Asmodee’s first new CEO in 12 years takes reins ahead of spin-off from Embracer Group

Board game giant Asmodee has named long-serving exec Thomas Koegler as its first new CEO in 12 years, as the company prepares to carve out its independence from corporate owner Embracer Group.

He replaces Stéphane Carville, who as Asmodee CEO from 2012 oversaw the company’s huge expansion from a European player to an international giant, fuelled by a €143m private equity buyout of the business by Eurazeo in 2014.

During Carville’s tenure Asmodee went on a huge acquisition spree, picking up publishers including Days of Wonder, Fantasy Flight Games and Catan Studio and expanding its distribution operation across Europe, North and South America and Asia.

Asmodee’s value had soared to €1.2bn by the time fellow French private equity house PAI Partners bought it from Eurazeo in 2018, and four years later it was priced at €2.75bn through a takeover by video games major Embracer, its current owner.

Carville becomes a board member and senior advisor at Embracer Group, as does Asmodee founder Marc Nunes, who created the business in 1995.

Koegler, who joined Asmodee in 2015 and was named deputy COO last year, takes charge at a transformative time for the business.

An expected $2bn investment into Embracer by Saudi Arabian government-backed Savvy Games Group fell through last year, causing the company to launch a huge restructuring programme which saw it lay off about 1,400 people, shutter a string of video game studios and sell off big-name assets including Borderlands publisher Gearbox Interactive.

Asmodee has remained something of a jewel in the crown of its troubled owner throughout the restructuring, having already become Embracer’s biggest earner after overtaking its PC and Console Games segment for net sales.

The board game division avoided large-scale job losses during the process, but in April Embracer announced it was loading Asmodee up with €900m of debt in order to pay down borrowing across the rest of its operations, before spinning off the business into an independent entity.

Asmodee’s planned spin-off and stock market listing is set to take place by April next year.

Last month Asmodee posted net sales of more than SEK3bn ($288.5m) for Q1 of the 2024/25 financial year, a 5% year-on-year drop, with Embracer blaming the lower performance of distributed games in Central Europe and the UK.

Embracer Group as a whole saw its quarterly net sales slump 24% year-on-year, with its PC and console games section falling 34% to about SEK2.6bn ($252m).

It said Asmodee’s revenue was driven by the continued success of trading card game Star Wars: Unlimited alongside “a strong slate of new board game releases”, with Koegler specifically highlighting Harmonies as having had a strong launch when speaking in a Q&A about the results.

During the Q&A session Koegler was asked whether Asmodee’s €900m debt pile would prevent it from going out and acquiring new companies.

He said, “The only answer I can make is, we’ve been operating under private equity before joining Embracer, with higher leverages, and it has never prevented us from being successful.”

He was also asked about the potential long term growth of the board games market, responding, “It’s a very good question, and unfortunately in our industry we do not have the likes of (PC and console game data platform) NewZoo, so your job is quite difficult in trying to find relevant information on the market dynamics.

“What we see, and with the help of external consulting firms, is that our expectation for the long term is to have somewhere around a mid-single digit growth of the market.”

Koegler joined Asmodee nine years ago as an international program manager, and became head of strategy and business development in 2019, overseeing the acquisition of studios and distribution units during that time.

He then became executive vice president of interactive and entertainment, focusing on franchise development and “strategising Asmodee’s expansion into exploring new forms of entertainment for Asmodee’s licenses beyond tabletop games”.

That included overseeing the acquisition of online board gaming platform BoardGameArena in 2021 – a platform which recently surged past 10 million registered accounts following several years of rapid growth.

Koegler became deputy COO of Asmodee in June last year, and “has been progressively steering Asmodee’s operations since then”, the company said.

Lars Wingefors, co-founder and CEO of Embracer Group, said, “Thomas’ appointment as CEO of Asmodee and as a member of Embracer’s executive management team is a recognition of his successful journey within the industry and Asmodee.

“He is a unique leader who brings together Asmodee’s legacy, as a long-time member of the company’s Executive Committee, with a fresh generational imprint on its future direction.

“I am confident that Thomas will be the right leader to guide the company through its next phase with a strong focus on profitable growth.”

Koegler added, “Asmodee is home to incredibly talented people and fantastic brands, with tremendous growth potential for the future within tabletop games and into other forms of entertainment.

“I am honored and humbled to step into the position of CEO and to carry on Asmodee’s legacy into its next era, bringing incredible play experiences into every home and celebrating tabletop gaming as a major form of entertainment.”