Kennerspiel des Jahres winning publisher Schmidt Spiele scores 11% sales growth outside Germany, total 2024 sales reached €57.5m
German board game publisher Schmidt Spiele‘s international sales soared by 11% last year, helping the Quacks of Quedlinburg maker to €57.5m in total sales across 2024.
Schmidt said that total was almost identical to the previous year, despite a tricky 2024 domestically amid the closure or shrinkage of two major retailers stocking its games and puzzles.
The reduction in branches of department store group Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof with toy departments, and the closure of supermarket chain Real, which sold toys in the self-service area, contributed to a 3% sales drop for Schmidt Spiele domestically.
Schmidt said it once again scored high levels of sales for its children’s and family games, and highlighted the Kennerspiel des Jahres win for Daybreak – published by Schmidt as e-Mission in Germany – as a huge positive.
The Berlin-based publisher had a standout year across the Spiel des Jahres competition in 2024, with three of its games recommended in the children’s category and another in the family game category, in addition to e-Mission’s Kennerspiel win.
Schmidt is best known in hobby board games for critical and commercial successes Quacks of Quedlinburg and Ganz Schön Clever, winner and nominee respectively for the Spiel Des Jahres in previous years.
The company also has a strong line of toys, plush toys and licensed products, and runs championship events for Ludo and Yahtzee.
Its 2024 releases included two-player Quacks follow-up The Quacks of Quedlinburg: The Duel, trick taker Skull Queen and Jens Merkl’s fast-paced dice game Feeling Lucky?
Schmidt said it was starting 2025 with a slate of nine new games, which it plans to unveil at the Nuremberg Toy Fair at the end of January.
Those releases are set to include the German edition of Matt Leacock and Rob Daviau’s light co-operative legacy game Ziggurat, a Reiner Knizia-designed solitaire version of Schmidt’s 110-year-old bestseller Mensch ärgere Dich nicht, and crystal arranging game Crystalla, designed by Renaud Libralesso, Pierrick Libralesso and Yoel Sayada.
Company managing director Axel Kaldenhoven said, “2024 was a year that brought both positive moments and challenges.
“We consider ourselves lucky that our business in specialist retail, our cooperation business and online retail are so strong that the bankruptcies of two well-known department store and supermarket chains in one year led to only a slight decline in domestic business.
“We are particularly proud that our products, new products and classics, have been so positively received abroad, which is clearly noticeable in the figures.”
