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
Greater Than Games Suspends Operations and Axes Staff Due to Tariffs
The staggering tariffs placed on Chinese imports by the Trump administration is claiming its first victims this week in the board game industry, as Greater Than Games decided to stop operations and lay off much of its staff due to “ongoing economic pressures resulting from the international tariff crisis.”
According to the announcement on the company website, all work on any upcoming project is suspended, directly citing the steep tariffs on Chinese imports which have shown little indication of easing anytime soon. Greater Than Games will focus on shipping what products are already available on the company website, and will produce more stock as needed. Any customer who preordered products or backed crowdfunding campaigns associated with the company will be updated later as more information is available.
The announcement made on the Greater Than Games website does not clarify how many employees were let go, but a post made by the former creative director Darrell Louder makes it sound like the whole team was cut by Greater Than Games’ parent company, Flat River Group.
Louder wrote on his Facebook timeline last week, “I couldn’t confirm yesterday, but can today. Due to current tariff war, Flat River Group has shuttered Greater Than Games effective today. Me and my team are now unemployed and disbanded. I’m shattered.”
Greater Than Games is responsible for several popular games in recent years, such as Spirit Island, Tak, and Sentinels of the Multiverse. While the announcement makes it clear that Greater Than Games is still technically operating, if Louder’s post is true then the company is operating only as a zombie now. It will sell the games it already has in stock, and maybe make more if there’s demand, but that’s just a skeleton crew operating a warehouse and webpage. The development team responsible for a real future for the company is gone, one of the first high profile casualties of the Trump trade war in the Board Game industry and a grim omen for the industry.
Gloomhaven Second Edition Stuck in Shipping Limbo Due to, You Guessed it, Tariffs
Unfortunately, Greater Than Games isn’t the only major board game company in the midst of major tariff related woes. Due to the Trump trade war, Cephalofair Games is unable to import its copies of Gloomhaven second edition to the United States, stranding many copies of the game overseas.
The tariffs, which jumped from an already wildly high 145% to an astronomical 245% last week, are putting serious economic strain on the entirety of the board game industry, which largely produces its product in China. Isaac Childres, the creator of Gloomhaven, bluntly stated in an email to Polygon that, “These tariffs are a doomsday scenario for the US board game industry. It is just not economically feasible to bring board games into the US at such tariff rates, which is already starting to dry up sales, causing an impact on retailers and distributors that I suspect will be much worse than COVID.”
Cephalofair Games COO Price Johnson is similarly grim, saying in an interview with CNN that “The message we are receiving right now from Washington DC is that we should not be planning on making [any] U.S. sales this year. Or at least we shouldn’t expect when that [might] resume.”
The second edition of Gloomhaven raised over $5 million in crowdfunding, and was expected to be a big seller for board game retailers in the US. Those retailers, which are largely small businesses, very likely won’t get that product unless something changes, as the volatility of the current market makes it economically impossible for Cephalofair to even afford to ship the product to the US.
At the time of writing, it’s unknown if Gloomhaven’s second edition, or any future Cephalofair product for that matter, will be available in the United States anytime soon, if ever. We can only hope that some sort of relief in the tariff burden will come soon to avoid further catastrophe for both board game developers and retailers in the United States.
Final Frontier Games Shuts Down as CMON Fails to Pay for Chinese Localization
Final Frontier Games, who published popular titles like Merchants Cove and Coloma, is shutting its doors despite having over a million dollars in unfulfilled crowdfunding projects- and the company lays the blame for this squarely on CMON’s shoulders.
Final Frontier made a name for itself in the board game space with the successful campaign behind the first Merchants cove, though according to Boardgamewire this success ended up being a monkey’s paw situation. The shipping costs Merchant’s cove incurred quickly burned through any of the profits from the crowdfunding campaign, and has put the company teetering on the edge of financial disaster. Despite raising an additional $2.1 million in subsequent campaigns, the company has operated on the razor’s edge of monetary viability.
Which is why CMON games’ failure to pay for a large localization order of Merchants Cove ended up being the straw that broke Final Frontiers back. CMON normally pays for 50% with these sort of localization orders, but asked to instead pay Final Frontier 100% when the products were ready for pickup. Final Frontier agreed, which left the smaller company holding the bag when CMON failed to make a payment of any kind by the agreed upon date. With this albatross hanging around the companies neck, Final Frontier made the decision to end its campaigns and shut down operations to pay off its debts.
“We can’t ask extra money from you in order for this project to be delivered, because we are not sure your money will be safe, especially in the event we are forced to file for bankruptcy.” Final Frontier Games said in an update to backers for their current Kickstarter projects. “We have accounts to settle with our warehouses, we have a huge loan that the bank will try to collect, we are in no position to take money from you even if you wanted to.”
This story continues a disastrous trend for CMON in early 2025, who informed shareholders to expect a major profit loss and have still yet to release their financial report for FY25 as of this writing despite passing the required deadline weeks ago. Until this report is published, CMON cannot be traded on the Hong Kong stock exchange.
Steamforged Offers Free Warmachine Digital Membership to All Retail Stockists
Steamforged Games provided an update to their Warmachine Digital subscription aimed at retailers last week in a blog post, saying that it plans to make the program free for all official stockists of the game.
Revealed last month at Adepticon, Warmachine Digital is a subscription program by Steamforged that releases new 3D printing STLs to fans every month. The initial offering included a Cephalyx cadre force, as well as Cryx and Gravediggers themed terrain and alt sculpts. The may update sees the return of Cyphalyx monstrosities from the legacy days of the game, now in 3D printable glory, as well as a big crane terrain piece.
The biggest news piece from the article is the retailer partnership program with Warmachine Digital. In this announcement, Steamforged says it is giving a free subscription to the program to any official stockist for Warmachine products. “With a free subscription,” Steamforged writes, “Warstores (game stores who stock Warmachine product) will be able to print thematic terrain for tables and models for running demos.”
Steamforged also assuages the fears of retailers who worry that offering 3D printing options will hurt storefront sales by clearly stating that the company will not be releasing retail products as digital STLs, as well as promising rollout for stores to acquire products that are currently only for sale directly from Steamforged’s website.
Warmachine Digital is a big play for Steamforged, which has generated the game some rare positive attention. Steamforged’s decision to use the subscription as a way to support retailers by offering it for free is a smart way to win over potential retailers wary of stocking Warmachine, and provide smaller communities a way to create engaging terrain for Warmachine tables.
GranBlue Fantasy Publisher becomes an Official Sponsor of the Kentucky Derby
Tariffs, layoffs, and Warmachine are all things that are very much in my wheelhouse, for better or for worse. But this particular story isn’t, so I’m going to turn this over to Marcy to talk about why this actually makes sense and isn’t just something out of a fever dream.
Marcy: A welcome and jovial announcement to start off the week is the surprise news that Cygames, publisher behind titles such as GranBlue Fantasy, Idol Master Cinderella Girls and Uma Musume Pretty Derby, announced it will be partnering with the Kentucky Derby as an official sponsor. The collaboration includes the Unbridled Sidney Stakes Presented by Cygames with a $400,000 dollar purse on Friday, May 2, and during Derby Days Cygames will have a booth set up on the infield where guests can try Cygames titles, most importantly including the English demo of the long awaited global release of Umamusume Pretty Derby.
Koichi Watanabe, President of Cygames, commented “The Kentucky Derby has a long and prestigious history as the first of the races that make up the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, and I consider it a great joy for Cygames to be a sponsor. My hope is that, through our partnership, we can provide an opportunity for potential fans to get to know Cygames and its content”.
For those unaware, Uma Musume is a historical fiction multimedia franchise including a gacha game, anime television shows and movies, manga, with it’s newest series, Uma Musume Cinderella Gray recently beginning it’s broadcast. Horse racing is intensely popular in Japan, in which Uma Musume plays no small part, and a global partnership with one of, if not the, most historic races is a huge deal. The Global announcement of Umamusume: Pretty Derby is approaching nearly 1 year since being announced, so this partnership has fans buzzing that a release date will soon be revealed. But as all true Uma Musume fans know, the release date of Global is always Tomorrow.
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