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.
Note: It’s a bit of a slow news week this go-around, so we’ve only got four stories to share instead of the usual five. Hopefully, I haven’t horribly jinxed the gaming industry news universe by saying this.
Helldivers 2 Board Game Kickstarter Soars Past $1 Million Raised
Well, it looks like we may have the first runaway tabletop crowdfunding hit, as the board game based on Helldivers 2 broke the $1 million raised mark in just a day.
The game is produced by Steamforged Games, who’ve made a name for themselves in the video game tabletop adaptation space with other efforts like the Dark Souls board game and the Monster Hunter World board game. As it stands, the game has raised over $1 million with a little over a week to go, which is nearly 2000% higher than the game’s initial fundraising goals.
The Helldivers 2 Board game emulates the cooperative action of the video game by allowing for a team of 2-4 players to fight off hordes of bugs with the weapons and tools seen in the game, complete with the opportunity for friendly fire. Players can also select the difficulty of each scenario depending on what kind of challenge they want. Players then kit out their diver and generate mission objectives and planet type. Once planetside, the players will face off against all sorts of Termanid organisms, big and small, all while encouraged to work together and coordinate crossfire. Once the objective is completed, players make must reach extraction against a massive final wave in order to complete the mission.
Folks looking to pledge early can get a copy of the base game for less than retail price at the commander tier for £61, while true diehards can support at the hell commander level to receive the base game, plus a plethora of announced expansions like the Patriot Exosuit, Bile Titan, and Automaton faction at £243. For those interested in the game in the US, it should be noted that this price does not include shipping, which who knows what that’s going to look like with all of the tariff nonsense going around.
More information, including a beta scenario and rules, can be found on the Gamefound page for the campaign. Players can expect Helldivers 2: The Board Game in October of 2026.
Shatterpoint Introduces a New Campaign System for Linked Games
Atomic Mass Games has added an immersive new narrative campaign mode to Star Wars Shatterpoint, which is available in a free PDF on the company’s website.
The game mode sees the two heroes selected by the players to be their veteran facing off in a series of asymmetric missions, with one player becoming the aggressor and the other the sentinel. While the aggressor has the advantage in these scenarios, they need to win three of the four selected scenarios to claim victory, while the sentinel only needs to win two.
Players also have the ability to level up their heroes through the campaign with multiple tiers of upgrades that slot in to their existing abilities. Players on the losing side of a match gain more XP than their opponent, making for a built-in catch up mechanic in order to try and keep campaigns balanced.
The asymmetric key operation missions are all available along with the campaign on AMG’s website, free of cost.
Astro Bot Wins Game of the Year at BAFTA Awards
Astro Bot continues its stellar awards season with a strong showing at the BAFTA awards this past week, including taking home the award for Best Game.
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts, abbreviated to BAFTA, was formed in 1947, with its first awards ceremony, the British Academy Film Awards, held in 1947. It’s gaming awards ceremony was created in 2003, and other winners for best game at these awards include notable titles like Half Life 2, Dishonored, Outer Wilds, Hades, and Baldur’s Gate 3.
Astro Bot took home several other awards alongside Best Game, including the awards for Animation, Audio Achievement, Family Game, and Game Design. It continues a strong showing for Astro Bot at awards shows, including winning Game of the Year at the 2024 Game Awards. Other big winners at the BAFTA gaming awards includes Helldivers, winning for best multiplayer and best music, and Still Wakes the Deep, winning for best new intellectual property as well as best leading and best supporting performance.
Former CMON COO Leaves the Board of Directors
Seven months after leaving his role as company COO, David Preti announced last week that he would be stepping down from his role on the CMON board of directors effective immediately.
Preti has a long history with the company, stepping into the role of creative director in 2016. From there, he became the COO of the company before his promotion to executive director in 2022. Last year, Preti stepped down from that position and took on the role of non-executive director of CMON. Last week, Preti resigned from that role, citing “other work commitments”.
Preti’s departure is another ill omen for CMON, who’s currently facing financial turmoil. The company failed to deliver its annual financial report on-time after warning shareholders that it expected to take a heavy loss in this year’s financials. CMON also took a blow to the teeth and wallet when two major stakeholders failed to deliver on major investments totalling around $1.4 million, for which the company is now seeking legal counsel. Until CMON posts its annual financial report, the company is barred from being traded on the Hong Kong stock exchange.
Coupled with this is the impending doom that is the US tariffs on China, which spell further financial disaster for the board game sector. Though any losses suffered from this policy won’t be fully reported on until next year’s report, it makes the prospect of CMON recovering and turning a profit next year look slim at best.
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