The surprise cancellation comes four months after the Root and Arcs publisher unveiled the crowdfunding campaign for Take, a risk management and negotiation game which sees players executing a series of heists.
The dramatic demise of the decade-old publisher comes after it raised more than $19m from board game crowdfunding campaigns in just five years - including in excess of $5.6m from over 28,000 backers for its most successful Kickstarter, Darkest Dungeon: The Board Game, in 2020.
Codenames and SETI publisher Czech Games Edition has signed its first-ever distribution agreement with Hachette, as the French publishing giant continues to expand out its European board game distribution operation in the face of competition from industry heavyweight Asmodee.
SETI's indomitable 2025 awards run also includes the Deutscher Spiele Preis - the biggest community-voted board game award in Germany - Dice Tower Awards for game of the year, best strategy game and best new designer, and the Golden Geek heavy game of the year and thematic game awards.
About two thirds of Asmodee's net sales - which reached €1.36bn during the last financial year - come from the company distributing games from other publishers, while almost 70% of Asmodee's 2,200-plus workforce are focused on distribution.
GAMA, which boasts almost 1,800 members, said Davis would help strengthen its organisational processes, policies and contracts while working to ensure a smooth transition to hiring a new executive director.
Panda said that despite a maturing industry, in which self-publishing had moved from niche to mainstream and with first-time creators potentially able to launch six-figure crowdfunds, most creators still rely on generic software never designed for game development workflows.
Asmodee CEO Thomas Koegler said the company had seen "good momentum" in its lower price-point products in the US mass market, singling out Exploding Kittens as a particularly strong performer in what he called a "challenging market".
Board game sales in Germany, one of the world’s biggest tabletop markets, are continuing to grow despite an ongoing economic slowdown in the country, new research from German toy and game trade association DVSI and its tabletop publisher-focused subsidiary Spieleverlage shows.
The last big board game convention of the year kicks off on Friday as Pax Unplugged returns to the Philadelphia Convention Center. BoardGameWire rounds up some of the most interesting-looking sessions for tabletop game industry professionals from across the three days, ranging from how to grow your own evergreen title to getting your start as a tabletop gaming artist.
