Officially opening our new location!
13 July 2014
Gamebasics located itself in the first and only football stadium office in the Netherlands in inner city Zoetermeer. Gamebasics’ new housing exudes football. It contains a goal, a tribune and a skybox. Framed football shirts, models of famous stadiums and a foosball game complete the pretty picture. CEO Jeroen Derwort: “When I started all this in 2001, I never could’ve dreamed it would be this big.”
The relocation was appropriately celebrated on May 16, 2014 with an opening ceremony and a following drink. Everyone that has anything to do with OSM was there. With the presence of employees, business contacts, friends and acquaintances, it was a joyful gathering on both of the office floors. Furthermore, the most fanatic OSM veterans from all over the country were invited to join the opening in Zoetermeer. In turn for their years of loyalty and involvement, the veterans were celebrated by Gamebasics.
A student from Groningen was able to make all those present laugh when he revealed he achieved his 3rd place in the ranking mostly by managing teams in the Faroe Islands. A retired art teacher from Amsterdam was called the ‘OSM professor’ by his students. He played OSM for over 10 years, every single day. “It’s an addictive game. You’re still curious whether or not you beat your opponent.”
Special guests were anchor man Jan-Joost van Gangelen and former professional football player and analyst Jan van Halst. Van Halst considered Gamebasics’ focus on the development of only one game to be the most important part of the success. To exemplify, Van Halst compared his own career as a footballer with this focus. The legendary Dutch footballer Willem van Hanegem told Van Halst he had to focus on one task instead of trying to do everything: from then on he had to restrict himself to recovering the ball. Among other things, Gamebasics’ focus contributed in a big way to the astonishing number of 5 million managers in OSM.
Alderwoman Mariëtte van Leeuwen was present on behalf of the city. Van Leeuwen spoke about how proud she was of the fact that Gamebasics is located in Zoetermeer. Especially because such a young and innovative company contributes to the strength of the region.
Gamebasics is very proud of its new accommodation and wants to thank everyone who helped realise the building. Our gratitude goes out, of course, to the architect and the contractor, but foremost to the OSM managers, because above all, OSM exists thanks to them!