle of last year but is still due to receive an expansion pack this year - the status of which is unaffected in the wake of Wings' closure.

Ebensee's best-known product, meanwhile, was the management simulation title Transport Giant.

On a related note, JoWooD founder Andreas Tobler has left the company, and is succeeded as CEO of the publisher by Dr. Albert Seidl.

"The supervisory board recognizes the substantial achievements of Mr. Tobler," commented chairman Andreas Rudas. "We thank for his commitment and the enthusiasm for the company. Mr. Tobler will consult the company in the transition period. We, the supervisory board, are convinced that with the new nomination as well as clear setting of tasks for Dr. Seidl, the priorities in the company were focused again. Thus the strength of JoWood shall be realized quickly. We wish Dr. Seidl a lot of success."