Cooke joins following another record year for UKGE, which has seen its annual unique attendance surge almost 65% since 2023 to reach more than 51,000.
Joeri Hoste joined Exploding Kittens to lead its international business in 2020, following multi-year stints at companies including Hong Kong based board game publisher and manufacturer Ooba Games, toy company BOTI and trading card and collectibles specialist Upper Deck.
Gonzalez takes charge of a business with years of falling revenue - as well as a run of promising crowdfunding successes.
The worker-management title triumphed amid strong competition from titles including Galactic Cruise - which already has the Dice Tower Awards game of the year and Golden Geek heavy game of the year to its name, and is one of the three finalists for this year’s Deutscher Spiele Preis.
The Binding of Isaac: Four Souls and Clash of Clans: The Epic Raid publisher has launched Overture by Maestro Media, through which it plans to co-publish games from other companies, partner with them during development or production, or potentially acquire titles outright.
CMON has warned that its core business is suffering a "prolonged structural downturn" and is still consuming more cash than it generates, despite a drastic restructuring which has seen the board game crowdfunding major halve its workforce, sell off some of its biggest game IPs and halt new crowdfunding campaigns.
After building its reputation through a five-year, 16-game partnership with Reiner Knizia, Bitewing Games is looking to videogames for its next big opportunities. Co-founder Nick Murray tells BoardGameWire about the $700,000-plus success of Balatro-inspired Rolling Deep, adapting Baba Is You and Party House, and why leaving dentistry for Bitewing full-time has raised the stakes around finding lasting commercial hits.
Battlefields of the Napoleonic Wars, Chicago ‘68, Molly House and Onoda will compete for the fifth edition of the award, which is run by the San Diego Historical Games Convention - an organisation which aims to create a diverse and supportive gaming community dedicated to playing, discussing, designing, and promoting historically-based board games.
Catan is continuing to push into professional sport in a bid to reach new players, adding a season-long partnership with NHL team the Ottawa Senators and recruiting German handball star Juri Knorr as a brand ambassador.
DSV has landed a nomination in each of the three Nederlandse Spellenprijs categories with Reiner Knizia design Rebirth, Tomáš Holek's Pondscape and Ants from Renato Ciervo and Andrea Robbiani - equalling veteran Dutch publisher White Goblin Games and industry giant Asmodee as the most-nominated company this year.
