History

Thunderful Group in its current form was founded in 2019 after a restructuring of the company groups Bergsala and Thunderful to create a strong player focusing on development and publishing of games as well as distribution of games and related products.

The individual subsidiaries within the Thunderful Group have a long history as Nordic companies active in the gaming industry. The Group's oldest subsidiary Amo Oy was founded as early as 1965. The subsidiary Bergsala AB also has a long history and a unique background due to its long relationship with Nintendo and distribution of Nintendo products. The company has been the sole distributor of Nintendo products in Sweden since 1981, and now also in all Nordic countries and the Baltics.

1965

Lelumyynti Ky, today Amo Oy, is founded and becomes one of the Nordic region's first distributors of toys

1976

Bergsala AB is founded by Owe Bergsten, Pierre Sandsten and Lars-Göran Larsson, and starts importing home electronics to the radio store El-Be Hi-Fi in Kungsbacka

1981

Bergsala enters into a distribution contract for selling Nintendo products in Sweden. Through the partnership, Bergsala becomes Nintendo's first international distribution partner, and subsequently Nintendo’s sole distributor of products in the Nordics and the Baltic states

1986

The Nintendo Club is founded in connection with the launch of the NES game console and reaches over 450,000 members in Sweden at the turn of the year 1987/1988

1992

Bergsala's operations are scaled down due in part to the financial crisis of the nineties, as well as the less successful launch of the game console SNES, which did not achieve the same success in Sweden as its predecessor, NES

1997

Image & Form International AB is founded by Brjann Sigurgeirsson. Initially developing games and software in the educational genre (edutainment) before shifting focus to pure game development in 2009

2001

Zoink AB is founded by Klaus Lyngeled. Focusing on narrative gaming experiences and innovative design

2004

Rising Star Games Ltd is founded by Bergsala together with the Japanese game publisher Marvelous Entertainment

2010

The first SteamWorld game is launched by Image & Form

2010

Nordic Game Supply AB is founded by Bergsala and Henrik Mathiasen

2011

Bergsala buys 50 percent of Image & Form

2012

Amo Toys Scandinavia is founded after a merger of Bergsala, Henrik Mathiasen and Amo Oy

2014

Bergsala buys 50 percent of Zoink

2016

Bergsala acquires Amo Oy and restructures Amo Toys Scandinavia and Amo Oy into Amo Toys Nordic AB the following year

2017

Thunderful AB is formed through a merger of the game developers Image & Form and Zoink

2018

Thunderful Publishing AB is formed as a subsidiary of Thunderful AB

2019

Thunderful Group is formed after a restructuring of the company groups Thunderful and Bergsala, where the newly formed company Thunderful Group AB acquires all Group companies from the previous owner Bergsala Holding AB. At the end of the year, Guru Games is acquired.

2020

Bergsala's distribution contract with Nintendo is renewed, which means that the partnership in 2021 celebrates 40 years

2020

Image & Form, Zoink and Guru Games are merged and fully integrated in Thunderful Development AB

2020

Thunderful Group acquires all shares in British game studio Coatsink, which thus becomes part of the Group's gaming operations