Financially-troubled board game publisher CMON says it plans to relaunch its halted crowdfunding operations later this year, after seeing its annual losses soar to almost $20m in 2025.

CMON pulled the plug on crowdfunding launches and new game development 12 months ago, citing the economic uncertainty created by US tariff hikes – which at the time had reached 145% for China, where the vast majority of hobby board games are manufactured.

But a month later it emerged that CMON’s financial problems had been growing long before the tariffs, with the company announcing it had slumped to a loss of more than $3m in 2024 due to falling sales for its crowdfunding campaigns.

That loss was almost double CMON’s total profits from the prior three years – but the figure is dwarfed by the $19.9m annual loss the company just announced in its 2025 financial results.

CMON’s $23m losses across 2024 and 2025 are now almost 5.5-times larger than its profits from the preceding nine years combined – and have led an independent auditor hired by the company to question whether it has the resources to stay in business for the foreseeable future.

An extract of a report from auditor Zhonghui Anda shared by CMON, which is set to appear in the company’s 2025 annual report next month, considered the publisher’s $19.9m annual loss, its net liabilities of more than $3.5m and contract liabilities of over $7.5m, saying, “These conditions indicate a material uncertainty which may cast significant doubt about the Group’s ability to continue as a going concern.”

CMON’s directors have a different view, however, saying in the 2025 financial report that the company “should be able to continue as a going concern” thanks to a trio of factors.

They include financial support from some of the directors “sufficient to finance CMON’s working capital requirements”, the roughly $2.4m proceeds from selling its Singapore office that it received in January, and the roughly $1.25m gross proceeds from a successful share sale last month.

CMON’s hefty liabilities are largely due to its eight undelivered crowdfunding campaigns, which are not recognised as revenue on the company’s books until they are fulfilled to backers.

They include DC Super Heroes United, which raised more than $4.4m, and DCeased, which brought in over $2.5m. Both campaigns were initially due to be delivered last year, but are now expected to be delivered in Q4 of 2026, according to CMON’s latest estimates.

CMON also has five undelivered pre-order campaigns on its books, including Dune Desert War and the Assassin’s Creed Role Playing Game.

The company said that delivering crowdfunding projects in 2024 contributed about $20m in revenue – a figure which had sunk to just $200,000 last year according to its latest financial report.

CMON said the 2025 losses were driven by a “significant decline in revenue”, which fell more than 73% to $9.9m last year, compared to the $37.3m total from 2024.

It also cited impairment losses on property, plant and equipment, right of-use assets and intangible assets, and a loss it made disposing intellectual properties and related assets as part of its “strategic portfolio restructuring”.

Those IP sales included parting with its most famous and profitable title Zombicide – which has raised more than $40m on Kickstarter since its 2012 launch – to Asmodee, as well as Blood Rage, Rising Sun and Ankh to Tycoon Games.

It followed those by selling the IP for former Mythic Games titles Anastyr and Hel: The Last Saga to Don’t Panic Games in September, and parting with the lucrative Cthulhu: Death May Die IP to Asmodee a month later – the latter a series which has raised almost $10m from backers to date.

CMON said all those sales combined amounted to about $5.1m, but added that it actually made an overall $2.4m loss on disposal of intellectual properties and related assets across 2025.

It also made a $5.7m loss due to undertaking an impairment assessment on some of its property, plant and equipment, right-of-use assets and intangible assets “with finite useful lives”.

CMON said in the financial report, “These actions, while negatively impacting short-term results, were undertaken to strengthen the Group’s operational focus and reduce future cost burden.”

The company’s remaining significant IP includes the Massive Darkness series, with the most recent installment, Massive Darkness: Dungeons of Shadowreach, completing a $2.85m crowdfund on Gamefound early last year – a figure which rose to more than $3.7m including late pledges.

That campaign was CMON’s last before it scrapped its future crowdfunding plans two months later. The company has pivoted in the interim to releasing several small-box games direct to retail, including Collect!, Peanuts Talent Show, Fairy Perfume, Rocket Punch and Yokai Carnival.

Discussing its current strategy in the report, the company said, “In light of the continued uncertainty in the global market, particularly the instability arising from US import tariffs on certain products since the first half of 2025, the Group has taken decisive steps to restructure its operations and strengthen its financial position.

“Our current strategy is to:

• 1) reduce exposure to large-scale crowd-funding launches in the near term, focusing on fulfilment of games already committed to backers, with plans to resume crowdfunding activities in the second half of 2026 with new titles from current game lines;
  
• 2) grow distribution in Asia as a primary strategic market;
  
• 3) maintain a streamlined operational structure with reduced headcount and a smaller office footprint in line with the Group’s current scale of operations; and
  
• 4) maintain a debt-free position following the full repayment of bank borrowings, significantly reducing the Group’s financial liabilities and improving its financial resilience.

“We remain committed to becoming a quality developer and publisher of tabletop games and believe the strategic refocus toward Asia and selective game development will position the Group more sustainably for the future.”

CMON said it had reduced its revenue exposure to the US to about 21.4% of its total across 2025, compared to around 42% for the previous year, through what it described as a “deliberate strategic pivot toward Asia”.

The report showed CMON’s combined North and South America revenue fell more than 86% last year to about $2.1m, from around $15.7m in 2024.

European revenue also fell more than 81% year-on-year, from about $12.7m to around $2.4m. Asia revenue fell too, but much less sharply, down about 33% in 2025 from $8m to around $5.3m.

CMON said in the report, “Notwithstanding this reduced exposure, tariff-related uncertainties may continue to affect future export sales, revenue and gross margin performance in the US market.

“The Group intends to maintain its current reduced focus on the US market until the trade environment stabilises and market conditions improve.”

CMON also revealed the scale of its staffing cuts in the latest report, with headcount falling from 81 at the start of 2025 to just 41 at the beginning of this year.

The report said total staff costs had fallen in that time from about $4m to around $2.8m, including pay for its directors and their pension fund contributions, but it did not provide a breakdown of those numbers.

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Stonemaier Games’ diversification of its flagship bestseller Wingspan into a trilogy of standalone titles powered the company to record revenues of more than $25m last year – eclipsing its previous annual high from the post-Covid board game boom in 2021.

More than 610,000 copies of Elizabeth Hargrave design Wingspan, its Asia expansion, dragon-themed title Wyrmspan and last year’s fish-focused release Finspan were printed by Stonemaier in 2025 according to its latest annual stakeholder report, bringing the total lifetime copies across the trilogy to more than 3.3 million.

While the bulk of that lifetime figure is from 2019 release Wingspan and ‘standalone expansion’ Wingspan Asia, at about 2.6 million copies, the addition of Connie Vogelmann’s Wyrmspan in 2024 and the David Gordon and Michael O’Connell design Finspan last year have created a hefty boost for Stonemaier’s overall sales.

The latter pair now have more than 685,000 copies in circulation – a figure which already outstrips the roughly 600,000 copies of Scythe, Stonemaier’s biggest seller outside of the ‘span’ trilogy, despite that game being in print for a decade.

Speaking to BoardGameWire about the latest annual results, company co-founder Jamey Stegmaier reiterated his regular refrain that “number go up” was “simply not on our list of goals at all”, adding, “I understand that the annual revenue is an interesting number to poke at, but honestly that number could go up or down by many millions of dollars and I wouldn’t care as long as we’re bring joy to people.”

Stegmaier had a similar line on the company’s sales performance when he spoke to BoardGameWire two years ago, after the company’s revenue fell for the second year running to $16.7m, marking its lowest annual total since 2019.

He said at the time that he had no concerns about the fall in revenue, saying, “Based on our reach and evergreen sales, I think a ‘normal’ annual revenue for us is somewhere between $15m to $20m, with the exact amount depending on when certain products ship.

“In that way, I think 2021 was an outlier (probably pandemic related) – not only was it a very strong year for Wingspan, but we also saw excellent evergreen sales for Viticulture and Scythe, and we had one of our biggest releases that year in Red Rising.”

But strong sales this year of the ‘span’ trio among a busy slate of other Stonemaier releases has pushed company revenue beyond those 2021 heights, with Stegmaier telling BoardGameWire yesterday, “After hearing from customers for a long time that they wanted the Wingspan model applied to other creatures, I’m really glad we’ve been able to serve them via Wyrmspan and Finspan.

“It also takes pressure off of Wingspan designer Elizabeth Hargrave. Also… it gives us some wiggle room to take on riskier projects, though any game is a risk – we never really know how a game will do.”

One game which could arguably be put in that category is Stonemaier’s 2025 release Vantage – a non-campaign, open-world-style exploration game designed by Stegmaier which was in development for seven years.

Stonemaier printed 64,000 copies of Vantage last year, with Stegmaier telling BoardGameWire: “There’s no other tabletop game that does what Vantage does, so I see it hitting tabletops for years to come.”

He said, “We’re currently initiating Vantage’s fourth reprint, which is remarkable for an expensive game just eight months into its lifecycle.

“I’m so glad this labor of love from the last eight years of my life is resonating with people who want to go on an open-world, first-person adventure without the need to commit to a campaign game.

“Also, unlike all other new releases, Vantage had so much text that it didn’t have any localization partners in 2025 – they needed a lot more time, so 10,000 units of non-English versions are coming in 2026.”

He also highlighted the success of superhero-themed, tableau-building trick-taker Origin Story, which printed 33,500 copies, and added that more quick-playing, smaller-box titles are on the way from the publisher – including a more lightweight Wingspan title which the company says is playable in about 30 minutes.

Stegmaier said, “I love Origin Story, and I’m excited that we’ve packed so much game into a smaller box that you can teach and play in 45 minutes.

“I would say that’s the realm of the smaller Wingspan game we’re releasing in mid-2026, and I’m wrapping up something kind of in the same realm (in terms of size and length) for 2027.”

Going smaller still, Stonemaier’s 18-card co-operative micro-game Smitten and its sequel also performed well last year, Stegmaier said, with the number of copies printed up 23,000 compared to 2024.

He said, “These are both very small, very humble games that serve well as add-ons, stocking stuffers, and suitcase inclusions for travel. I’m honestly kind of surprised they’ve sold so well, given how different they are from our core offerings.

“That said, they offer more of a trickle of sales through any sales partner – a dozen here each month to distributors, a dozen there to retailers, a few dozen on our webstores.”

Stegmaier added, “The one product for which we probably over-forecasted was Wyrmspan: Dragon Academy. It has sold very well (over 60,000 units for an expansion is remarkable), but I think we probably could have made 75,000 units and later reprinted 25,000 instead of printing 100,000 up front.

“Stamp Swap has done fine [BGW note: 34,000 copies printed in its 2024 release year, but none in 2025], but I think it’s indicative that it’s more difficult than ever for a good game to break through.”

Other 2025 releases from the company included Tokaido and Tokaido: Duo, which it bought from financially-troubled French board game publisher Funforge towards the end of 2024.

Stegmaier has been at the vocal forefront of the board game industry’s fight against volatile US tariff policy since President Trump’s inauguration last January, which has seen several board game businesses shutter their operations, lay off staff and hike the prices of their games to cover the unexpected costs.

Stonemaier was among a string of companies that took part in lawsuits challenging Trump’s power to raise tariffs at will – and Stegmaier expressed his “relief” when those tariffs were judged as unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court late last month.

He said in a blog post at the time, “Every day for the last ten months, I’ve lived in fear that the executive branch of my own country would raise our import taxes to an extreme level that would significantly damage Stonemaier Games and the thousands of small businesses seeking to serve their US customers, retailers, and employees.

“So when the Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the tariff taxes and the way they were implemented were unconstitutional, I had a huge sense of relief. Relief that small businesses can no longer be used as pawns in a global game. Relief that the whim of one person can no longer effectively change the landed cost of our product from $10 to $25.

“Yes, there are still legal ways for the executive branch to impose tariff taxes. They seem really passionate about making small businesses in the US pay more taxes. But these methods have limits: For example, the new tariff tax is 15% (that’s the max it can be), and it needs congressional approval to extend beyond 150 days.

“In the immediate future, I don’t think we’ll see much of an impact on prices, as anything in stock in the US already had its tariff tax paid when it entered the country (if it was manufactured elsewhere). My perception is that many businesses avoided raising prices and instead just ate the extra costs (that’s what we did; we did not increase any prices).

“There is also the possibility of tariff tax refunds. To date, Stonemaier Games has paid just under $300,000 in tariff taxes to the US government. I’m not counting on getting any of that back – it will be nice if we do, and I hope that other businesses do, but the level of uncertainty isn’t something for which we can plan.

“My hope, as always, is that what happens next will help me best serve my coworkers, our independent contractors and partners, and our customers in the US and around the world (consumers, retailers, and distributors). I wish the same for all other small businesses.”

Stegmaier told BoardGameWire that he was “really excited” about the company’s 2026 line-up, which kicked off with the Wingspan Americas and Viticulture: Bordeaux expansions, and also includes a two-player Scythe vs Expeditions duelling game which expands both those titles as well as working as a standalone design.

He said, “I’m excited for the opportunity to serve fans through expansions for Wingspan, Viticulture, Finspan, Scythe, and Expeditions, along with the new Euphoria board.

“The main challenge is communicating what makes these products unique and special. For the first time in a while (since Apiary, as I recall), we’ll have a new game in our original sweet spot of mid-weight euro games – that’s the Smoking Bones game in Q4.”

Stonemaier Lifetime and 2025 Sales

• Wingspan & Wingspan Asia: 2,639,429 lifetime units, up 229,686 compared to 2024
• Wyrmspan: 451,994 units +148,598
• Finspan: 233,584 units (new release)
• Vantage: 64,000 units (new release)
• Scythe: 601,102 units +41,500
• Origin Story: 33,500 units (new release)
• Tokaido: 29,500 units (new release)
• Tokaido Duo: 27,834 units (new release)
• Smitten & Smitten 2: 38,000 units +23,000
• Apiary: 55,004 units +8,500
• Viticulture: 273,584 units +6,750
• Rolling Realms & Rolling Realms Redux: 62,000 units +6,000
• Tapestry: 91,650 units +4,000

• Between Two Castles: (58,000 units) received an Essential Edition in 2025 – 8,000 copies made, about 5,000 sold

Games which did not receive new printings in 2025:

• Euphoria: 44,000 units
• Between Two Cities: 56,900 units
• Charterstone: 97,500 units
• My Little Scythe: 68,500 units
• Pendulum: 49,200 units
• Red Rising: 154,800 units
• Libertalia: 62,584 units
• Expeditions: 77,500 units
• Stamp Swap: 34,000 units

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Asmodee posted record sales of €524m during the last quarter of 2025 despite a slump in its US performance, with trading card game earnings in Europe acting as a driving force for the business.

The board game giant’s overall net sales jumped 22.2% across October to December 2025 compared to the same period a year earlier, with the performance of products it distributes for other companies surging more than 50%.

Net sales for games published by Asmodee itself fell almost 13% year-on-year in the quarter, however, weighed down by US net sales slumping 23% to €70.4m.

That drop saw the US fall behind both France and the UK in Q3 in terms of the company’s highest-performing countries for net sales, with France surging 47% year-on-year to over €111m, and the UK growing 41% to €82.7m.

The US had previously outperformed all other countries for Q3 net sales for at least the past two years, Asmodee’s quarterly sales results show. Prior to that, individual country data for Asmodee was not publicly released while under former owner Embracer Group.

Asmodee CEO Thomas Koegler said in the company’s latest quarterly report that successful TCG releases in Europe across Pokémon, Magic: The Gathering and One Piece had driven the record Q3 results.

He added that lower sell-in to larger retailer for some of its own products had contributed to the sinking US result in Q3, despite saying that “overall consumer demand on our products remained stable”.

The company’ chief financial officer, Andrea Gasperini, added in the company’s Q3 earnings call that “unfavorable FX exchange rate exposure since the beginning of the year” was also to blame, as was a “normalising” of the performance of Asmodee’s own TCG Star Wars Unlimited compared to its launch year of 2024.

That situation echoed Ravensburger’s assessment of its flagship trading card game Disney Lorcana last month, with performance falling following an explosive start on its August 2023 launch that had quickly made the title a “long-term pillar” of the company’s products.

Koegler added during the Q3 earnings call, “Let’s remember also that the beginning of the year has been quite shaken up in everybody’s supply strategies – ours, the retailers – by the various announcements on the tariffs. And I think that it has been a constantly evolving situation where I’m quite proud of how the teams reacted.

“Once we’ve said that, of course, let’s not underestimate the impact of foreign exchange, which is quite material in the decrease. And secondly, what’s important to look at beyond our own sell-in performance, which is what we sell to retailers, is the sell-out.

“As I did say we have, since the beginning of the year, overperformed the market, and even in Q3 it was a quarter for the Christmas period that was very much focused on lower price point products. We captured very strong growth with Exploding Kittens and did have some headwinds on higher price point products.

“But I would say in the grand scheme of things: first of all, it’s fine, our portfolio is diversified, and secondly, it’s limited to the US, so we should expect some better trends in the future.”

When asked in the Q3 earnings call how confident he was in Asmodee’s own studios’ ability to return to growth, Koegler said, “Yes, we had some negative developments on the games, but if you look at the sellout, which is the sales to consumers in the US, for instance, the market was relatively flat, and our sellout was in line with this, which means that we still have positive outlooks for the future.

“Our performance was impacted, especially by, I would say, some inventory positions and retailers’ purchase strategies. Now, if we look forward, first of all, the vast majority of our revenue is coming from existing titles. That’s the first thing that’s important, and we are constantly working on engaging consumers on those.

“You saw the recent announcements on Catan and Ticket to Ride with Netflix, all of this with the objective to further increase brand awareness and visibility, and in the future, generate additional sales.

“If we look at some of the products we’re looking forward to in terms of new releases for next year, we have announced the new LEGO game in the Ninjago franchise being released the same time as the Ninjago anniversary.

“We have Azul Kids coming out. We have Dino Picnic, we have the future sets of Star Wars Unlimited. We have a refresh of Ticket to Ride Europe. So I would say that it will be still an active year.

“What’s important, if you look back at the historical performance of Asmodee, is that some years it’s strongly driven by trading cards, and in the other years, usually when trading cards are less strong, you have a relay that’s coming from board games.”

Asmodee also revealed in its Q3 results that it had bought bluffing and set collection game Sheriff of Nottingham from CMON – its third IP purchase from the company in the past eight months.

CMON’s IP sales have been part of its ongoing drive to combat the huge losses the business has chalked up in the past couple of years.

Asmodee kicked off its reignited strategy of buying up smaller board game publishers, distributors and IPs in June last year by acquiring CMON’s flagship IP Zombicide, a series which had raised more than $40m on Kickstarter since its 2012 launch.

Asmodee CEO Thomas Koegler was asked during the company’s quarterly results presentation whether the company was ready to make “more meaningful” acquisitions rather than small bolt-on deals.

He said, “Without being specific, the activity in the pipeline is in accordance with our plan. The smaller acquisitions are faster. IP acquisitions and asset deals are faster to execute. I’m satisfied.”

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