Plaid Hat Games reacquired by its founder
Plaid Hat Games is a US-based tabletop games publisher founded in 2009, who originally rose to fame for Summoner Wars, their first release. Asmodee Group acquired Plaid Hat Games, along with Z-Man Games, as part of the F2Z acquisition in 2015.
Since then, Plaid Hat Games created and developed new game titles for Asmodee, including Stuffed Fables, and Aftermath, both of which are part of the Adventure Book Games line.
Colby Dauch, Head of Studio and Founder of Plaid Hat Games, reached an agreement with Asmodee Group on February 19th, 2020, which let him reacquire the independent rights to the Plaid Hat Games brand and the publication rights to many, but not all, of the their current and past titles.
Asmodee Group retains the rights to publish the following under Fantasy Flight Games:
- Dead of Winter
- Raxxon (part of the Dead of Winter universe)
Asmodee Group retains the rights to publish the following under Z-Man Games:
- Mice and Mystics
- Stuffed Fables
- Aftermath
- Battlelands
Asmodee Group also retains the rights to the “Adventure Games Book” brand. While the loss of these properties from Plaid Hat Games may be disappointing in the short-term, the company has always shown that it's greatest assets are its people, who have a knack for creating innovative new products.
“These past years within the Asmodee Group have been amazing and I am excited to continue to lead Plaid Hat Games into the future. I am thankful to the many kind and creative people I’ve had the opportunity to work with at Asmodee and look forward to continuing our relationships with Asmodee's distribution units throughout the world.”, said Colby Dauch, Founder of Plaid Hat Games.
“I am thrilled that this opportunity has worked out for Colby and am excited to see what they do next. We’ll remain at their side as a strong long-term partner for distribution.”, said Steve Horvath, Head of Publishing at Asmodee North America.
Jerry Hawthorn, creator of Mice and Mystics, Stuffed Fables, Aftermath, and Battlelands, leaves behind his creations with mixed feelings stating on his blog, “I will no longer have the pleasure of writing for those characters, many of which are based on people I love, and some who have even passed away.”
Isaac Vega, co-designer of Dead of Winter, Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn, City of Remnants, and many other of Plaid Hat’s games, will not be joining Plaid Hat Games on their journey and will, instead, seek his own path. On his Twitter account he stated, “Short Announcement: I am leaving Plaid Hat Games, on good terms, and going off on my own. Details on that are still pending. The people at Plaid Hat are still my good friends and still a part of my life. I wish them the best in their future!”
The announcement follows their recent reveal of Forgotten Waters, part of the Crossroads Game system.
