Fantasy Flight calls time on Descent: Legends of the Dark, saying rising costs mean it was selling at a loss
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Welcome to the latest BoardGameWire newsletter!
Companies across the board game industry have had to change up their operations in response to ongoing global economic volatility and uncertainty over changes to US tariff policy - and even big players such as Asmodee aren’t immune to the fallout. Our top story this week reports on Asmodee arm Fantasy Flight Games discontinuing the latest iteration of its veteran dungeon crawler Descent, citing rising manufacturing costs, “global economic shifts” and the expense of developing the game’s companion app.
That game’s end comes with a new start for Asmodee too, with the impending launch of its first proper crowdfund, Zombicide: Dead Men Tales - and it will be interesting to see if Asmodee’s push into crowdfunding leads to a revival of Descent through that medium further down the road.
There were big changes announced at Asmodee at the senior staff level too today, with company co-founder Philippe Mouret and Catan Studio head Pete Fenlon both stepping back from their high-level roles. Julia Marcelin and Mike Bisogno have stepped up to oversee some of its biggest-selling titles as part of the leadership transition.
And we report on French board game publisher Fentasy Games launching a new platform aimed at providing publishers with a more affordable way to get their higher-complexity titles into the hands of retailers and gamers. Company founder and CEO Florian Gigot told BoardGameWire he hoped the service would help complex game publishers avoid what he called the ‘strangulation’ of traditional distribution.
Plus there’s all the rest of the essential news from the board game industry, designer-focused advice and articles, and our regular jobs roundup.
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Fantasy Flight calls time on Descent: Legends of the Dark, saying rising costs mean it was selling at a loss
Asmodee arm Fantasy Flight Games is discontinuing the latest iteration of its veteran dungeon crawler Descent, citing rising manufacturing costs, “global economic shifts” and the expense of developing the game’s companion app.
The ambitious game featured large amounts of plastic miniatures, cardboard terrain pieces and map tiles, as well as an integrated app to help manage campaigns and individual scenarios. A statement from FFG said, “Simply put, the game is too expensive to make… we all love this game and hoped to see it grow for years to come - but even if we were to sell every last copy, we would still ultimately be doing so at a loss.”
Asmodee co-founder Philippe Mouret, veteran Catan Studio head Pete Fenlon step back; Julia Marcelin to head up five studios
Asmodee co-founder Philippe Mouret and Catan Studio head Pete Fenlon have both stepped back from their high-level roles at the board game giant, with Julia Marcelin and Mike Bisogno stepping up to oversee some of its biggest-selling titles as part of the leadership transition.
Marcelin, who has been with Asmodee for almost seven years, becomes head of five studios as part of the shake-up, taking on responsibility for Days of Wonder, Space Cowboys, Repos Production, Libellud and Next Move.
Bisogno, who joined Asmodee three months ago after more than 17 years at Spin Master, becomes head of Catan Studio, with responsibility for a game which has sold more than 45 million copies to date.
Fentasy Games looks to help complex game publishers avoid ‘strangulation’ of trad distribution with P500-style platform launch
French board game publisher Fentasy Games has launched a new platform aimed at providing publishers with a more affordable way to get their higher complexity titles into the hands of retailers and gamers.
Company founder and CEO Florian Gigot told BoardGameWire Fentasy had scored several successes since launching towards the end of 2024, including localisations of complex titles El Burro and Stephens – but said its major challenge in that time had been “the structural reality of the traditional distribution model”.
Gigot hopes the P500-style BoardGameCommerce will give publishers of higher complexity games with smaller print runs – of between 500 and 1,000 units – a more sustainable financial option.
CMON eyes crowdfunding return after annual losses spiral to almost $20m
Financially-troubled board game publisher CMON says it plans to relaunch its halted crowdfunding operations later this year, after seeing its annual losses soar to almost $20m in 2025.
CMON’s $23m losses across 2024 and 2025 are now almost 5.5-times larger than its profits from the preceding nine years combined – and have led an independent auditor hired by the company to question whether it has the resources to stay in business for the foreseeable future.
CMON’s directors believe the company “should be able to continue as a going concern”, however, thanks to a trio of factors.
More than half of board game designers in TTGDA survey have used generative AI in their work
More than half of board game designers responding to a Tabletop Game Designers Association member survey say they have used generative AI for some elements of their work.
About a quarter of the 171 designers who answered the TTGDA survey said they had used a genAI platform to come up with game ideas or mechanisms – while more than half indicated they were ‘strongly opposed’ to using AI in that way.
Asmodee to pay up to €250m to buy French party, social game publisher ATM Gaming
Asmodee has sealed its second major acquisition in a week by agreeing to pay up to €250m for French social and party game publisher ATM Gaming.
The board game giant said buying ATM, the publisher of titles including Speed Bac/Quickstop, Mouton Mouton and Pili Pili, was predicated on social games being “the fastest growing category of the board games market”.
Asmodee expects a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for social games of between 4% and 8% between 2025 and 2030, compared to about 4% for the wider board games market.
Awaken Realms vows “no AI art” for Concordia: Special Edition after BGG review bombing
Board game publisher Awaken Realms has responded to a wave of anti-AI art review bombing for its upcoming crowdfund, Concordia: Special Edition, by saying no AI-generated imagery will be used in the finished game.
The title is the latest seminal eurogame to be re-released in a spruced-up, premium edition by Awaken Realms – and also the latest to see the publisher come under fire for embracing generative AI software such as Midjourney in developing some of its games.
GAMA unveils board of directors election winners, current president and secretary re-elected to board
Hobby games trade organisation GAMA has revealed the winning candidates in its latest board of directors election, with the organisation’s current president and secretary both retaining their board seats.
President Nicole Brady, who runs review site SAHM Reviews, was re-elected to the board by GAMA’s media and events member group, while treasurer Tiffany Reid from Southern Hobby Distribution won re-election from the wholesale group. Current GAMA secretary Jamie Mathy – who runs game store Red Racoon Games – was re-elected by the organisation’s ‘Team Retail’ group.
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Design Zone
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Job Watch
US - Vice President, Global Franchise Strategy, Magic: The Gathering - Wizards of the Coast
Remote - Senior Game Designer - Weird Co
Remote - Marketing Copywriter & Content Strategist - Weird Co
All these jobs are from the very excellent Tabletop Game Jobs Facebook Group - head there to take a look at all the latest listings
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