Steamforged crowdfunding concerns grow as updates dry up, refund requests go unresolved
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Welcome to the latest BoardGameWire newsletter!
The world’s biggest board game fair, Spiel Essen, is now just over a week away - and I'm looking forward to catching up with as many people from across the industry as possible while I'm there.
My schedule is filling up pretty quickly, but if you're heading to Essen and fancy a chat about what you're working on, what's happening in the industry, or just want to say hello, please do drop me an email on [email protected].
Turning to the newsletter, we have an in-depth report on the growing concerns surrounding Steamforged Games, a crowdfunded board game heavyweight which currently has nine campaigns with outstanding fulfilment obligations - which together raised almost £19m including late pledges.
Backers of Steamforged’s crowdfunds are becoming increasingly frustrated by dwindling project updates and unresolved refund requests, in the wake of the publisher cutting about a third of its workforce and refocusing towards its Warmachine miniatures line earlier this year.
Meanwhile, staff working on Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering are moving to unionise amid concerns over workloads, unpaid overtime and job security - despite Wizards of the Coast becoming the financial powerhouse of parent company Hasbro.
And we look at how CMON plans to get its long-delayed The Adventurers crowdfunding project delivered without having to fund the remaining costs itself, and how Czech Games Edition's deal to bring Codenames to Netflix evolved from a straightforward licensing arrangement into a full game development project.
Plus: Renegade expands its long-running licensing partnership with Hasbro, Game Store Day gears up for a bigger second year, Asmodee scores a strong result at the Dutch game of the year awards, and all the latest industry news - alongside our regular roundup of designer-focused articles, podcasts and job opportunities.
I hope you find this week’s newsletter useful and packed full of interesting industry news that hasn’t been reported elsewhere. If so, please do help me keep it going by financially supporting the site!
Take care, and have a great week,
Mike Didymus-True - Editor
Steamforged crowdfunding concerns grow as updates dry up, refund requests go unresolved
Steamforged Games is facing mounting criticism from crowdfunding backers over unresolved refunds and dwindling updates across its undelivered projects, after it cut about a third of its workforce and refocused towards its Warmachine miniatures earlier this year:
D&D, Magic workers move to unionise, citing crunch and job insecurity despite record Wizards profits
Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering workers are moving to unionise after alleging rising workloads, unpaid overtime and job insecurity at Wizards of the Coast – despite the business having become the main profit engine of toy and game giant Hasbro.
Game Store Day gets more time, more publishers – and bigger ambitions – for year two
Game Store Day, GAMA‘s annual initiative aimed at getting more people into local game stores to play, shop and take part in events, is growing for its second year after retailers and publishers were given substantially more time to prepare than for its debut.
Codenames makes Netflix debut after streaming giant approached CGE for licence – then hired it to develop the game instead
The deal provides a new source of players for a game which is already closing in on 20 million physical copies sold, a CGE spokesperson told BoardGameWire, adding that "the branding benefits and opportunity to reach a new audience" were important to the publisher.
CMON to give up The Adventurers ownership to get delayed project delivered as it works to stabilise finances
CMON has found a route to getting one of its delayed projects into customers’ hands without having to fund the remaining costs itself, as the financially-troubled publisher continues its attempt to recover from almost $23m of losses across 2024 and 2025.
Renegade’s Hasbro partnership grows again as pair expand tabletop licensing deal
The renewed agreement includes Axis & Allies, Acquire, Diplomacy, Heroscape, Robo Rally and Ikusa, with new games and expansions planned for 2027 and beyond, the pair said.
Asmodee scores big at Dutch game of the year awards as Take Time, Lord of the Rings trick-taking titles triumph
Asmodee has sealed a strong showing at this year’s Nederlandse Spellenprijs, with co-operative puzzle game Take Time and its Lord of the Rings-themed trick-taking games taking home two of the three prizes in the country’s longest-running board game awards.
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Support BoardGameWire as a Paid SubscriberOther News:
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Design Zone
Cole Wehrle chats talks about his love of economic Games and how they inspired An Infamous Traffic on the Decision Space podcast
An interesting discussion on BlueSky about what makes a good or bad rulebook
Board game maker Boda provides some advice on submitting artwork files ahead of manufacturing
Skeleton Code Machine on interruptions, distractions and ‘lookup events’ in gaming
Designer Diary: Black Flag! by Emiliano Sciarra - BoardGameGeek
Doug Hettrick and Carl Van Ostrand talk co-designing, self-publishing lessons and their game My Book Nook on the Game Design Unboxed podcast
The Tabletop Takeaway podcast discusses resource compression and whether resources need multiple uses through the lens of Cannes
Designer diary: NASCARD by Guillem Coll
- BoardGameGeekStonemaier Games’ Jamey Stegmaier puts industry-focused questions to Joe Wiggins from Allplay and Nick Murray from Bitewing Games
Job Watch
US - Director, Program Management, Magic - Wizards of the Coast
US - Senior Mass Market Sales Coordinator - Asmodee
US - Senior Graphic Designer, Board Games - Fantasy Flight Games
US - Associate Game Developer - Atomic Mass Games
US - Store Manager - Red Raccoon Games
Denmark - Brand Manager - Bezzerwizzer Nordic
UK - Freelance Game Developers, Graphic Designers and Miniatures Designers - Warlord Games
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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