BoardGameWire's Newsletter

Asmodee continues push into crowdfunding by buying Cthulhu: Death May Die series from struggling CMON

October 20, 2025

BoardGameWire is proud to have our newsletter sponsored by the following companies. Please click on the logos to see what they can offer, and help support...

GAMA unveils 10-year plan to become “epicenter” of global tabletop gaming industry, renames itself after almost 50 years

October 2, 2025

BoardGameWire is proud to have our newsletter sponsored by the following companies. Please click on the logos to see what they can offer, and help support...

Former airline captain hoping to create the Gen Con of Dubai with launch of the Middle East’s first dedicated board game convention

September 19, 2025

BoardGameWire is proud to have our newsletter sponsored by the following companies. Please click on the logos to see what they can offer, and help support...

Devir to recall all copies of new release Ace of Spades after backlash over slavery depictions in artwork, apologises for causing harm

August 8, 2025

BoardGameWire is proud to have our newsletter sponsored by the following companies. Please click on the logos to see what they can offer, and help support...

Board game retailer Zatu Games denies exploiting low-paid apprentices, ‘toxic’ work culture claims after wave of online criticism

July 21, 2025

BoardGameWire is proud to have our newsletter sponsored by the following companies. Please click on the logos to see what they can offer, and help support...

“We’re like a Tiny Epic Asmodee”: Tycoon Games CEO Dan Yarrington on the company’s ongoing acquisition spree, future plans and criticism of his past business practices

July 9, 2025

BoardGameWire is proud to have our newsletter sponsored by the following companies. Please click on the logos to see what they can offer, and help support...

Asmodee buys Zombicide IP from struggling CMON as first move in new acquisition spree

June 12, 2025

BoardGameWire is proud to have our newsletter sponsored by the following companies. Please click on the logos to see what they can offer, and help support...

Asmodee’s plan to ‘reignite’ buyouts of smaller companies unaffected by tariffs, CEO says uncertainty ‘presents opportunities for strategic acquisitions’

May 23, 2025

BoardGameWire is proud to have our newsletter sponsored by the following companies. Please click on the logos to see what they can offer, and help support...

Board game publishers brace for shipping price hike, delays as US drops tariffs on China to 30% in 90-day ‘truce’

May 15, 2025

BoardGameWire is proud to have our newsletter sponsored by the following companies. Please click on the logos to see what they can offer, and help support...

Boardssey: The All-in-One Platform Reshaping How Board Games Get Made [sponsored]

May 6, 2025

Hello! This quick email is a departure from our regular newsletter roundups, featuring just a single article sponsored by game design toolkit Boardssey....

CMON’s 2024 losses even worse than it predicted at over $3m – almost double its profits from the last three years combined

May 1, 2025

BoardGameWire is proud to have our newsletter sponsored by the following companies. Please click on the logos to see what they can offer, and help support...

Steve Jackson Games CEO Meredith Placko resigns after two years in role

April 17, 2025

BoardGameWire is proud to have our newsletter sponsored by the following companies. Please click on the logos to see what they can offer, and help support...

Board game crowdfunding major CMON issues profit warning, says losses could exceed $2m for 2024

March 13, 2025

BoardGameWire is proud to have our newsletter sponsored by the following companies. Please click on the logos to see what they can offer, and help support...

“Board games are about to get more expensive”: Arcane Wonders president Robert Geistlinger on tariffs, razor-thin margins and the math of producing games

February 21, 2025

Plus: Retailers step in to help Dutch publisher Splotter after US distributor GTS cancels ‘large order’ over tariff uncertainty

“Our ambition for 2025 is to be number one in tabletop”: Gamefound closes gap on Kickstarter again as crowdfunding giant’s 2024 dollars raised remains flat

February 6, 2025

Plus: End looms for Mythic Games as company gives up trying to deliver $1.3m Monsterpocalypse Kickstarter, hands files over to IP holder Privateer Press

“It’s important to us that we find new CMON fans all the time”: CMON hires board game YouTube channel Man vs Meeple’s CEO to run its global marketing campaigns

January 27, 2025

Plus: “We cannot work without each other”: The White Castle’s husband and wife design duo Isra and Shei on creating as as team, design pitfalls, and which games impressed them in 2024

Board game distribution major Alliance gets $39m buyout bid as owner Diamond Comics files for bankruptcy protection

January 15, 2025

Plus: Super Meeple to shake up distribution amid retailer “reluctance” to stock expert games

Rebellion defends Joyride over plagiarism claim as Powerboats designer presses for royalties

December 12, 2024

Plus: Ex-Elf Creek Games designer tries to save one of the floundering company’s Kickstarter projects, as publisher’s months-long silence continues

Acquisitions are back at Asmodee as board game giant eyes more than 20 buyout targets

November 21, 2024

Plus: “Despair. Hopelessness. Frustration. Sadness”: board game professionals fear for industry’s future under “reckless” Trump tariffs – but GAMA plans to fight back

“It’s theft”: Root artist Kyle Ferrin on the “slop” of AI art, and why publishers using it are “devaluing all of board games as an industry”

November 7, 2024

Plus: Board gaming’s biggest job site is an almost 20,000-strong Facebook group – and is planning its first ever live event next year

No, Mythic Games hasn’t gone into liquidation – but its fate should be decided by the end of the month

October 17, 2024

Plus: Tabletop Game Designers Association persuades Barnes & Noble to start namechecking board game designers in online store listings

“Did it save the company? Yes and no”: FunForge’s CEO on fighting its financial woes by selling the Tokaido line to Stonemaier

October 11, 2024

Plus: Tabletop Game Designers Association persuades Barnes & Noble to start namechecking board game designers in online store listings

Zenobia Award continues push to lift up underrepresented game designers, reveals nine nominees diversifying historical tabletop design

September 26, 2024

Plus: Upper Deck lawsuit claiming Lorcana’s designer stole the game from them rumbles on in courts

Root, Arcs maker Leder Games in talks for video game of ‘one of its IPs’, comics also potentially in the works

September 19, 2024

Plus: CMON’s COO David Preti is resigning after eight years at the company

Board Game Arena boost has helped Splendor games surge to three million sales

September 12, 2024

Plus: Dice Tower production manager Roy Cannaday leaves after success of Last Light design “opens up new opportunities”

Flamecraft designer Manny Vega on quitting his 20-year video games career to make board games his “forever home”

September 6, 2024

Plus: CMON’s H1 revenue falls almost 25% year-on-year amid heavy slump in wholesale earnings

Meet Meeples, the startup using tech to take on Asmodee in board game distribution and fulfillment

August 16, 2024

Plus: Asmodee remains jewel in Embracer’s crown despite suffering quarterly sales drop

“A lot of luck and many contacts”: How small Swiss publisher Treecer successfully pitched Microsoft to create the Zoo Tycoon board game

July 31, 2024

Plus: Spiel des Jahres bans Daybreak co-designer Matteo Menapace for wearing pro-Palestine watermelon sticker

“The ride here wasn’t without its bumps:” Heat: Pedal to the Metal co-designer Asger Harding Granerud on his journey from board game distributor and retailer to BGG Top 40 designer

July 12, 2024

Plus: Origins seals record post-Covid attendance, hopes to attract back larger publishers for 50th anniversary next year

Spinning plates: How a one-person publisher is bringing Imperial Borders, the latest giant game from legendary Axis & Allies designer Larry Harris, to the table [sponsored]

July 2, 2024

Thank you to Nightingale Games for supporting our reporting

“You can run a $1.5m campaign and end up with a net loss of $1m”: Why math, math, math has been key to Dux Somnium’s blossoming board game Kickstarters

June 20, 2024

Plus: The word ‘meeple’ is being trademarked in the US in reaction to ‘cease and desist’ activity from Carcassonne publisher Hans Im Glueck

Kickstarter board games veteran Monolith unveils new campaign, Mythic Battles: Isfet [sponsored]

June 7, 2024

Thank you to Monolith Board Games for supporting our reporting

Spiel Essen scraps using AI art to promote event after backlash last year, ongoing legal uncertainty

June 6, 2024

Plus: Record-breaking UK Games Expo preps for even bigger future after being outbid for its main hall next year

How All About Games Consulting created a one-stop shop for board game services [sponsored]

May 28, 2024

Thank you to All About Games Consulting for supporting our reporting

Veteran designer Kevin Wilson on his dive into worker placement, and Asmodee writes down more than $620m

May 24, 2024

Plus: Dicebreaker owner Gamer Network bought by IGN, redundancies begin across group

Three years late, and months without an update: FunForge CEO expresses “frustration” that Monumental Kickstarter is still not ready to deliver

May 10, 2024

Plus: GAMA shifts 2025 Expo dates after ‘blowing past projections’, TTGDA aims to level playing field between designers and publishers

Asmodee’s owner loads it up with €900m debt, and BoardGameWire celebrates its first birthday

April 25, 2024

BoardGameWire - The world’s leading source of industry news and analysis for board game professionals.

Embracer commits to Asmodee's future as restructuring ends, plus what board game veteran Zev Shlasinger just learned from his first crowdfunding campaign

March 28, 2024

BoardGameWire - The world’s leading source of industry news and analysis for board game professionals.

Gen Con-style events, an extra hall: UK Games Expo mulls expansion options as it preps for its biggest, most international event yet

March 14, 2024

BoardGameWire - The world’s leading source of industry news and analysis for board game professionals.

Four years after leaving Asmodee, Dead of Winter creator Plaid Hat is finally free to do things its own way

March 1, 2024

BoardGameWire - The world’s leading source of industry news and analysis for board game professionals.

Asmodee shines amid more Embracer cost-cutting, and how The Op got 8 million TikTok views last month

February 15, 2024

BoardGameWire - The world’s leading source of industry news and analysis for board game professionals.

Mythic co-founder on death threats, doxxing and IP deals, Gamefound turns up heat on Kickstarter, German board game sales bounce back

January 31, 2024

BoardGameWire - The world’s leading source of industry news and analysis for board game professionals.

Brass: Birmingham gets a sequel, Votes for Women gets ads banned by Facebook

January 17, 2024

BoardGameWire - The world’s leading source of industry news and analysis for board game professionals.

Star-studded new board game publisher launches, Essen Spiel and Tokyo Game Market team up

December 14, 2023

BoardGameWire - The world’s leading source of industry news and analysis for board game professionals.

CoolStuffInc's founder on how Amazon pushed it out of the online board game market

December 6, 2023

BoardGameWire - The world’s leading source of industry news and analysis for board game professionals.

Alderac's COO on how to master board game crowdfunding, and two seasoned designers expose "dark underbelly" of the game design industry

November 16, 2023

BoardGameWire - The world’s leading source of industry news and analysis for board game professionals.

Pegasus Spiele’s co-founder on how it keeps winning board gaming’s biggest prize

November 2, 2023

BoardGameWire - The world’s leading source of industry news and analysis for board game professionals.

Essen Spiel suffers AI art backlash, German board games booming after 2022 slump

October 5, 2023

BoardGameWire - The world’s leading source of industry news and analysis for board game professionals.

'Mostly dumb' Lorcana lawsuit filing, Cthulhu Wars Kickstarter chaos

July 13, 2023

BoardGameWire - The world’s leading source of industry news and analysis for board game professionals.

Saving a Kickstarter and Spiel's 'head-scratching' changes

June 22, 2023

BoardGameWire - The world’s leading source of industry news and analysis for board game professionals.