ANNO 1602 Crowned With Success

Langen, Germany. The joint production of "ANNO 1602 - Creation of a New World", from SUNFLOWERS and the Austrian design team Max Design, has been creating a furor since it was first released in April 1998.
The skillful mixture and consequent development of interesting genres found thousands of enthusiastic players from the first day on. That the combination of exciting realtime strategy on the one side and well done commerce and trade simulation on the other side is successful is not only proved by the sales figures.

In Germany, ANNO 1602 is the most successful computer game ever, having sold more than 600,000 units. Right after its release in April 1998, ANNO 1602 hit the charts as No. 1, with a considerable distance to the second best title and so far it has kept dominating the top ranks of the German Media Control Charts for more than 40 weeks.
Furthermore, ANNO 1602 is not only a major German chartbreaker, but also crosses other borders very well: more than one Million units have been sold in Europe so far, making ANNO 1602 one of the most successful computer games within Europe. This figure combines the sales of ANNO 1602 and of the Add-on CD "New Islands, New Adventures" published in November 1998.
ANNO 1602 is the first computer game to ever receive the double platinum award from the German Entertainment Software Association (VUD) for over 400,000 copies sold.Nach dem durchschlagenden Erfolg von ANNO 1602 in Deutschland und der tollen Performance in Europa und Asien, soll ANNO 1602 nun auch in USA zu einem Hit werden.

After ANNO 1602's outstanding success in Germany and its not less impressive performance in Europe and Asia, it is now the joint aim of SUNFLOWERS and GT Interactive to make ANNO 1602 (1602 A.D.) a top-selling title throughout the U.S., too.
On February 12th, 1999, Harry M. Rubin, Executive Vice President of GT Interactive and Marcella Link, Managing Director of SUNFLOWERS signed a licensing (and distribution) agreement on ANNO 1602 covering the USA, Australia and New Zealand. The US release has been scheduled for August 1999. ANNO 1602 will be released under the name 1602 A.D. in the US.

"We received many inquiries from the most important American publishers, but finally, we made our decision in favor of GT Interactive.
GT Interactive is the perfect partner for us, because they are top in sales and marketing.
It is our common goal to make 1602 A.D. a No.1 hit in the USA and it is a real pleasure to experience the enthusiasm and the commitment the whole GT Interactive team shows for the project." Marcella Link, Managing Director SUNFLOWERS

"1602 A.D. achieved its record success in Europe by melding complex elements such as production, colonization and real-time battles, into an intuitive and exciting gaming experience." said Tony Kee, Director of Marketing for GT Interactive "By further expanding on 1602 A.D.´s innovative game design, we hope to build on this exciting franchise."