Asmodee has acquired another board game IP. Specifically, the tabletop publishing giant has acquired the rights to the cosmic horror board game Cthulhu: Death May Die from the struggling tabletop studio CMON. This may hint that Asmodee is investing in crowdfunding.
Asmodee’s Acquisition of Cthulhu: Death May Die
In a recent report by Board Game Wire, Asmodee has bought the rights to Cthulhu: Death May Die from CMON for an undisclosed amount of money. As part of this acquisition, Asmodee will fulfill the Gamefound campaign for the latest expansion for the board game, Forbidden Reaches, which raised more than $3.9 million last December.
Cthulhu: Death May Die is the second of CMON’s IPs that Asmodee has acquired, following the co-op zombie game Zombicide. This is due to CMON’s ongoing financial struggles as a result of reckless, disruptive trade tariffs devastating the industry.
The resulting trade and production chaos has led to the studio reducing staff, adding extra charges for certain backers, and selling off other IP such as Rising Sun and Blood Rage.
Notably, a lot of CMON’s board game library were a result of crowdfunding. Given the recent acquisitions and the hiring of CMON former COO David Preti to Asmodee’s new crowdfunding and miniatures operation, it is a strong possibility the tabletop giant may be looking to crowdfunding platforms for certain future projects.
As a result of these financial issues, CMON has announced it will be moving away from large box, miniature-focused board game experiences. Instead, tey will be pivoting to small box games released directly to retail.
Cthulhu: Death May Die was originally developed in 2018 via Kickstarter campaign. Since then, the board game has received critical acclaim and several crowdfunded expansions such as Fear of the Unknown and R’lyeh Rising. The game was designed by Rob Davlau (Pandemic Legacy, Unmatched: Cobble and Fog) and Eric Lang (Mass Effect: The Board Game, Bloodborne: The Board Game)
