Asmodee shakes up UK leadership structure to kick off 2025
Board game publishing and distribution giant Asmodee has changed up its UK leadership structure to begin 2025, with a trio of senior executives being given updated roles.
Anil Boodhoo, who is celebrating his 20th year with Asmodee UK and its predecessor business Esdevium Games, becomes sales director overseeing three separate channels – hobby and independent, national retailers, and e-commerce.
Roger Martin, who has spent the last four years as Hobby and Independent Channel Director at Asmodee UK, becomes Marketing Director supporting those three channels, tasked with growing the market and delivering “experiential activations” through demonstrations and Organised Play.
Greg Stanton, Asmodee UK’s Head of Product – Commercial since mid-2023, becomes Head of Purchasing, with the company saying he will ensure that “the right product mix is available for all our customers”.
The move comes just over four years after Asmodee UK split its sales and marketing efforts into two separate categories – hobby and independent, and national retail.
That prior change saw Martin switch to his Hobby and Independent Channel Director role, having previously spent 14 years as managing director of games and puzzle distributor Coiledspring Games, which Asmodee bought in 2018.
Asmodee UK managing director Alex Green said, “By making these changes, I am confident that we will be able to continue to deliver against the strategic objectives and it will provide Anil, Roger and Greg with the opportunity to drive these three key business areas.”
Early last year Asmodee moved to its new 134,000 sq ft head office in the Hampshire town of Bordon, bringing together staff from several formerly spread out operating locations.
Asmodee’s global business is currently preparing to “reignite” its strategy of buying up smaller board game publishers and distributors, as it readies itself for its upcoming split from troubled owner Embracer Group.
New CEO Thomas Koegler said in November 2024 that the company has a pipeline of more than 20 acquisition opportunities, mirroring the heavy expansion the business undertook after being bought by private equity firm Eurazeo in 2014.
Asmodee’s previous buying spree saw it acquire more than 40 companies and IPs over the last decade, including over 20 game studios including Days of Wonder, Fantasy Flight Games, Lookout Games, Catan Studio and Z-Man Games.
Those buyouts saw Asmodee swell from a specialist French operation to a global heavyweight across publishing and distribution, and led to the business itself being bought out by video games major Embracer Group in a €2.75bn deal in 2021.
Asmodee’s acquisition spree came to an end in the summer of 2023 after Embracer’s planned $2bn partnership deal with Saudi Arabia-based Savvy Games Group fell through, leaving the parent company struggling under a $1.45bn debt pile.
But that acquisition strategy is returning as Asmodee prepares to spin off from Embracer as an independent company, a process due to take place by the end of March this year.
