Links: Wear Chess, Watch Miller’s Hollow, Leave China, and Buy More Game Companies | BoardGameGeek News

• On November 19, 2024, Embracer Group announced that it intends to “contribute EUR 400 million to Asmodee through an equity investment upon the closing of the divestment” of mobile game developer Easybrain. From the press release: “Asmodee is expected to use EUR 300 million of this equity investment to repay gross debt and the remaining EUR 100 million to further strengthen its balance sheet ahead of the listing [of Asmodee as a separate entity following Embracer’s April 2024 decision to split its holdings into three companies] and allow it to resume its value accretive M&A strategy.” Translation of that last line: Buy more stuff.

Mike Didymus-True <a href="https://boardgamewire.com/index.php/2024/11/21/acquisitions-are-back-at-asmodee-as-board-game-giant-eyes-more-than-20-buyout-targets/” target=”_blank” class=”postlink” rel=”nofollow noreferrer noopener”>covers this development on BoardGameWire, noting that “New CEO Thomas Koegler said the company has a pipeline of more than 20 acquisition opportunities, mirroring the heavy expansion the business undertook after being bought by private equity firm Eurazeo in 2014.”

• In April 2024, media conglomerate KADOKAWA purchased <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamepublisher/3475/arclight-games“>Arclight games, which publishes games and game-related magazines, owns retail game stores, and manages game conventions in Japan, including game Market.

As of mid-November 2024, Sony is reportedly in talks to acquire KADOKAWA. As Oli Welsh writes on Polygon, KADOKAWA owns a 70% stake in Elden Ring developer FromSoftware (with Sony currently owning 14% of that developer), but more than that:

Quote:

• Will incoming U.S. President Trump’s proposed tariffs pass GO? MSNBC reports that Hasbro has been “negotiating with suppliers and considering design changes ahead of potential new levies”. Two excerpts:

Quote:

Quote:

• For his final project at Central Saint Martins, a college within the University of the Arts London, French designer Louis Le Joly Senoville has created a wearable chess set — which he dubs “Ha Mat” and which consists of a scarf, ring pieces, and a watch that converts into a pair of timers.

• The film Family Pack, which Netflix released in October 2024, is written by game designers Hervé Marly and Philippe des Pallières that adapts their game The Werewolves of Miller’s Hollow, which debuted in 2001 from Lui-même and is currently available via Asmodee.

In The Guardian, Phil Hoad gives the film three-out-of-five stars, describing it as “a perfectly accurate board-game adaptation insofar as it’s well-packaged, undemanding fun”.