Asmodee continues acquisition of CMON titles with Sheriff of Nottingham purchase

Board game crowdfunding major CMON has continued its battle to recover from heavy losses by selling Sheriff of Nottingham to Asmodee – its third IP sale to the company in the past eight months.

The bluffing and set collection game will become part of the Z-Man Games studio, a spokesperson for Asmodee told BoardGameWire, joining titles including Pandemic, Citadels and Love Letter.

CMON bought Sheriff of Nottingham from Brazilian publisher Galapagos Jogos in 2016 following the success of the English version of the game, published by Arcane Wonders two years earlier as the first game in the Dice Tower Essentials line – games Dice Tower founder Tom Vasel “personally loves and believes should be an essential part of any gamer’s collection”.

The latest deal comes eight months after Asmodee kicked off its reignited strategy of buying up smaller board game publishers, distributors and IPs by acquiring CMON’s flagship IP Zombicide, a series which had raised more than $40m on Kickstarter since its 2012 launch.

Asmodee followed that up last October by acquiring another profitable crowdfunded series, Cthulhu: Death May Die, from CMON, as part of the latter’s ongoing drive to combat the huge losses the business had chalked up in the past couple of years.

CMON posted losses of nearly $7m in the first half of 2025 and another $3m across 2024 – figures which dwarf the overall $4.2m profit it managed to make over the previous nine years combined.

In April last year CMON laid off staff and halted new game development and campaign launches, and in addition to the Asmodee sales has parted with IP including Blood Rage, Rising Sun and former Mythic Games titles Anastyr and Hel: The Last Saga.

CMON announced towards the end of last month that more IP sales could be on the way, alongside making an apology for delays to its outstanding crowdfunds – some of which are now running almost two years beyond initial delivery estimates.

Since then the company has scored a financial win by picking up new capital for game development through a successful share sale, which valued the business at more than $7.5m.

More details on the effectiveness of CMON’s fight to stem its losses should become clear by the end of next month, with the publisher required by Hong Kong stock exchange rules to submit its annual results by that date.

Asmodee’s reignited acquisitions strategy, meanwhile, has so far been limited to the three IP purchases from CMON – a far cry from the explosive growth the company undertook after being bought by private equity firm Eurazeo in 2014.

Its previous buying spree saw it acquire more than 40 companies and IPs, including over 20 game studios such as Days of Wonder, Fantasy Flight Games, Lookout Games, Catan Studio and Z-Man Games.

Asmodee CEO Thomas Koegler was asked during the company’s quarterly results presentation yesterday whether the company was ready to make “more meaningful” acquisitions rather than small bolt-on deals.

He said, “Without being specific, the activity in the pipeline is in accordance with our plan. The smaller acquisitions are faster. IP acquisitions and asset deals are faster to execute. I’m satisfied.”

He added in response to a later question about Asmodee’s acquisition plans, “Our M&A engine is nicely running up. I will not comment on specific ongoing projects, but as I did say, I’m satisfied with what we have in the workings.

“What we’re looking for, as you asked, is in priority studios and intellectual properties, because we already have a very strong distribution reach. And then maybe to complement some distribution reach here and there, depending on the strategic advantages this would provide us in specific territories.

“But again, I think the priority is on IPs and creative capabilities, which is what we have been delivering up until now.”

Speaking on the Sheriff of Nottingham acquisitions, an Asmodee spokesperson told BoardGameWire, “Sheriff of Nottingham is a well-established evergreen card game centered on bluffing, negotiation, and high player interaction.

“We believe this game will be complementing and strengthening our existing portfolio within our social playtype, a category that is growing.”