Osprey revealed in May that multinational book giant Bloomsbury had made the “difficult decision” to sell the board and card game line as part of a wider "strategic refocusing" on book publishing, which would see Osprey concentrate on its wargames and RPGs.
This year's SPIEL.talks programme of panel discussions will be on the main show floor for the second year running, with sessions in Hall 4 covering everything from artificial intelligence and game localisation to emerging tabletop markets, careers in the industry and the process of bringing a board game from prototype to store shelves around the world.
The agreement is the latest in a series of distribution partnerships signed by Ares over the past two years, including deals with Armenian publisher Red Cat Games, Italy's Tabula Games and Czech publisher Albi.
This year's expert game prize went to White Goblin Games' Dutch-language edition of River of Gold - which saw off competition from Ants and Yokohama.
Steamforged Games is facing mounting criticism from crowdfunding backers over unresolved refunds and dwindling updates across its undelivered projects, in the wake of the publisher cutting about a third of its workforce and refocusing towards its Warmachine miniatures line earlier this year.
The move comes after several years of soaring sales and profits at Wizards, which has increasingly become the financial powerhouse of Hasbro amid struggles at the company's traditional toys business - which includes Nerf guns, Transformers and Peppa Pig toys.
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.
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.
Tabletop Growth Partners will primarily target the TTRPG and wargaming sectors with marketing, digital growth and business development services.
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.
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.
Horesca wants to re-establish tabletop gaming as a "vibrant part" of Luxembourg’s hospitality culture, harking back to the popularity of trick-taking games such as Whist and Belote in the 19th and early 20th century.
Loups-Garous attracted more than two million viewers for its launch in 2024 - the best ever launch for a new Canal+ creation at the time - with the Zygomatic-published social deduction game turned into a life-sized competition in which contestants take on the roles of villagers and werewolves.
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.
