{"id":7758,"date":"2026-11-13T11:50:42","date_gmt":"2026-11-13T11:50:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/boardgamewire.com\/?p=7758"},"modified":"2026-11-13T11:51:20","modified_gmt":"2026-11-13T11:51:20","slug":"nemesis-legacy-breaks-board-game-crowdfunding-record-amid-blockbuster-year-for-sector-but-publishers-warn-of-rising-costs-growing-risks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/boardgamewire.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/13\/nemesis-legacy-breaks-board-game-crowdfunding-record-amid-blockbuster-year-for-sector-but-publishers-warn-of-rising-costs-growing-risks\/","title":{"rendered":"Nemesis: Legacy breaks board game crowdfunding record amid blockbuster year for sector – but publishers warn of rising costs, growing risks"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a><\/div><\/div>\n

Nemesis: Legacy<\/a> has become the highest-funded board game crowdfunding campaign of all time, raising more than \u20ac13.2m from almost 35,000 backers through its Gamefound campaign<\/a> – and helping propel tabletop crowdfunding to a record-breaking year in which dollars raised has already comfortably surpassed the total for the whole of 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Data from crowdfunding tracking site Tabletop Analytics<\/a> shows that board game, RPG and tabletop accessories projects across Kickstarter, Gamefound and BackerKit have attracted more than $416m in 2026 so far, up almost 49% on the $280m raised throughout the entirety of last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Campaigns in the site’s narrower ‘tabletop’ category, which excludes RPGs and accessories, have raised almost $266m in the year to date, compared with $196m across the entirety of 2025 – with average funding per project climbing from $113,000 to almost $152,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kickstarter<\/a> has seen a particularly huge surge for ‘tabletop’ in the first ten months of 2026 according to the data, attracting $148.4m – up 65% from the $89.8m raised over the same period last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rival crowdfunding heavyweight Gamefound<\/a> also saw a continuation of its rapid growth, Tabletop Analytics shows, with $107.3m pledged between January and October, compared with $73.7m a year earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Gamefound spokesperson told BoardGameWire that campaigns across its platform raised $111.3m in the first ten months of 2026, up 14.8% from $97m over the equivalent period last year, excluding late pledges and pledge-manager sales. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The platform’s own figures use a different reporting basis from Tabletop Analytics – reflecting quirks such as whether campaigns are recorded in the period they launch or the period they close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the respective numbers suggest tabletop crowdfunding’s ongoing growth is being accompanied by a significant recovery at Kickstarter – which had suffered three consecutive years of declining funding as rival Gamefound expanded its share of the market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kickstarter’s tabletop funding fell from a pandemic-era peak of $270m in 2021 to about $220m in 2024, with annual declines of 12.4%, 4.3% and 2.7%, respectively. That decline came despite the number of successfully funded projects continuing to rise, with the average amount raised per successful campaign falling to $41,400 in 2024 – its lowest level in a decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gamefound, meanwhile, has been growing rapidly since launching as a fully-fledged crowdfunding platform in 2022. The platform’s campaign funding doubled from $28.3m that year to $56m in 2023<\/a>, before jumping another 49% to over $85m a year later<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The platform, which began life as a Kickstarter pledge manager in 2015, rapidly grew into a major crowdfunding destination in its own right, particularly for established publishers launching expensive, large-scale games with multiple boxes, expansions and plastic miniatures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gamefound hosted five of the ten highest-funded board game projects in 2023<\/a>, six of the biggest tabletop campaigns in 2024<\/a> and nine of the ten highest-funded board game campaigns in 2025 – and has since extended its ambitions beyond tabletop gaming, acquiring veteran crowdfunding rival Indiegogo last summer<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nemesis: Legacy is the third board game crowdfunding campaign this year to enter the all-time top ten for dollars raised, alongside Flashgitz’s Space King ($9.3m)<\/a> and Roxley Games’ Brass: Pittsburgh ($9.1m)<\/a> – with all three drawing on established franchises or large, dedicated audiences to attract huge amounts of pledges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Game
<\/td>		Publisher<\/td>Year<\/td>Platform<\/td>Amount Raised<\/td><\/tr>
Nemesis: Legacy<\/strong><\/td>Awaken Realms<\/td>2026<\/td>Gamefound<\/td>\u20ac13.23m ($14.8m)<\/td><\/tr>
Frosthaven<\/strong><\/td>Cephalofair Games<\/td>2020<\/td>Kickstarter<\/td>$12.97m<\/td><\/tr>
Kingdom Death: Monster 1.5<\/strong><\/td>Kingdom Death<\/td>2017<\/td>Kickstarter<\/td>$12.39m<\/td><\/tr>
The Witcher: Legacy<\/strong><\/td>Go On Board<\/td>2025<\/td>Gamefound<\/td>\u20ac10.45m ($12.3m)<\/td><\/tr>
Nemesis: Retaliation<\/strong><\/td>Awaken Realms<\/td>2024<\/td>Gamefound<\/td>$12.2m<\/td><\/tr>
Space King<\/strong><\/td>Flashgitz<\/td>2026<\/td>Kickstarter<\/td>$9.35m<\/td><\/tr>
Brass: Pittsburgh<\/strong><\/td>Roxley Games<\/td>2026<\/td>Gamefound<\/td>$9.11m<\/td><\/tr>
Marvel Zombies: A Zombicide Game<\/strong><\/td>CMON<\/td>2022<\/td>Kickstarter<\/td>$9.03m<\/td><\/tr>
Exploding Kittens<\/strong><\/td>Exploding Kittens<\/td>2015<\/td>Kickstarter<\/td>$8.78m<\/td><\/tr>
The Witcher: Old World<\/strong><\/td>Go On Board<\/td>2021<\/td>Kickstarter<\/td>\u20ac6.84m ($8.29m)<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>
Largest board game crowdfunds of all time<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

That rash of blockbuster campaigns has been replicated across the wider tabletop industry, with space opera D&D campaign setting Neon Odyssey pulling in more than $16.1m<\/a>, the Dungeon Crawler Carl RPG and Unstoppable board game raising $13.3m<\/a>, and the Cyberpunk TCG becoming the highest-funded tabletop gaming crowdfunding campaign of all time at $28.3m<\/a> – almost doubling the previous $15.1m record set by the Cosmere RPG in 2024<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But despite the extraordinary sums pouring into tabletop crowdfunding, interviews carried out by BoardGameWire with publishers, designers and crowdfunding industry professionals at Spiel Essen<\/a> last month revealed growing concerns over rising marketing costs, unpredictable campaign results and the impact of high-profile publisher failures on backer confidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two publishers told BoardGameWire they had deliberately decided against crowdfunding their latest games – despite featuring the premium components often associated with successful campaigns – amid concerns about the financial risks and long-term viability of the model for smaller businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They cited rising marketing costs, growing uncertainty over whether campaigns would attract enough backers to justify their investment, and concerns that backers were becoming increasingly reluctant to pay for games they might not receive for several years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I think people are more anxious about spending their money,” one publisher said, arguing that customers were increasingly inclined to wait for retail releases rather than commit to expensive campaigns with lengthy fulfilment schedules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those concerns have been exacerbated by a string of high-profile crowdfunding failures and financial crises among large, established publishers in recent years – a situation multiple industry professionals told BoardGameWire had made some long-time crowdfunding backers wary of committing money to new projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mythic Games, publisher of the Darkest Dungeon board game, was officially liquidated in October 2025<\/a> after raising more than $19m through crowdfunding over five years. The company’s demise left a string of projects undelivered, including the $2.2m Hel: The Last Saga and $1.3m Monsterpocalypse campaigns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Miniatures from the Darkest Dungeon board game || Photo Credit: Mythic Games<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Former crowdfunding powerhouse CMON, meanwhile, lost almost $23m across 2024 and 2025<\/a>, halved its workforce, sold major intellectual properties including Zombicide and Blood Rage, and has halted new crowdfunding campaigns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Hong Kong-listed publisher reported a further loss of just over $2m in the first half of 2026, while continuing to work towards delivering eight delayed crowdfunding campaigns that collectively raised more than $14m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CMON has attributed part of its financial difficulties to weakening demand for its crowdfunded games, with revenue from crowdfunding projects falling by almost a quarter in 2024. The company subsequently blamed softer crowdfunding and wholesale demand, particularly in North America following US tariff increases, for its worsening financial performance in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UK publisher Steamforged Games cut about a third of its workforce this year<\/a> and scaled back new board game crowdfunding activity – and has seen mounting complaints from backers about delayed updates and unresolved refunds<\/a> relating to nine outstanding campaigns worth almost \u00a319m, including late pledges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Steamforged investor Foresight said earlier this year that the publisher had experienced “a few disappointing crowdfunding campaigns over the last 12 months” and was looking to move away from the model towards its higher-margin Iron Kingdoms business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some smaller publishers have also struggled. Final Frontier Games closed in April 2025<\/a> with three crowdfunding campaigns worth almost $1.4m unfulfilled, while Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood of Venice publisher Triton Noir shut down later that year after cancelling its final campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Triton Noir founder Thibaud de la Touanne blamed growing competition for backers and disappointing crowdfunding results for contributing to his company’s demise, saying most of its Kickstarter campaigns had fallen short of expectations – forcing smaller production runs and higher manufacturing costs.

Final Frontier said unexpected pandemic-era shipping costs of more than $350,000 had wiped out its profits from Merchants Cove, leaving it struggling financially for years. But it also blamed CMON’s alleged failure to pay for a Chinese-language edition of the game as the “final nail” in its closure, although CMON disputed that account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Belgian publisher Game Brewer, whose crowdfunded titles included Gugong and Paris, announced its closure in June 2024 after struggling to remain profitable in an increasingly competitive market. It subsequently delivered almost all pledges for its final three crowdfunding projects, although some backers were still reporting outstanding deliveries in 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And French publisher Funforge closed in August 2025 after years of financial difficulties, including pandemic-related manufacturing and shipping costs which left it more than $250,000 out of pocket on its delayed Monumental campaign<\/a>. Company CEO Philippe Nouhra had previously told BoardGameWire that crowdfunding’s business model was “globally broken”<\/a>, arguing that the financial risks were too great for publishers and backers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Former FunForge CEO Philippe Nouhra at Spiel Essen 2024<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Other industry professionals interviewed by BoardGameWire at Spiel Essen questioned how much of the additional money currently surging into crowdfunding was benefiting smaller and mid-sized publishers, and whether the rising costs of attracting backers were making crowdfunding increasingly difficult to sustain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One warned of a “compression of the middle tier”, arguing that larger, established publishers were able to easily outspend mid-sized competitors on advertising and convention appearances, crowding them out in the competition for backer pledges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I think we’re getting to a time where you need to be spending more, to be making more,” they said. “I think it’s more difficult than ever for mid-sized publishers who are having to spend money to have a bigger team to try and develop and grow.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem agreed on by several industry professionals BoardGameWire spoke with is not necessarily that smaller publishers cannot attract any crowdfunding support – but that the cost of reaching enough backers to make a campaign commercially worthwhile is becoming increasingly difficult to manage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Steamforged Games CEO Rich Loxam voiced similar concerns in an interview with BoardGameWire last year<\/a>, warning that the biggest crowdfunding publishers were setting expectations that could be difficult for mid-sized businesses to meet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He pointed to longer production lead times, higher shipping costs, growing competition for manufacturing capacity and increasing localisation demands as factors adding to the cost and complexity of delivering crowdfunded games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Acorn Dobrovolskyy, the founder and CEO of Ukrainian publisher Boardova<\/a>, offered a highly critical assessment of the model, arguing that publishers’ success was becoming increasingly dependent on their ability to market products rather than the quality of the games themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It’s a broken system,” he told BoardGameWire. “It rewards marketing companies, not board game companies.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Boardova founder and CEO Acorn Dobrovolskyy <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Dobrovolskyy argued that companies offering relatively inexpensive games were competing for many of the same potential customers as those selling large, premium-priced products – without necessarily having the same revenue available to afford to advertise to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We see Kickstarter ads every day. All of us are competing for the same guy. So it doesn’t matter if you are selling the $15 game or the $100 game – but if it doesn’t matter, you better be selling the $100 game. But that doesn’t benefit the end customer.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dobrovolskyy said he would prefer to move away from crowdfunding altogether, but said Boardova continued to rely on campaigns “because we need the cash flow”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said, “Our goal is to become a company that carries the risk of printing and promoting our own games, and doesn’t do crowdfunding because it’s a lot of stress for buyers. It’s a lot of stress for us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“You spend almost as much… okay, not as much time on a crowdfunding as on creating a game, but it’s comparable, basically. And we could make either better games, or more of them, if we didn’t have to go crowdfund.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“But on the other hand, I understand why it exists still in a market this overcrowded. But I still believe that there are better ways, especially for bigger players, to go about it.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite those difficulties, other publishers argued that crowdfunding remained essential to their businesses because of the greater share of sales revenue they could retain compared with selling through traditional retail distribution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One publisher with several large crowdfunding projects under their belt told BoardGameWire that paying for staff, game development, logistics and future projects all become much harder to justify when a substantial share of the selling price goes to distributors and retailers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But they also questioned whether the model could remain sustainable as backers became increasingly reluctant to commit large amounts of money to games that might take years to arrive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I do think that … asking for a large crowdfunding splash is going to become less and less of a reasonable ask in the hobby,” the publisher said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They added that publishers might need to experiment with more conventional retail launches, direct sales and pre-orders, while shortening the time between announcing games and delivering them to customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other publishers interviewed by BoardGameWire said they were already becoming more selective about which products they take to crowdfunding, with the model’s emphasis on deluxe editions, exclusive components and extensive stretch goals not always suited to games intended for wider retail distribution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One publisher said crowdfunding backers increasingly expected “everything deluxe”, creating products and price points that did not necessarily translate well into conventional retail channels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But even the largest, most expensive crowdfunding campaigns are not immune to rising costs – with publishers also facing continued uncertainty over US import tariffs and volatile international shipping prices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those risks are particularly acute for crowdfunded games, where publishers can commit to prices years before manufacturing and delivery, leaving them exposed to unexpected increases in costs they may struggle to pass on to backers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One board game crowdfunding professional pointed out that publishers producing large, component-heavy games face particularly substantial freight bills, and cautioned against assuming that expensive deluxe editions necessarily generated correspondingly high profit margins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Their margins are already smaller, despite the fact I think a lot of people think that those campaigns with the really deluxe tiers that are really expensive … they’re getting a ton of margin,” the representative said. “Not always.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The concerns about smaller businesses being squeezed out of the market are clearly weighing on many board game publishers – but currently, those fears are not reflected in a straightforward decline in funding for newcomers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tabletop Analytics’ figures show that projects by new creators across all its crowdfunding categories have raised more than $151m so far this year, compared with $90m throughout 2025 – an increase of 68%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their share of overall funding has also risen from 32% to 36%, while the number of projects launched by new creators has increased from 2,001 across all of last year to 2,211 already in 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But those figures naturally do not show how many of those newcomers will go on to build lasting publishing businesses – or whether they will encounter the same difficulties with rising costs, marketing and fulfilment that some of the industry’s established names are now struggling to overcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more stories like this direct to your email inbox, click here to sign up for BoardGameWire’s free email newsletter. \n\nAnd if you’ve found our reporting interesting or useful, please consider a paid subscription to help support our journalism!<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Despite the extraordinary sums pouring into tabletop crowdfunding, interviews carried out by BoardGameWire with publishers, designers and crowdfunding industry professionals at Spiel Essen last month revealed growing concerns over rising marketing costs, unpredictable campaign results and the impact of high-profile publisher failures on backer confidence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7900,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2093,650,784,6,135,2937,145,25,26,58,64,2936,267,370,1990,7,2938],"class_list":["post-7758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-2093","tag-awaken-realms","tag-backers","tag-board-game","tag-board-games","tag-campaigns","tag-cmon","tag-crowdfunding","tag-gamefound","tag-kickstarter","tag-mythic-games","tag-nemesis-legacy","tag-publisher","tag-record","tag-steamforged","tag-tabletop","tag-tabletop-analytics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t