Here at Goonhammer, we know that it’s hard to keep track of all the news happening all the time in the games industry. So much is always going on with games of all sorts, and their related media, it can be a real blink-and-you’ll miss it situation.
That’s why every week, we round up five of the biggest stories in the gaming sphere from the past week in the Games Industry News Roundup. Our trusty news boy, Dan “Swiftblade” Richardson, is at the very real and cool Goonhammer newsdesk with the scoop
CMON Games Suspends Work on New Projects Amidst Tariffs
CMON’s nightmare start to 2025 is only getting worse. The company’s financial crisis is being compounded by the tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on goods shipped from China. Because of these additional costs, CMON announced last week that it is suspending development on any new projects, and downsizing a large amount of its staff.
“Given global conditions, and most notably the situation with tariffs, CMON has decided to focus on our current commitments to our customers and partners, and prioritize the timely delivery of existing projects,” the company wrote in a press release. “So effective immediately, we will be pausing all future game development and new crowdfunding campaigns until trade conditions have stabilized.”
The number of total projects affected by this is unknown, since there could be games that haven’t been publicly announced that were axed. While those projects could theoretically be restarted if tariffs are lifted, the layoffs of creative teams is a much more permanent decision for the company. The creative team will be the focus of these layoffs, as CMON shift’s focus to “keep current projects on track and deliver them in a timely manner.”
CMON did not make any mention in its official statement just how it’s current crowdfunding campaigns will be affected. Games such as the God of War board game will now be subject to a massive spike in shipping costs from China, where most components are manufactured for CMON products, to the United States. CMON has not made any indication on if it will delay the eleven campaigns still in development to wait for possibly brighter skies, ask backers for additional funding to cover costs, or try and eat the additional costs on the company’s end.
This news is on top of the expected major profit loss predicted by CMON in it’s upcoming unreleased financial report, as well as news of the former COO of the company stepping down from the board of directors.
Mantic Announces a New Assassin’s Creed Tabletop Game
Mantic Games made big headlines last year when it announced Halo: Flashpoint, a tabletop skirmish game set in the universe of the Halo games. It looks like Mantic is trying to see if they can make lightning strike twice by announcing their next big tabletop adaptation of a beloved video games franchise: Assassin’s Creed.
According to a press release from Mantic, as well as the coming soon page on Kickstarter, the new game is called Assassin’s Creed: Animus, and is playable by 2-4 people over the course of about 45 to 90 minutes. Players take on the roles of Assassins from one of the many eras featured in the game series, such as the Crusades, Renaissance, and American Revolution. Different Assassins will have different abilities, and the game will foster deep, choice-rich gameplay.
“We’re thrilled to be partnering with Ubisoft to create the Assassin’s Creed board game”, said Ronnie Renton, CEO and founder of Mantic Games, in the official press release. “Fans can expect a deep respect for the franchise’s lore and history, exciting asymmetric characters, and tough gameplay choices between pursuing your own objectives while needing to maintain their edge over other players.”
For those who are wondering if it’s a smart time to introduce anything into the board game market right now, Mantic has noted that it has plans in place to make sure that US based backers will be able to get the game without breaking the bank.
The game will go into crowdfunding later this year, with a wider release at an unspecified date.
Final Fantasy Magic Set Breaks Sales Records with Preorders Alone
The massive success of Universes Beyond has made it a central focus for Wizards of the Coast’s Magic: The Gathering business strategy. According to information given by Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks during last weeks earnings call, that strategy is already paying off, as the upcoming Final Fantasy set is already the highest selling magic set in the game’s history before it’s even come out.
While we lack any sort of concrete number, Cocks spoke confidently on the success of the set during the call to company investors. Cocks said on the call “Final Fantasy will be the best-selling set of all time on day one. It already is.”
Magic’s year over year sales for Q1 2025 are up 45%, with Cocks saying that the expansion of the player base brought from multiple popular releases is the driving factor here. Specifically, Universes Beyond plays a key role in this expansion, with Cocks stating that the broad appeal of these sets “increased the total active install base of Magic players, both in terms of reigniting lapsed fans as well as bringing in new fans.”
Other key factors aside from the fan appeal of Final Fantasy driving the massive sales success is the decision to make UB legal in standard formats and increased cost for items in the set.
The Final Fantasy Universes Beyond set is due to release on June 13th, 2025.
One of Largest Online Board Game Retailers Shuts Its Doors
I think at some point, when I muttered, “God, I hope I don’t have to write about anymore video game industry layoffs”, a monkey paw somewhere curled a finger. It looks like for the immediate future, we’ve traded our layoff nightmare for a shiny and new tariff nightmare.
Boardlandia Online, one of the largest online independent retailers in the board game world, made the announcement that they would be shutting down operations due to the insurmountable financial burden brought on by tariffs.
“Over the past few years, our business has faced a series of significant and increasing challenges. We have poured our personal savings, our time, and countless hours of hard work into Boardlandia, striving to overcome these obstacles. The recent tariffs have unfortunately added an unsustainable burden to these existing pressures, leaving us with no viable path forward.” Tim and Karissa Fendt, the couple who act as the owners and operators of Boardlandia Online as well as it’s retail store in Applegate, WI. “Please know that this outcome is not what we ever envisioned. We are not walking away from a thriving venture. This closure is a direct result of circumstances that have become beyond our control, and it carries significant personal financial consequences for us as well.”
The pair made a note in the statement that the company would do everything in its power to fulfill any currently holding orders through the website, and that this does not mean the brick and mortar store with the same name is also closing. The Applegate location will continue to operate following this closure.
Gloomhaven creator Isaac Childress was not exaggerating even a little bit when he called the tariff situation “a doomsday scenario” for the board game industry earlier this month. From the people and companies that make games, to the retailers that sell them, the 145% price tag on Chinese imported goods is frankly unbearable. Even if the tariffs were to be lifted today, much of the damage already done by the tariffs in the board game world will be felt for a very long time.
“We will do our best to provide information as it becomes available through our website right here,” the Fendts wrote. “We appreciate your understanding during this difficult time.”
The Company Behind Wingspan and Wyrmspan Joins Lawsuit Against Trump
Stonemaier Games, the company behind the hit board game Wingspan and subsequent spinoff games like Wyrmspan, joined a lawsuit to sue Donald Trump over his tariffs, arguing that the president does not have the authority to enact these tariffs and they’ve caused undue economic harm.
The suit, which was filed by the Pacific Legal Foundation last week, argues that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which Trump has used to justify the executive orders that created the tariffs, does not give the president the legal authority to levy tariffs at all.
Pacific Legal Foundation elaborates this further on their site, saying “IEEPA gives the president the power to ‘investigate, regulate, or prohibit any transactions in foreign exchange’ and to ‘regulate…importation’ in response to a national emergency. But IEEPA does not even mention tariffs, much less does it authorize the president to impose tariffs or duties. Accordingly, President Trump cannot invoke IEEPA as the statutory basis to unilaterally impose tariffs.”
Stonemaier Games founders Jamey Stegmaier and Alan Stone note in a statement on the company website that the costs created by the tariffs on China will cost the company 1.5 million on the current print run of products for their games, and that sort of expense isn’t sustainable for any company in the board gaming space.
Stegmaier and Stone make their feelings plain in the opening paragraph of their company statement. “We will not stand idly by while our livelihoods–and the livelihoods of thousands of small business owners and contractors in the US, along with the customers whose pursuit of happiness we hold dear–are treated like pawns in a political game.”
The suit was filed on April 24th, and includes several other board game companies like Spielcraft, XYZ Game Labs, and TinkerHouse Games. The lawsuit also includes several non-board game companies, including the clothing company Princess Awesome, Mischief Toy Store, and 300 Below, a cryogenic processing company (the boring kind of cryogenics, not the wacky wahoo freeze your uncle in a tube kind, sadly).
As of this writing, no court date or further details are set regarding this case.
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