New CMON profit warning says losses could reach $8m for first half of 2025 – almost three times its overall profit from the last ten years

Board game crowdfunding major CMON has warned its losses for the first half of 2025 could be as high as $8m – a figure almost three times the size of its profits from the previous ten years combined.

The company’s second profit warning in five months again blamed falling revenues for the estimated H1 losses, which it currently puts at between $6m and $8m. It expects to announce its fully-audited losses in its interim report at the end of August.

CMON was already reeling from a more than $3m loss last year, with falling sales for its crowdfunding campaigns leading the company to its lowest annual revenue since pandemic-hit 2020.

Year	Profit (Black) / Loss (Red), $
First half of 2025	$6m to $8m
2024	$3m
2023	$745,000
2022	$511,000
2021	$400,000
2020	$4.9m
2019	$795,0001
2018	$2m
2017	$3.5m
2016	$1m
2015	$1.8m

The estimated half-year loss dwarfs its losses from across all of 2024, and outstrips the almost $5m loss CMON suffered due to lockdowns, manufacturing and shipping delays during the pandemic-hit 2020.

Those ongoing heavy losses ended three years of improving performance at CMON following its disastrous 2020, although the slowly rising profits between 2021 and 2023 all fell well short of its pre-pandemic performance.

The company recorded profits of about $3.5m in 2017, roughly $2m in 2018 and around $1.88m in 2019, once one-off costs related to its transfer to the main board of the Hong Kong stock exchange in the latter year were removed.

CMON’s last profit warning in March this year initially estimated its 2024 losses at between $1.4m and $2.1m, before the $3m figure was revealed in its annual report – which it filed a month late, blaming an understaffed finance department.

Later that month the company announced it was laying off staff and halting new game development and campaign launches, citing the ongoing unpredictability around US tariffs, in order to focus on fulfilling its eight undelivered crowdfunding campaigns, which raised about $18m, as well as another seven pre-ordered games.

CMON has attempted to fight back against its heavy losses in the short term by selling a string of its intellectual properties, including its most famous and profitable title Zombicide, as well as Eric Lang designs Blood Rage and Rising Sun.

It is unclear from the latest profit warning announcement whether those sales are reflected in the estimated loss total. BoardGameWire has contacted CMON to ask what the impact of selling those titles will be on its current losses, but is yet to receive a response.

CMON revealed earlier this year that it had to scrap a deal to sell $12m of unspecified intellectual property, saying it had been unable to agree terms.

Its remaining library of titles still includes big hitters such as the Marvel United range and DC Super Heroes United, which have raised more than $18m between them across four crowdfunding campaigns.

The company raised more than $3.9m for Cthulhu: Death May Die – Forbidden Reaches last year, and earlier this year completed a $2.85m crowdfund for Massive Darkness: Dungeons of Shadowreach on Gamefound.

Late last month CMON announced that the “finish line is in sight” for three of its games on pre-order – Dark Providence, Dune: War for Arrakis – Desert War, and Marvel United: The Witching Hour – and reemphasised that it was halting the launch of any new crowdfunding campaigns until it had earned back the trust of backers.

Rather than large scale, miniatures heavy crowdfunding campaigns, the company has instead pivoted to releasing several small-box games direct to retail, some of which are expected to make their debut at Spiel Essen in October.

The company currently estimates it will deliver two crowdfunding campaigns in Q4 this year, including DCeased: A Zombicide Game, which raised more than $2.5m on Kickstarter.

CMON has also lost several long-serving senior executives over the past few months, including former senior managing director and COO David Preti, chief financial officer Koh Zheng Kai and company secretary Ng Sau Mei.