Asmodee and Hasbro make industry moves
During the past few weeks there have been a number of board game industry shifts which has an impact on the board gaming hobby. The board game hobby explosion during 2020 has opened up more eyes to the lucrative market.
Hasbro recently announced that Wizards of the Coast would now be one of three new divisions, "Wizards of the Coast and Digital Gaming", along with "Consumer Products", and "Entertainment". The "Consumer Products" division will handle Hasbro's traditional toys and games (Hasbro Gaming), while the "Entertainment" division would handle the company's film and television content. The largest changes to Wizards of the Coast is a new logo, a refreshed website, and a directive to lead an "aggressive digital transformation" of their games along with Hasbro's gaming IP. During 2020 Wizards of the Coast had its highest revenue since the company was first founded raking in an astounding $816 million in revenue.
Asmodee have made a number of announcements over these past few weeks including a recent deal between Asmodee USA and Jasco Games to distribute the English version of the My Hero Academia Collectible Card Game (CCG) worldwide. In the My Hero Academia CCG, players build powerful decks around their heroes such as All Might, Izuku Midoriya, and Katsuki Bakugo, then battle against other characters from Class 1-A using Jasco’s UniVersus system. The card game is set to release in the Summer of 2021 and will feature 2-Player Rival decks, playmats, and booster boxes containing 24 packs of 10 random cards per pack.
Asmodee recently announced their acquisition of Plan B Games and have since setup distribution deals between Asmodee USA, Plan B Games, Fantasia, Tabletop Tycoon, and Thundergryph Games. The Plan B Games distribution agreement starts in June of 2021 and includes their entire catalog which includes imprints such as Plan B, Next Move Games, Pretzel, and Eggertspiele. Asmodee USA will distribute Fantasia Games' hotly anticipated debut game, Endless Winter: Paleoamericans, along with its expansions, Rivers & Rafts, Cave Paintings, and Ancestors, which will be distributed in Winter of 2021. Asmodee USA will also distribute the English catalog of Thundergryph Games starting in 2021, and Tabletop Tycoon, which includes brands such as Victory Point Games, Starling Games, Flying Meeple, Spark Works, and Polyhero Dice, starting in April of 2021.
