That belief was underscored by strong annual results for Asmodee for the 2023\/24 financial year, released this morning, which saw the tabletop business’ sales increase 13% to about $1.38bn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asmodee’s adjusted EBIT – a measure of profitability which removes some one-off expenditures – was largely flat year-on-year, but grew by more than 50% in the last quarter of the financial year to about $35.5m compared to the same period in 2023 – despite FYQ4 sales rising just 1% year-on-year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Organic growth within Asmodee was up 7% for the 2023\/24 financial year, but fell by 3% in the final quarter, January to March 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors said, “Asmodee is still expected to generate mid-single digit organic growth in addition to any acquisitive growth, with an expanding Adjusted EBIT margin in the coming years.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asmodee said growth was supported by the successful launch of the Star Wars: Unlimited trading card game, but offset by other TCGs due to release timings – although it did not reveal what those timing issues were.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Star Wars: Unlimited’s success was highlighted in the annual results, with Embracer acknowledging that demand “notably outpaced supply” on release of the TCG’s first set in March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Publisher Fantasy Flight Games revealed on Twitter just a week after Star Wars: Unlimited went on sale that it had “already far exceeded the sales of any game we have ever released”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The company was forced to put into place a plan to slow down release of the game to retailers, to ensure a “steady flow” of new cards to prevent speculators hoarding and flipping them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The game’s second set, Shadows of the Galaxy, is due to be released on July 12, and set 3, Twilight of the Republic, in the last quarter of 2024. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Wingefors said, “Asmodee, together with the renowned internal studio Fantasy Flight Games, has a clear multi-year roadmap with product development for several future sets already finished and remains focused on creating a strong ecosystem for players and retailers to install Star Wars: Unlimited as a long-term success. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “Further ahead, we also look forward to the release of the Altered trading card game in September this year.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Altered raised more than \u20ac6m through a Kickstarter campaign in February<\/a>, and Embracer said the pledge amounts had since reached \u20ac10m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Asmodee is the part-owner of Altered publisher Equinox and is the distributor for the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Embracer’s annual results comes almost exactly a year after a $2bn partnership deal Saudi Arabian government-backed Savvy Games Group collapsed, bringing to an end a years-long acquisition spree fuelled by cheap borrowing costs prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Embracer was left with debt of more than $2bn, causing it to launch a huge restructuring program which saw it lay off almost 1,600 people, shutter a string of video game studios and sell off big-name assets including Borderlands publisher Gearbox Interactive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Asmodee has remained something of a jewel in the crown of its troubled owner throughout the restructuring, having overtaking its PC and Console Games segment for net sales last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The tabletop arm avoided large-scale job losses<\/a> during the now completed process, with numbers released in February showing its internal headcount fallen by just 82, to 2,500 people, since Embracer began the restructuring last summer<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/boardgamewire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Star-Wars-Unlimited-cards-1024x731.png\")