Publisher Equinox said the €1.1m raised between the Roots of Corruption Gamefound campaign and through retailer pre-orders was "far too far" from the €2m it needed to "guarantee the future of the game".
Zenith picked up the intermediate award ahead of First Rat and Take Time, while the children’s category was won by Mooki Island in a contest with Archeo and The Twisted Spooky Night.
Super Meeple, which releases its own designs as well as localising major titles such as Ark Nova and Gaia Project, says it is planning a "downward trend" for the number of games it releases each year in order to help each title stand out in an increasingly competitive market.
This year's As d'Or sees Flip 7, Rebirth and Toy Battle fighting it out for the main prize, with Arcs, Civolution and Ants competing for the expert game award.
The French award focuses on new, expert-level eurogame releases from the previous 12 months which have a high replayability, especially those “whose format does not always allow them to apply for one of the many other current awards”.
The designer and illustrator of co-operative card game Présages have both picked up awards in this year's Prix des Boutiques Ludiques, chosen by French board game retailers.
CMON has sold off two more of its game IPs as it continues its fightback against heavy losses - just 18 months after acquiring them from financially-devastated board game crowdfunding specialist Mythic Games.
The variety of France's board game publishing industry has been underscored by the newly-announced nominees of this year's As d’Or, the country's highest-profile board game prize.
Space exploration eurogame SETI has picked up its first major award by scooping this year's Diamant d’Or, a prize launched a decade ago to celebrate complex eurogames being overlooked by more mainstream board game awards.
French board game publisher Super Meeple plans to step up its own direct sales this year after struggling to get individual retailers to stock more than a handful of copies of each of its heavier games through 2024.
