BoardGameWire's Newsletter

Subscribe
Archives
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.
Lorcana lawsuit and Dice Tower deletion
June 8, 2023
BoardGameWire - The world’s leading source of industry news and analysis for board game professionals.
This week's biggest board game news
May 25, 2023
From BoardGameWire, the world’s leading source of industry news and analysis for board game professionals.
Welcome to BoardGameWire!
May 12, 2023
The world’s leading source of industry news and analysis for board game professionals.
BoardGameWire - The Business of Board Games
April 24, 2023
The world’s leading source of industry news and analysis for board game professionals.
This email brought to you by Buttondown, the easiest way to start and grow your newsletter.