Universal becomes an authorised US hobby distributor for Stonemaier's games, which include the massive-selling Wingspan series and other popular titles such as Scythe, and will take on sole distribution rights in August of this year.
More than 610,000 copies of Wingspan, its Asia expansion, dragon-themed title Wyrmspan and last year's fish-focused release Finspan were printed by Stonemaier in 2025 according to its latest annual stakeholder report, bringing the total lifetime copies across the trilogy to more than 3.3 million.
Company co-founder and CEO Jamey Stegmaier told BoardGameWire the prevalence of smaller box releases, expansions and re-releases in its 2026 plan was not a response to US tariff concerns or other economic factors.
Homebrew designs and fan-made rules and variants have been part of hobby board gaming for as long as the pastime has existed - and some publishers have leaned into utilising design work from fans in their published games. BoardGameWire spoke to Jamey Stegmaier from Stonemaier Games, Alex Hague from CMYK Games, and Jackson Pope from Eurydice Games about how they've approached bringing in fan-made ideas for their titles.
Wingspan publisher Stonemaier Games is suing US president Donald Trump over his decision to impose spiralling import tariffs on China - a situation which has already seen board game businesses shutter their operations and lay off staff.
Wingspan publisher Stonemaier Games' revenue soared more than 40% to $23.7m last year, after a gamble on a hefty initial print run for new release Wyrmspan led to the game having the best first year for sales in the company's 13-year history.
Stonemaier Games has unveiled the final game in its bestselling Wingspan trilogy, with the fish-themed Finspan set for release in Q1 of this year.
After years of financial struggles, French board game publisher FunForge has taken the drastic step of selling its entire line of Tokaido games to Wingspan publisher Stonemaier Games, in a move it hopes will give the company breathing space to rebuild - and refocus - its business.
FunForge CEO Philippe Nouhra sat down with BoardGameWire at this year's Spiel Essen board game fair to discuss how the company is pivoting to small-box games in an attempt to rebuild financially and creatively, and why board gaming's broken crowdfunding and distribution models are leading the industry to a looming crisis.
Wingspan and Scythe publisher Stonemaier Games has come out strongly against using AI in creative work, with co-founder Jamey Stegmaier telling BoardGameWire his company wants "nothing to do with it".
Wingspan and Scythe publisher Stonemaier Games saw its profits rise last year despite a continued fall in revenue, which is down almost a third from the record $24.7m the company reached in 2021.
