Asmodee’s plan to ‘reignite’ buyouts of smaller companies unaffected by tariffs, CEO says uncertainty ‘presents opportunities for strategic acquisitions’

Board game giant Asmodee’s plan to reignite its strategy of buying up smaller board game publishers and distributors remains “completely unchanged” by the tariffs volatility, with company CEO Thomas Koegler saying the uncertain times in fact “present opportunities for strategic acquisitions”.

Asmodee revealed last November that it was preparing to double down on the heavy expansion it undertook after being bought by private equity firm Eurazeo in 2014, which saw it swell from a specialist French operation to a global heavyweight across publishing and distribution.

The company had picked out a pipeline of more than 20 acquisition targets, similar to the decade-long spree which saw it buy up studios including Days of Wonder, Fantasy Flight Games, Lookout Games, Catan Studio and Z-Man Games, as well as a string of distribution companies across the globe.

That M&A reignition plan was hatched before Donald Trump’s rollercoaster tariffs policy left companies across the board game industry reeling, with businesses scrambling to adapt to an import charge on China – where the vast majority of board games are made – that rose as high as 145% last month.

Early casualties of the volatility have included crowdfunded board game major CMON, which announced it was laying off staff and halting new game development and campaign launches, and Spirit Island publisher Greater than Games, with parent company Flat River Group laying off the vast majority of its subsidiary’s staff and suspending new projects.

But Asmodee CEO Koegler said on Wednesday that his company’s limited exposure to the US market – with just 12% of its net sales coming from China-sourced goods in the US – had left it in a strong position for further growth this year.

He said, “We have a very healthy balance sheet, we have cash available, so we have the means to execute our M&A strategy – this doesn’t change.”

Koegler added, “In a world of rapid change, tabletop games remain a reliable and stable industry to operate in. Times like these also present opportunities for strategic acquisitions that strengthen our portfolio.

“We have built a unique and dynamic ecosystem – one that includes strategic inventory positions on key titles to mitigate tariff and supply chain pressures.”

Tackling Tariffs

Koegler revealed Asmodee’s tariff mitigation strategy so far had included delaying some of its imports to the US, but he added that the company was making the most of the recent 90-day ‘pause’ that saw US tariffs on China set at 30%.

He said Asmodee had “taken the opportunity to accelerate shipping significant amounts of goods from China to secure future releases and end of year season”, adding that the company would also impose some “sensible” price increases on some US products.

Responding to a question from BoardGameWire on the subject, he said, “When I say ‘sensible’ I meant it in the French way – I’m French-speaking – so it’s just having the price increases on the products that can afford it, etc.

“So I don’t want there to be any misunderstanding – it’s not large price increases, this will be up to our local teams to work out – they are working out the strategy, also with the retailers.

“But yes, it’s mainly focused on the US market with the local response. I do believe consumers expect price increases in the overall context.”

Koegler said Asmodee’s strategy of prioritising “proximity to market” for its manufacturing had helped it in the short term, allowing it to switch out locally-manufactured products destined for Europe to instead send to the US after tariff rates spiked, while re-routing games from China to Europe that were originally destined for the US market.

He added that the company was also in the process of sourcing “alternative manufacturing capabilities” outside of China, in countries such as India, Cambodia and Vietnam.

When BoardGameWire noted that Koegler seemed very relaxed about the impact of tariffs on Asmodee, he said, “I cannot summarise in the fact that I’m ‘relaxed’ – I’m very confident in the ability of our teams to be reactive, to mitigate as much of the impact, but it’s true that the share of our global revenue in the US in comparison to other players in the industry is relatively limited, given our geographical footprint.

“So we are more diversified, however, obviously our US teams are working extremely intensively right now, hand-in-hand with our supply chain teams, to try and mitigate as much as possible of this.”

Strong Performance

Koegler was speaking during the presentation of Asmodee’s year-end report, which showed the company’s net sales grew 6.3% last year to more than €1.3bn – giving it an annual profit of about €4.7m.

Asmodee’s last two quarters have been especially strong, with net sales in January to March this year surging 23% to about €341m compared to the same period in 2024.

Koegler said that performance was stronger than it had anticipated ahead of its spin-off from its troubled former owner Embracer Group in February.

He highlighted strong new releases including The Fellowship of the Ring: Trick Taking Game in January, Azul Duel in February and the latest expansion for Star Wars Unlimited, ‘Jump to Lightspeed’, in March.

Koegler said Star Wars Unlimited had quickly become one of its top five ranges since its launch last March. Those top titles also include the Ticket to Ride, Exploding Kittens and Dobble/Spot-it! range of games.