Popular games published by company Ascaron

With Anstoss Action, a football simulation followed in 2001, the data of which can be integrated into Anstoss 3 to Anstoss 3 Action or A3 Action for short (comparable to EA Sports' “Football Fusion” technology). However, Anstoss Action could not really prevail against the competition from Electronic Arts and caused Ascaron's financial difficulties due to high development costs, which culminated in the first bankruptcy.

In 2004, a revised version of Anstoss Edition 03/04 was published again. In addition to a new user interface, a significantly improved AI and an extended text mode, numerous other changes (e.g. an improved transfer area) have been made. The changes were not visible at first glance, however, and so Anstoss 2005 was only considered a Kick Edition in new colors. Ascaron's goal, however, was mainly to attract new fans for future projects. Many ideas from Anstoss 4 were improved, but not fully developed. It is also possible here to buy a club and take over the presidency, but it is hardly possible to celebrate success here. The transfer market is also considered to be rather unrealistic, as 4 clubs always apply for a player.

One year after Anstoss 4, an error-corrected and extended version of Anstoss 4 was published with Anstoss 4 Edition 03/04. The text and 3D modes have been completely revised and made clearer and more user-friendly. Buyers of the previous version were offered an inexpensive exchange for the new edition. This edition was considered a kind of compensation for the fans; shortly before Christmas 2003, Ascaron released a free fan patch that integrated some of the features requested by fans into the game.

Anstoss 4, which appeared exclusively on DVD in 2002, could no longer build on the success of its predecessor. The game had to be completely reimplemented because the code of Anstoss 3 was considered too confused to be able to use it. This, as well as the short development time of only 12 months, meant that the program suffered from a large number of bugs that made it almost unplayable. Furthermore, the text and 3D mode was seen as too weak by the fan base and the manufacturer Ascaron was asked to make significant improvements. The manufacturer decided not to fix the program errors with patches, but rather to bring a new, revised manager onto the market based on Anstoss 4. Anstoss 4 is therefore considered to be the worst part of the Anstoss series, as it could not shine through playability, realism, or wit. Although the new database system, which now contained 145 countries, to which four leagues could be added, was praised by the manufacturer, it tended to cause very long waiting times, which massively delayed the game. Anstoss 4 differed from its predecessors not least in that the two main developers Gerald Köhler and Rolf Langenberg left the Ascaron team and switched to the competition from EA Sports to develop the soccer manager series there. Since then, the fan community has also split into two camps. Ascaron was sued by its competitor Electronic Arts for license infringement shortly before the publication of Anstoss 4 and had to crush the entire CD production and change all player names.

In 1997 Anstoss 2 was published. It was convincing with its wit, complexity, 2D scene mode and text mode. Good sales figures and good ratings (e.g. GameStar 83%) confirm this. The menu navigation of the game changed completely. Now there was a bar in the lower part of the screen, which led the player through the individual screens. Anstoss 2 specialized again completely in the job of the club manager. The developers took some of the weaknesses from Anstoss 1 and improved them. The opportunity to train in the 2nd Bundesliga and the then regional league (north, north-east, south, south-west) and in other countries (England, France, Italy, Spain) was particularly well received. In addition, the game was now playable indefinitely, which was very popular with the players. There was also a new game mode: "real managerial career". While in the soccer managers the player always had to choose his team himself before, when choosing this game mode, some rather weaker teams were thrown out with which the player could negotiate a coaching position. This game mode was seen as quite realistic and can be found in every competitive manager game these days.

In mid-2005, Ascaron announced Anstoss 2006. However, as the release was delayed, the game was renamed Anstoss 2007. On August 11, 2006, Anstoss 2007 was released, which corresponds to Anstoss 2006 except for the changed name, in an anniversary edition that contains some of the series' predecessors (Anstoss 2 Gold, Anstoss 3, Anstoss Action and Anstoss 4 Edition 03/04). The announcement by the developers to expand the text mode, revise the transfer market and reintegrate the popular network mode, which is designed for up to 64 players, was well received. However, the deletion of a national coach mode and a hot seat mode were received negatively. On January 30, 2007, after 5 patches, the work on Kick 2007 was officially stopped. Despite bitter criticism from the community because of remaining bugs and missing functions (described in the manual), Ascaron decided to take this step due to a lack of financial and human resources.