1994 was not only the year the PlayStation launched in Japan, but World of Games was also founded on the 1th of August 1994 by Michael Wyler and Thomas von Arx in Michael and Christian Wyler's mother's flat. This was the beginning of a success story...

At that time, the entire games industry in Switzerland was literally still in its infancy. The products still had the reputation of 'children's toys' and were only noticed by gamers, nerds and children. Nevertheless, Michael Wyler and Thomas von Arx took on the challenge of turning their hobby into a profession. They had a lot of work to do, which meant that their favourite pastime had to take a back seat. The video game mail order business had to be founded and publicised with little manpower.

In the following years, the entire industry grew and World of Games profited accordingly. Skilfully, the team adapted to the circumstances. Thus, in 1997, the decision not only to open a shop but also to establish the Internet portal wog.ch was certainly the right one. From then on, the ever-growing, loyal clientele could order video, board and card games as well as the first DVDs from the comfort of their own homes, which were delivered by post the very next day.

The new millennium saw the launch of a new generation of consoles. This was also the time when Claudia and Christian Wyler joined the WoG team. The triumph of the medium was unstoppable. The successful PlayStation 2 was probably not entirely innocent of the fact that the DVD, which Sony cleverly integrated into the console, dealt the final death blow to the aging VHS cassette.

The ever-increasing budgets of developers also had a positive effect on the games industry and gave rise to games that could increasingly compete with expensive Hollywood blockbusters. Games grew up and with them the players. World of Games luckily also survived puberty.

Thanks on the one hand to word-of-mouth propaganda, on the other hand to the popular Internet portal and the expertise of the people involved, the number of employees grew steadily. The business premises had to be expanded and even changed several times to meet the growing demand. Today, with almost 40 employees, WoG has reached dimensions that the two founders hardly dared to dream of.

In the past, a small corner with a tiny table was enough to send the goods. Today, there are four large packing tables to get the many parcels ready for dispatch in time. In the beginning, a simple shelf served as storage. Hard to imagine today, because WoG could almost compete with a Swedish furniture giant in this respect.

What was once only to be found in children's rooms has wound up in every living room. For a long time now, Sony and Microsoft consoles have been able to do more than just entertain with games. The newer models are now veritable multimedia players. Internet, Blu-ray, full HD, media player, motion control, digital and online gaming: all this represents the evolution of video game consoles.

WoG has evolved just as much. In line with the consoles, the assortment has also become more and more multimedial. Books have joined the expanded range of games. The round-the-clock availability of digital games does not make World of Games look old in times of streaming and downloads. In 2019, the time had come: the shop was also able to change sides of the road and welcome customers in Unterentfelden on a space fice times as big as the previous store. On this huge playground, space was created for the new additions to the range. Board games, figurines and other toys can be attractively presented. Books, comics and mangas also find their rightful place in the shop and round off the design perfectly.

2022, a major redesign was implemented and the webshop was modernised and new features were introduced. The same year also saw personnel changes, with Valon Raci and Kayleigh Flury joining the management team. Two years later, WoG celebrated its 30th anniversary. A party was held in the shop on 2 and 3 August 2024 to celebrate and play games - as befits Switzerland's largest online games retailer. But 30 years of WoG should not be the last. We are always eager to embark on new projects and product range expansions, such as the ever-growing tabletop sector.
We look forward to everything that lies ahead - game on!