Steamforged Games confirms redundancies, crowdfunding cutback amid refocus on booming Warmachine
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Welcome to the latest BoardGameWire newsletter!
I’m back from a fantastic - if hectic - few days at the annual UK Games Expo, where it was great to check in face-to-face with industry folk as well as sit down and play a few games.
Our report in this newsletter on UKGE focuses on its meteoric growth into one of the world’s largest tabletop gaming conventions, after more than 51,000 people descended on Birmingham’s NEC for the show’s 20th anniversary this year.
Those impressive visitor numbers – up 64% in just three years – mean UKGE is now pushing steadily towards the 70,000-plus visitors recorded by giant US tabletop convention Gen Con, and is more than two and a half times larger than last year’s Origins Game Fair.
Turning from big-hitter conventions to heavyweight crowdfunders, our lead story details Steamforged Games’ decision to refocus from the multimillion-dollar crowdfunds which made its name towards its booming Warmachine miniatures line - leading to its second set of layoffs in the last three years.
The company has been one of tabletop crowdfunding’s biggest success stories over the past decade, raising tens of millions of pounds across campaigns based on major video game licences such as Resident Evil, Monster Hunter, Horizon Zero Dawn and Elden Ring.
The wider consideration here is the state of board game crowdfunding itself, with several industry heavyweights of the past ten years pulling away from the strategy, facing serious financial woes (CMON) or going out of business entirely (Mythic Games).
Those happenings don’t seem to have fazed Asmodee, however, which has just passed the first major test for its own strategic push into crowdfunding by raising more than $4.1m for its debut campaign in the Zombicide universe.
There’s a whole host of other news this week as usual, plus the latest designer-focused podcasts and articles and a roundup of open job positions in the industry.
I hope you find this week’s newsletter useful! and thanks as always to everyone who financially supports my work - if you’re not already a supporter, you can become one here from as little as $1 a month, which you’ve got to admit is a bit of a bargain.
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Mike Didymus-True - Editor
Steamforged Games confirms redundancies, crowdfunding cutback amid refocus on booming Warmachine
Steamforged Games, which made its name adapting video games such as Dark Souls into multi-million-dollar board game Kickstarters, has confirmed its second set of redundancies in three years as it refocuses away from crowdfunding and towards its booming Warmachine miniatures line.
The company has been one of tabletop crowdfunding’s biggest success stories over the past decade, raising tens of millions of pounds across campaigns based on major video game licences such as Resident Evil, Monster Hunter, Horizon Zero Dawn and Elden Ring.
UK Games Expo soars past 51,000 attendees, show more than doubles pre-pandemic record
The UK Games Expo has continued its meteoric growth into one of the world’s largest tabletop gaming conventions, after more than 51,000 people descended on Birmingham’s NEC for the show’s 20th anniversary.
The surging visitor numbers – up 64% in just three years – mean UKGE is now pushing steadily towards the 70,000-plus visitors recorded by giant US tabletop convention Gen Con each year since 2023, and is more than two and a half times larger than last year’s Origins Game Fair.
Asmodee’s push into crowdfunding scores first success with $4.1m for Zombicide: Dead Men Tales
Board game giant Asmodee’s strategic push into crowdfunding has passed its first major test, with its debut campaign in the Zombicide universe raising more than $4.1m on Gamefound.
The total for pirate-themed Dead Men Tales cements the campaign as the biggest main line Zombicide crowdfund in almost a decade, with Zombicide: Green Horde having picked up just over $5m in 2017 – although the biggest crowdfunding success in the range remains licensed spin-off Marvel Zombies at just over $9m.
Asmodee’s annual revenue surges to €1.68bn on TCG distribution power, but sales of its own board games fall
Asmodee’s escalating power as a global TCG distribution giant was evident again in its newly-released annual results, which showed the company’s net sales surging 23% year-on-year to more than €1.68bn.
That annual revenue has swelled around 50% in just three years on the back of huge recent growth in TCGs, including heavyweights Magic: The Gathering and Pokemon as well as a wave of strong performing newcomers such as Disney Lorcana, the One Piece Card Game and Asmodee’s own Star Wars: Unlimited.
But the company’s own board game publishing operation saw its net sales fall 5.8% in the last financial year – while net sales for the first quarter of this year were down 9.8% compared to the same period in 2025.
Board, the startup making a $400 board game console, leans into AI-powered designs after raising another $20m
Hybrid physical and digital game console maker Board has now raised $35m in external funding since the touchscreen device was launched in October last year.
Alongside the funding announcement Board said it would unveil an AI platform later this year which will allow users to build their own games using natural language prompts, saying taking a game from idea to playable prototype can be done in less than an hour.
Million-play analysis inspires streamlined Isle of Cats successor, as game’s sales pass 250,000
The Isle of Cats designer Frank West has unveiled a new game set in the same universe as his bestselling polyomino-puzzle title, saying the project was shaped by lessons learned from more than a million recorded plays of the original.
The Isle of Penguins, which launches on Kickstarter on July 7, sees players rescuing the sea birds from melting ice floes and fitting them onto uniquely shaped rafts, in an experience West says is faster and more accessible than The Isle of Cats while retaining its strategic depth.
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Job Watch
US - Senior Play Manager, Lorcana - Ravensburger
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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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