Exploding Kittens CEO Carly McGinnis takes charge of Asmodee’s global publishing operation, Jean-Sébastien de Barros exits

Asmodee has named Exploding Kittens CEO Carly McGinnis as head of its global publishing operation, putting an executive who helped transform a record-breaking Kickstarter game into an international brand in charge of a portfolio including Catan, Ticket to Ride, 7 Wonders and Dobble/Spot It.

McGinnis has been appointed Asmodee’s chief product officer and EVP publishing to replace Jean-Sébastien de Barros, who leaves the board game giant after almost a decade at the company. She will report directly to CEO Thomas Kœgler and join Asmodee’s executive management team.

The move puts McGinnis into a hugely influential position within the tabletop industry. Asmodee’s chief product officer has responsibility for its studios, franchise development, licensing and studio marketing, according to the organisational structure the company published ahead of its stock market listing last year.

McGinnis’ promotion – Asmodee bought a 55% majority stake in Exploding Kittens at the end of 2021, and exercised its option to purchase the remaining 45% minority stake last year – also comes at an interesting point for Asmodee’s publishing business.

The company has enjoyed huge revenue growth over the past year, but much of that has been powered by its distribution operation and the booming trading card game market rather than sales of its own board games.

Asmodee generated €1.68bn of net sales in the year to the end of March, up 23% – but more than 72% of that came from distributing games published by other companies. Sales of its own board games fell 5.8% over the same period.

That picture improved during April to June, when Asmodee’s own published board game sales returned to growth – albeit by just 1.8% year-on-year – compared with a 16% increase for board games overall.

McGinnis brings to the role experience of helping build one of the board game industry’s most striking success stories of the past decade.

She joined Exploding Kittens in 2015, the year its first game raised almost $8.8m on Kickstarter, and was named COO at the start of 2019, president in January 2022 and CEO a year ago.

Last year Exploding Kittens revealed it had sold more than 60 million games as it marked a decade in business – with the company’s growth having extended well beyond the tabletop.

McGinnis helped develop Exploding Kittens’ partnership with Netflix, which expanded the property into mobile gaming and an animated series, and she was a co-executive producer on the latter.

Asmodee has been on its own push to get its best-known board games turned into films and television shows continues, with streaming giant Netflix picking up exclusive global rights for screen-based adaptations of the huge-selling Ticket to Ride series earlier this year.

That deal, which covers “scripted and unscripted projects” across film, television series, and other formats, came four months after Asmodee agreed a similar deal with Netflix for screen adaptations of its fellow bestseller Catan.

Netflix first teamed up with Asmodee in 2022, when the board game giant worked in the other direction to create a trio of titles based on Netflix shows Squid Game, Stranger Things and Ozark.

Those games have been followed by a Bridgerton-themed version of Love Letter, while Netflix brought Asmodee’s creations to screens for the first time in 2024 with French film Family Pack, which is based on the Werewolves of Miller’s Hollow card game.

McGinnis said of her new role, “I’ve spent the last decade building Exploding Kittens from one game into a global business, and I’m excited to bring what I’ve learned to the broader asmodee portfolio.

“We have incredible games, studios and people around the world, and I see a huge opportunity to build on those strengths, creating great new games while investing in the brands and franchises with the potential to grow for decades.”

Exploding Kittens has continued to stand out within Asmodee’s portfolio during a difficult period for parts of the US board game market.

Kœgler singled the company out last November as a particularly strong performer amid economic uncertainty caused by rising prices and US tariffs, adding that US consumers were favouring lower-priced games. Asmodee again highlighted strong Exploding Kittens growth while discussing a 23% year-on-year fall in its US quarterly sales earlier this year.

The promotion comes as Asmodee is making a wider push into social and party games – a category where Exploding Kittens has been one of its strongest brands.

In March the company agreed to pay up to €250m for French social and party game publisher ATM Gaming, with Kœgler saying the acquisition would combine ATM’s strength in Europe with Exploding Kittens’ strong position in the US. Asmodee has said it expects the social games category to grow at between 4% and 8% annually between 2025 and 2030, compared with about 4% for the broader board games market.

It also launched US party game studio Moodbox Games last year, a move de Barros described at the time as strengthening Asmodee’s presence in a category where Exploding Kittens and Zygomatic were already seeing strong success.

McGinnis’ promotion is the latest in a string of senior personnel changes at the top of Asmodee.

In April Asmodee co-founder Philippe Mouret stepped back from his leadership role, with Julia Marcelin taking responsibility for five studios – Days of Wonder, Repos Production, Libellud, Next Move and Space Cowboys – while veteran Catan Studio head Pete Fenlon handed control of that business to former Spin Master executive Mike Bisogno.

Last November company COO Steve Buckmaster stepped down from his role driving the board game giant’s global distribution operation after almost 24 years with the company and its predecessor business in the UK, replaced by then deputy COO Marjolein Lubberman.

Asmodee has also been moving into crowdfunding and miniatures, hiring former CMON COO David Preti last year to lead a newly-created operation focused on those areas. Its first Zombicide campaign since acquiring the IP subsequently raised more than $4m from over 11,000 backers.

De Barros joined Asmodee in 2017 and became chief product officer in 2024, with a remit covering the group’s studios as well as franchise development, licensing and studio marketing.

Asmodee said he had helped build its publishing capabilities, diversify its brand and IP portfolio and oversee the launch of what it described as its biggest trading card game to date, Star Wars: Unlimited.

Kœgler said, “I want to sincerely thank Jean-Sébastien de Barros for his instrumental leadership and contribution to asmodee over the years.

“As Chief Product Officer, he brought a strong strategic and structured approach to our product organization and built strong cross-functional teams along the way.

“With these elevated publishing capabilities of asmodee that Jean-Sébastien spearheaded, asmodee successfully launched its biggest trading card game to date and broadly diversified its brand and IP portfolios – laying an important foundation for our next phase of growth. I wish him all the best in his next chapter.”

He added, “It is with great pride that I welcome Carly to the position of chief product officer and EVP publishing, reflecting the strength of the talent within our company.

“Her product vision, international experience and collaborative leadership will be invaluable as we strengthen our global portfolio and partnerships.”

Asmodee is yet to announce McGinnis’ successor as CEO of Exploding Kittens.