The founders met in an online game in 2014.
We were completely spread out over the whole of Germany and were working for different companies and institutions.
First playing together only provided entertainment and distraction, but as the years went on teammates became friends and instead of just playing, the digital get-together became the focus.
We got to know each other better and discovered we had a lot of similarities in our values and aspirations.
After a few years our favourite game lost some of its appeal and we began to search for alternatives.
Because our search for new and suitable entertainment remained fruitless we had the idea to build something ourselves: a world of our own.
At the end of 2017 we stopped playing together completely and organized several meetings to discuss possible business concepts.
We quickly realized our preference for the creative sector.
In the end we decided to create our own fantasy world and, based on it, a trading card game – a game that is possible to create with a small team but still offers good expansion potential.
The first two years we worked on our project in the evenings, alongside our main jobs and our families, in order to create the basis for funding.
We wrote the first novel of our fantasy world, developed the rules of our game, programmed the game prototype and implemented early processes and IT systems.
In January 2020 we were ready to tackle the foundation of our company.
It was spring 2022 and our timing for founding our company could not have been worse.
COVID-19 took over the world.
Investors stopped financing, the KfW had to organize thousands of emergency supports and all bureaucratic processes suddenly took ages.
Nothing went forward at all!
Instead of waiting for better days to come we decided to start small: with our own online shop for trading card games.
Why not use the time to create some sales, learn to work together and establish structures?
We all moved to our new home Landstuhl, founded Beyond Worlds GmbH in August 2022 and rented an office.
We learned a lot about distribution, the market and our marketing.
Sadly the development of our products had to be put on the back burner, but the time spent was not lost.
In the summer of 2022, the time had finally come. Together with Sparkasse Kaiserslautern, we secured financing for the development of our own products. We sold off the segment of our online shop that featured third-party products and, joining forces, began working on our actual project. Structures were established, the lore was further developed, and work on the game backend began. In the spring of 2023, we also received the Federal Funding for Video Games, which enabled us to create additional positions and grow to a team of 8 employees. Our office at Kaiserstr. 50 slowly began to fill up.
In the fall of 2024, we were pleased to welcome another partner: the Investment and Structural Bank of Rhineland-Palatinate (ISB), whose venture capital department we were able to convince of our project. Thanks to ISB’s investment, we were able to create additional positions and significantly expand the scope of the planned game content for the 2026 release. With the new team members (we are now 12 in total), our office became too small, so we moved to Kaiserstr. 57, where there is plenty of space for everyone. We are currently working with full force on completing our trading card game as well as preparing for its market launch. We look forward to presenting you with a comprehensive and highly innovative trading card game in 2026.