The partnership comes two weeks after Asmodee revealed Catan would be coming to Netflix in the form of both "scripted and unscripted projects".
The generally congested Thursday, Friday and Saturday of the show were joined by a noticeably busier Sunday this year after Spiel made the decision to get rid of four-day tickets - reasoning that many people were buying the whole-show pass but skipping out on the final day.
SETI publishers Czech Game Edition and Germany-based HeidelBÄR Games scored a double win on the night, having also seen their Matúš Kotry-designed title Little Alchemists take home the best children's game award.
CMON's sale of Cthulhu: Death May Die is the latest move in its drive to battle the huge losses the business has chalked up in the past couple of years - and comes alongside the company announcing a new share sale worth 20% of its existing share capital in an attempt to raise money for the company.
Tariff hikes have already seen several board game businesses shutter their operations in recent months, while others have laid off staff and been forced to hike the price of their games to cover the unexpected costs.
The decision comes despite Amigo Games being one of the few hobby board game publishers that managed to diversify some of its manufacturing away from China - the country which has been hit the heaviest by recent US tariffs to date.
Nee created Cryptozoic in 2010 alongside Cory Jones, Scott Gaeta and John Sepenuk, and became CEO in February 2023 after Sepenuk's sudden death of a heart attack while kite-surfing.
Moodbox Games will be led by former Catan Studio director of brand development Kelli Schmitz and long-time young adult-focused book editor Shaina Olmanson, who joined Asmodee as an operations and communications manager in May of this year.
This year Spiel is bringing its annual series of panel discussions and talks to the main show floor via a new 1,000 sq m stage in Hall 4, featuring everything from professional discussions about crowdfunding and fulfillment to a bagpipe-playing workshop and cosplay craft showcase.
Hisashi Hayashi’s co-operative bomb disposal game Bomb Busters has added to its recent Spiel des Jahres win by triumphing in the family games category of this year’s Nederlandse Spellenprijs, the longest-running award celebrating Dutch language board games.
