Eurazeo announced that it has entered exclusive discussions with European private equity firm PAI Partners for the sale of its ownership stake in Asmodee. According to the announcement, the sale is expected to close in the fourth quarter and puts a value on the company of €1.2 billion.

In four years, revenue grew from €125 million, generated 48% in France, to €442 million, generated 75% internationally, representing an average annual growth rate of 37%.

Eurazeo said that since its first investment in Asmodee, the company has completed 20 acquisitions. Publishing revenues for Asmodee now represent almost two-thirds of total game sales.

Future owner PAI, which specializes in consumer products, stated that it “intends to support the current management team in its plans to grow the business further through international expansion both organically and by acquisition.”

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Asmodee Group announced that it is in talks to acquire Rebel, the publisher and distributor of games in Poland. Rebel already distributes many of Asmodee’s games, including Ticket to Ride and Dobble.

Asmodee UK, formerly Esdevium Games, will be taking over distribution of Bananagrams and other games from the Bananagrams company in the U.K. as of April 1st.

Van Ryder Games has acquired the U.S. and Canadian distribution rights for English-language versions of Makaka Editions’ series of French graphic novel game books. Expect a Kickstarter project for these in March.

Pegasus Spiele is partnering with Frosted Games to distribute some of the latter’s titles on an exclusive basis and other titles on a non-exclusive basis. Those games under the exclusive arrangement will get a Pegasus Spiele logo on the box. Among these is Augespielt! (“Game Over!” in English), a murder-mystery game set at the annual German SPIEL game convention.

Pegasus Spiele is also expanding its relationship with Portal Games, taking over exclusive distribution of the latter’s products in Germany.

Renegade Game Studios and Hunter’s Books are partnering to copublish the latter’s roleplaying games, including the upcoming titles Kids on Bikes and Outbreak Undead. Renegade will handle marketing and distribution to hobby retailers.

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The Asmodee Group today launched new branding consisting of a new logo, new motto—”Great Games, Amazing Stories”—and new corporate website. The company described the changes as…

An expression of Asmodee’s ambition to offer a narrative transmedia experience around its intellectual properties, while continuing to develop and expand its premium physical and digital games catalogue.

After a series of acquisitions that’s united major game properties and design studios under the Asmodee umbrella, the company looks to be taking steps toward a broader business strategy. As an example, the company on the same day separately announced the formation of Fantasy Flight Interactive, a digital development studio “not just adapting tabletop games, but creating fresh, new digital experiences based on Fantasy Flight Games’ beloved brands.”

It was also recently reported by Variety that Sony Pictures is in negotiations to acquire the film rights to Catan from producer Gail Katz, with potential plans for a series. It’s not clear, however, what Asmodee’s role might be in those plans, as Katz’s acquisition of the movie rights dates back to 2015.

Asmodee’s new logo is meant to focus on the company’s B2B position in the industry. Branding for the group’s various publishing studios (Fantasy Flight Games, HeidelBear, Asmodee Studio, Space Cowboys, Days of Wonder, Plaid Hat Games, Ystari, Z-Man Games, and Pearl Games) will not change.

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Jaipur, Asmodee’s head-to-head, set-collecting card game about trade caravans in India, is now available on mobile (Android, iOS). It can be played against three levels of AI or against another live player online.

CMON has a new companion app for Zombicide: Black Plague. Among other features, the app manages the zombie spawning deck, helps with inventory maintenance, and tracks experience and skill options. It also synchronizes over a network to track all players’ game states.

As announced by Paizo, two digital Pathfinder games are in the works. One, Pathfinder: Kingmaker, is a computer RPG and is being developed by Owlcat Games. In it, players start out as adventurers but are able to claim the lands they explore and, thus, carve out their own kingdoms. The other, Pathfinder Duels, is a digital collectible card game based on the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path and is scheduled for release in September. It’s being developed by 37Games.

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Asmodee Group has acquired Rory’s Story Cubes from The Creativity Hub. Already the distributor for Rory’s Story Cubes in several countries, Asmodee with this deal ups its stake to “worldwide publishing and brand rights.” Other existing distribution arrangements will remain in place through their current terms, such as with Gamewright through 2018 in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

The deal also has The Creativity Hub working as consultants to Asmodee for a 3 year period, allowing for the smooth transition of manufacturing, distribution, and product development. Discussing the transaction with Purple Pawn, company co-founder Rory O’Connor expressed confidence in Asmodee’s commitment to the product as both a game and a resource for promoting creativity. Asmodee, he said, will better be able to expand the reach of Rory’s Story Cubes to a wider audience and additional global markets. Don’t expect any sudden changes to the product line, though, or a major expansion in licensed versions of Story Cubes.

At the same time, Rory added, the sale will allow The Creativity Hub to focus more time and resources on new products. Among those it has in development are Blank, a card game that evolves from play to play, and Untold, a cooperative roleplaying game incorporating Story Cubes and currently funding on Kickstarter. Regarding the Untold, Rory said in jest:

Looking back at it, it’s almost like Untold is the base game and we released all the expansions already.

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Back in November I had posted about the release of Asmodee’s Mysterium in the digital realm. I’ve had some time to play the game, and I’m more than impressed!

Let me start off by saying that I had never played Mysterium until recently, so I wasn’t familiar with how great of a game it already way. Asmodee Digital made sure that even complete novices can jump right into the game with a story mode that introduces the elements of play a bit at a time. That, combined with an excellent interface, really makes playing Mysterium a pleasure. Another note here is that I’m playing the PC version through Steam. I haven’t tried the iOS or Android versions of the game.

For those who aren’t familiar with Mysterium is has players taking the role of psychics trying to figure out the person, place, and weapon used to kill the ghost player, who also player controlled. The ghost player can give hints through abstract artwork and the other players have to make their best guesses. Once all the psychics have guessed correctly (each has a different set of “correct” answers) then all the players try to figure out which combination is the correct one with a final round and paintings. It’s a clever game that feels like a mixture of Clue and Dixit.

The digital version of Mysterium let’s you play on either side, though the Story mode dictates what side you play on as it progresses. As with many other table-to-digital games, there’s the usual multiplayer options available to play locally or online, and leader boards to compare yourself to other players.

The Steam version of the game is $9.99 and I highly recommend it. I’ve become a bit addicted to the game, which is part of the reason my review of it is going up later than it should have. If you’d rather carry around the game in your pocket you can snag the iOS and Android versions for $6.99. As of this time you can also grab the Potions expansion for the mobile versions, but not the Steam version.

A Steam copy of Mysterium was provided free for review by Asmodee Digital

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Designed by Bruno Cathala and Marc Paquien, Days of Wonder’s new title, Yamataï, is expected to hit stores in Europe in March and in the US in May at a suggested retail price of €54/$60.

In the game 2 to 4 are competing to build the best city, the capitol of Yamataï. The full rulebook, along with some of the game’s beautiful artwork, can be found on Days of Wonder’s site.

A new Days of Wonder big-box release is always exciting, and Yamataï looks to be no exception.

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Back in November, I had posted about the digital release of Colt Express for Steam, Android, and iOS. I finally got a chance to sit down and give the Steam version a try and put it through its paces.

What hit me right off the bat was how thematic the digital port is. Just like the tabletop version, the digital version is just oozing with that western train robbery theme. Initially, you’re brought into the tutorial which pretty much covers anything you need to know about playing the game, all while getting you familiarized with the interface and how things work. Everything is extremely streamlined and easy-to-follow.

Colt Express gives you pretty much what you’d expect in a digital tabletop port. You can play the game against other people, play online, and play against the computer in Classic Mode. What really makes the game shine is its Story Mode, a single player campaign with 6 playable characters and over 30 different missions. It’s a bit more rewarding that just playing the game over and over with bots.

It seems that digital tabletop adaptations are getting better and better, and Colt Express really shines. It’s certainly not a hastily thrown together port, but a finely crafted, polished game that’s worth every cent. If you’re a fan of Colt Express, there’s no reason for you not to snag this now. If you’ve never played Colt Express, I can’t think of any better way to give the game a shot and familiarize yourself with it.

Colt Express can be purchased on Steam for $9.99, Google Play for $6.99, and iTunes for $6.99.

If you’d like to see how the game actually played, I recently streamed myself through the tutorial.

A Steam copy of Colt Express was provided free for review by Asmodee Digital.

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German publisher and distributor Heidelberger Spieleverlag is merging with Asmodee. Post-merger, it’ll continue operations out of Walldürn as Studio Heidelberger, developing new products and producing localized versions of Fantasy Flight Games titles.

The same is happening with two other European board game companies, publisher EDGE Entertainment (Spain and France) and distributor Millenium (Spain).

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Yesterday, Asmodee Digital released Colt Express on PC, iOS and Android. Developed by Frima studio, Colt Express is the digital adaptation of the Spiel des Jahres winning board game released by Ludonaute.

The game features an extensive story mode with 6 characters and 30 chapters. Each character has their own goals and features relating to game play. Of course online multiplayer will be included. Plot out your train heist then play out your actions cards along with your fellow outlaws to see who comes out with the most loot.

Colt Express can be purchased on Steam for $9.99, Google Play for $6.99, and iTunes for $6.99.

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