Mori's recent designs include As d’Or winner Toy Battle, Spiel des Jahres nominee Captain Flip and historical titles Battalion: War of the Ancients and Battlefields of the Napoleonic Wars.
The Arclight Games title is a reworking of Hayashi's 2022 Japanese release of the same name, with Barrage and Darwin's Journey co-designer Simone Luciani acting as a developer for the new version.
ACD has added the Lviv-based publisher's debut title Aridnyk and upcoming George Orwell-inspired game 1984: Unperson to its extensive catalogue, a year after the first title's $132,000 Kickstarter success.
Game line manager Auguste Lecoeur told BoardGameWire, "As soon as the game's prototype was shown to us and signed, it became an internal priority, with resources and manpower being redirected from other projects."
The huge investment from new shareholders gives the crowdfunded board game giant much-needed financial breathing room as it continues its attempt to recover from losses of almost $23m across 2024 and 2025.
Pandasaurus CEO Nathan McNair told BoardGameWire, "What we found is a way to more economically attend the show, get some marketing done, sell games to players, make sure we are demoing games and getting the meetings we need without having to spend €50,000 or more on the show itself."
The Too Many Bones publisher told BoardGameWire it is very happy with Neon Knight's progress since it began building the studio two years ago, but has acknowledged being "maybe naive" about how many of its existing fans would follow it into lighter games.
Cooke joins following another record year for UKGE, which has seen its annual unique attendance surge almost 65% since 2023 to reach more than 51,000.
Joeri Hoste joined Exploding Kittens to lead its international business in 2020, following multi-year stints at companies including Hong Kong based board game publisher and manufacturer Ooba Games, toy company BOTI and trading card and collectibles specialist Upper Deck.
Gonzalez takes charge of a business with years of falling revenue - as well as a run of promising crowdfunding successes.
The worker-management title triumphed amid strong competition from titles including Galactic Cruise - which already has the Dice Tower Awards game of the year and Golden Geek heavy game of the year to its name, and is one of the three finalists for this year’s Deutscher Spiele Preis.
The Binding of Isaac: Four Souls and Clash of Clans: The Epic Raid publisher has launched Overture by Maestro Media, through which it plans to co-publish games from other companies, partner with them during development or production, or potentially acquire titles outright.
CMON has warned that its core business is suffering a "prolonged structural downturn" and is still consuming more cash than it generates, despite a drastic restructuring which has seen the board game crowdfunding major halve its workforce, sell off some of its biggest game IPs and halt new crowdfunding campaigns.
After building its reputation through a five-year, 16-game partnership with Reiner Knizia, Bitewing Games is looking to videogames for its next big opportunities. Co-founder Nick Murray tells BoardGameWire about the $700,000-plus success of Balatro-inspired Rolling Deep, adapting Baba Is You and Party House, and why leaving dentistry for Bitewing full-time has raised the stakes around finding lasting commercial hits.
Battlefields of the Napoleonic Wars, Chicago ‘68, Molly House and Onoda will compete for the fifth edition of the award, which is run by the San Diego Historical Games Convention - an organisation which aims to create a diverse and supportive gaming community dedicated to playing, discussing, designing, and promoting historically-based board games.
Catan is continuing to push into professional sport in a bid to reach new players, adding a season-long partnership with NHL team the Ottawa Senators and recruiting German handball star Juri Knorr as a brand ambassador.
DSV has landed a nomination in each of the three Nederlandse Spellenprijs categories with Reiner Knizia design Rebirth, Tomáš Holek's Pondscape and Ants from Renato Ciervo and Andrea Robbiani - equalling veteran Dutch publisher White Goblin Games and industry giant Asmodee as the most-nominated company this year.
PAX is doubling down on the success of its tabletop-focused Unplugged show by launching a second event in Houston, after growing the original into the second-largest tabletop gaming convention in the US after Gen Con.
The new system arrives as Spiel prepares for its biggest-ever event from October 22 to 25 this year - with an expansion into all eight main halls at the Messe Essen exhibition centre for the first time expected to see the event challenge its record 220,000 attendance set last year.
The title faces competition in the final from Ark Nova creator Mathias Wigge, who could win the award again with Sanctuary, his second major design, and co-op app-driven design Boss Fighters QR, which was a nominee for this year's Kennerspiel des Jahres.
The deal hands the board game publishing and distribution giant control of a flip-and-write series which has sold hundreds of thousands of copies since Benoit Turpin's breakout design Welcome To Your Perfect Home was released in 2018.
