Maldito Games agrees sale to Devir after business tasks ‘become a burden’ for former owner
Devir Games has agreed to buy Spanish board game publisher Maldito Games, adding its portfolio of ‘expert-level’ localisations including Terraforming Mars, Ark Nova and Brass Birmingham to its catalogue.
Devir said it would continue to publish games under the Maldito brand following the acquisition, and would transfer some of its own ‘expert’ games to the arm, having been looking for a way to better categorise its catalogue “for some time”.
The sale process was instigated by Maldito rather than Devir, however, with the former’s general manager Francisco Álamo telling Spanish board game reviewer and Twitch streamer Mishi Geek that the growth of the company had forced him to focus on business tasks such as payroll management and finance over hunting for games to publish.
Maldito currently employs about 30 people including Álamo, who plans to stay on as editor in chief of the business following the acquisition.
Devir, which began life as a Brazilian comic book distributor in 1987, launched its own board game operation as a Spanish publisher in 2000 before gradually expanding the business out to Latin America. The company began bringing English language versions of its games to the US in 2017.
Devir said Maldito has games in its catalogue with a sales potential “far superior to what it can currently achieve”, which it plans to market more heavily and bring to new customers, especially through its Latin American arm.
A statement from Devir said, “When you make your hobby first a job and then a business, suddenly you find yourself talking to banks, negotiating salaries, chasing containers and arguing with transporters, instead of doing what you like.
“Álamo is an excellent publisher and will continue to be so for Maldito as it has been up to now. The business side is a burden for those who do not enjoy it, and in this case it becomes the responsibility of the new owner: Devir.”
It added, “Despite so many years in the business, Devir also has room for improvement and we hope to learn from the experience of Francisco Álamo and his team, to grow in areas such as customer service and quality control, aspects in which Maldito has greatly excelled throughout its career.”
High-profile titles published by Maldito last year include Spanish localisations of Wyrmspan, Uwe Rosenberg’s Black Forest and Stefan Feld design Civolution.
Devir’s recent releases have included The White Castle expansion Matcha, Cities, Salton Sea and Daitoshi.
The Maldito buyout comes a decade after Devir acquired Spanish publisher HomoLudicus, which made its name through localisations of games such as Agricola, Pandemic and Galaxy Trucker.
Two years ago Devir agreed a deal with German publisher Schmidt Spiele to bring English versions of the latter’s titles to the US, having already worked with the company on Spanish localisations of its game line.
