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 here with the scoop.
Sonic Adventure 2: Battle Heads to a Tabletop Near You
Last week, fans of both card games and Sonic the Hedgehog got a nice little treat when Sega announced “Sonic Speed Battle”, a board game based on Sonic Adventure 2: Battle releasing later this year.
The game is structured around card battles in one of three modes, supporting 2-4 players at a time. Each of the three modes is based off of one of the game modes in Sonic Adventure 2: speed challenges, shooting challenges, or treasure hunts. Players control one of twenty four different characters from the Sonic universe.
“The demand for another Sonic tabletop game has been undeniable, making it tough for us to keep Sonic Speed Battle a secret,” Alex Kessler, CEO of KessCo, says in the article announcing Sonic Speed Battle. “We’re excited to introduce a game inspired by some of our favorite Sonic titles like Sonic Adventure 2. With more than 20 characters and three game modes there is something here for Sonic fans and tabletop game fans of all ages.”
KessCo’s no stranger to licensed games. Its game lineup includes several tie-in games fromm popular anime like Spy x Family, as well as video game titles like Contra and Mega-Man.
Sonic Speed Battle is set to release later this summer on Amazon and at Barnes & noble, with a wider release to Target later this fall.
Games Workshop Launches New Warhammer: Age of Sigmar App
The Wahammer Community Blog announced Age of Sigmar’s new app for its newest edition released on Monday.
Much like the app for Age of Sigmar’s sister game, Warhammer 40,000, the Age of Sigmar app is designed to be a one stop digital resource for Age of Sigmar rules reference. Currently, the app features faction pack information for each of the game’s major playable armies, including things like warscrolls, enhancements, and battle formations. Additionally, the app includes the rules for playing Spearhead games of Age of Sigmar, as well as rules for each of the Spearheads available to each faction.
Unlike Warhammer 40,000: The App, the Age of Sigmar app includes units that area a part of the discontinued legends line available for reference. These unit Warscrolls are also made available on the Warhammer Community website for free download.
The Age of Sigmar app is currently allowing all users to access the unlimited list building features included in the app, but in the future this will only be available for Warhammer+ subscribers. Battletomes will require a code in order to be referenced in the app once these books are released.
Steamforged Games Delays Warmachine Preorder Due to “Unexpected Demand”
Steamforged Games announced in their weekly Warmachine update blog post that the company is delaying the shipping date for Warmachine items due to unexpectedly high demand from both consumers and retailers.
Initially, Steamforged intended to ship pre-orders for Warmachine items in the middle of July, but with the high demand is moving the shipping date out to the end of July instead. The new Khador Apotheosis Warcaster, Kapitan Yana Kovoskiy, is being moved into August in addition to these delays.
Steamforged states in the article that because of this high demand for Warmachine products, the company is fast tracking their production plans for the game. Plans for US production are planning to be sped up by 50% by the end of August, with European production to begin at the beginning of the same month. Australian production for Warmachine is planned to begin before the end of the year, bringing the game down under where Steamforged currently is not shipping Warmachine products.
Steamforged ends their post with excitement over the enthusiasm for the game, saying “It’s been amazing to see the response and we’re hopeful it means a bright future for Warmachine. Everyone’s working full steam ahead to get models into players’ hands as fast as possible.”
Lancer’s Core Rulebook Second Print Run Goes Live
The popular mech-TTRPG Lancer is finally releasing its much anticipated second print run for it’s core rulebook.
The initial print release run for Lancer was part of a Kickstarter reward tier for the game, with a few additional copies available outside the Kickstarter due to a small surplus of books. Since then, despite the popularity of the game and multiple expansions and adventures, Lancer’s existence has been confined to digital only.
That changed when last year, Massif announced that it made a deal to partner with Dark Horse Comics to work on distribution for a wide release second printing for the game’s core rulebook. With the help of Dark Horse, Massif is able to get Lancer rulebooks onto major online distributor sites like Amazon, as well as on the shelves of local game stores.
Lancer superfans can order a copy of the core rulebook directly from Massif to get an alternate cover art copy of the rulebook, drawn by Peyton Gee. The alternate art features a pilot walking towards their mech, docked in a hangar and ready for battle, and the entire piece radiates with Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann vibes. Which is, to say, it rips.
Origins Game Fair Breaks Post-Covid Attendance Record
Origins Games Fair, a tabletop gaming convention held for public audiences, has broken its post-Covid attendance records with their 2024 event according to BoardGameWire.
The convention, held in Columbus, Ohio, from June 19th to 23rd, saw an attendance of around 17,700 people this year. This continues a positive trend for the convention’s attendance following the global pandemic, from a low of 10,500 attendees in 2021. Origins saw a steady growth from there, and this years event is a 10% increase in attendance compared to last year
The Origins Games Fair is run by the Game Manufacturers Association, more widely known as GAMA. GAMA’s most well known event, the GAMA Expo, is a trade show exclusively for those inside the tabletop game industry. The Origins convention is GAMA’s attempt to reach wider audiences, and bring the excitement found at the GAMA Expo to a public audience.
Origins joins several other tabletop gaming conventions enjoying a post-Covid boom, with major events like Gen-Con, Essen-Spiel, and the UK Games Expo either surpassing or approaching their pre-Covid attendance highs.
Origins is set to return to Columbus next year, from June 18th to the 22nd.
And that wraps it up for our Games Industry News Roundup this week! Join us again next week for more news about the tabletop games industry and related media.
Have any questions or feedback? Drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com. Want articles like this linked in your inbox every Monday morning? Sign up for our newsletter. And don’t forget that you can support us on Patreon for backer rewards like early video content, Administratum access, an ad-free experience on our website and more.
