Tariff hikes have already seen several board game businesses shutter their operations in recent months, while others have laid off staff and been forced to hike the price of their games to cover the unexpected costs.
The record could finally fall this year after Spiel made the decision to expand into a seventh vast hall at the Messe Essen exhibition centre, boosting the show floor to 77,500 sq m - up 13% year-on-year, and almost 30% compared to 2023.
The decision comes despite Amigo Games being one of the few hobby board game publishers that managed to diversify some of its manufacturing away from China - the country which has been hit the heaviest by recent US tariffs to date.
Nee created Cryptozoic in 2010 alongside Cory Jones, Scott Gaeta and John Sepenuk, and became CEO in February 2023 after Sepenuk's sudden death of a heart attack while kite-surfing.
Moodbox Games will be led by former Catan Studio director of brand development Kelli Schmitz and long-time young adult-focused book editor Shaina Olmanson, who joined Asmodee as an operations and communications manager in May of this year.
This year Spiel is bringing its annual series of panel discussions and talks to the main show floor via a new 1,000 sq m stage in Hall 4, featuring everything from professional discussions about crowdfunding and fulfillment to a bagpipe-playing workshop and cosplay craft showcase.
Hisashi Hayashi’s co-operative bomb disposal game Bomb Busters has added to its recent Spiel des Jahres win by triumphing in the family games category of this year’s Nederlandse Spellenprijs, the longest-running award celebrating Dutch language board games.
Trading card company Upper Deck has brought a fresh legal claim against Disney Lorcana publisher Ravensburger accusing it of stealing trade secrets, days after a court rejected all its prior claims against the publisher contending the game's design was stolen from it.
Financially-troubled board game publisher CMON has sold its global headquarters as part of a fightback against heavy losses - and is charging some pre-order customers extra to cover tariff costs it says it "cannot absorb given our current financial position".
Triton Noir, the Canadian board game publisher which found Kickstarter success with its tabletop adaptation of the Assassin's Creed video game series, has closed down almost a year after scrapping its fifth and final crowdfunding campaign.
Hobby games trade organisation GAMA is losing executive director John Stacy next month after what it described as seven "transformative" years - and just three weeks after it unveiled ambitious plans to become the "epicenter” of the global tabletop gaming industry.
Asmodee Germany is looking to get its games into a wider selection of mass market stores in addition to boosting its hobby shop relationships thanks to a pair of new sales hires. Former Ravensburger sales exec Benjamin Pilz, who has…
US-based GAMA has revealed an array of plans spread across the next decade, including boosting its membership within both hobby games and the mass market, expanding itself into a global organisation, shifting its finances away from the current heavy reliance on the annual GAMA Expo and Origins shows, and leading the conversation on sustainability within the industry.
Crowdfunding giant Kickstarter is facing a worker strike tomorrow after months of talks with union members stalled over proposals for a minimum salary and protections for its long-running four-day work week programme.
An intensive pre-launch community-building campaign has already powered Don't Starve: The Board Game to one of the biggest Kickstarter raises of 2025, with about $1.5m pledged less than 24 hours after the project's launch.
A venerable French competition which aims to highlight the most original unpublished board game designs has revealed its latest cohort of winners.
The designer and illustrator of co-operative card game Présages have both picked up awards in this year's Prix des Boutiques Ludiques, chosen by French board game retailers.
A new competition designed to showcase Vietnam's burgeoning local board game design scene at the world's biggest board game fair, Spiel Essen, has unveiled its first winner from almost 150 entries.
Steamforged Games, the tabletop publisher behind licensed video game adaptations including Elden Ring and Monster Hunter World, has expanded its retailer-focused trade team as the UK-based company looks to continue its recent rapid growth.
A former airline pilot who has spent the last decade building a board game distribution business and chain of retailers in the Middle East is hoping to create the region's equivalent of Gen Con with the launch of a Dubai-based convention this November.
HABA, the veteran German toymaker famous for its board games aimed at young children, has begun an expansion into heavier, more complex titles by signing a distribution deal for NorthStar Game Studio title Nature.
