Ulysses Press to publish cookbooks based on Asmodee board games CATAN and Ticket to Ride

Asmodee Entertainment has announced a brand partnership with independent publisher Ulysses Press to create and release cookbooks based on the internationally popular and best selling board games CATAN and Ticket to Ride.

Scheduled for publication in spring and summer 2023 respectively, the hardcover cookbooks will each feature original recipes, full-colour photographs and striking layouts. Expanding on the worlds the gamers already know and love, the official CATAN and Ticket to Ride cookbooks will promise to take players on eating expeditions never before experienced.

Boasting a global fanbase, CATAN is available in 40+ languages and has sold more than 40 million units worldwide since it was first published in 1995. Distributed in 40 countries, Ticket to Ride is the world’s best-selling train game.

Ulysses Press Editorial Director Casie Vogel says: “We’re absolutely thrilled to be working with Asmodee Entertainment, CATAN, and Ticket to Ride. With our experience and track record of creating beautiful, pop culture-themed cookbooks, and the huge fandom behind these games (our staff included), we’re excited to create books that families and friends can enjoy all while bringing their favourite games to life through food.”

“This cooperation is something we wanted to do for a long time and I’m very excited that with the Ulysses team we found such a passionate partner,” says Asmodee Entertainment Licensing Manager Alexander Thieme. “Having seen the first ideas for the books I’m absolutely sure that fans of both gaming brands will love them. With tens of millions of active players in North America alone these books will find themselves in a great many kitchens and on a great many coffee tables before too long.”

The official CATAN cookbook (title and cover to be revealed) will be available for pre-order this autumn, and both books will be distributed by Simon & Schuster.

Legend of the Five Rings fan shop is now open

Asmodee Entertainment has announced that the Legend of the Five Rings fan shop – the first in a multiple-IP partnership with Event Merchandising (EML) Limited – is now open at Shop.LegendOfTheFiveRings.com.

As featured in Fantasy Flight Games In-Flight report at this year’s Gen Con event in September, the fan shop is a dedicated online platform offering specially designed apparel, accessories and homewares such as pillows and mugs to fans and collectors worldwide. Legend of the Five Rings is the tale of the land of Rokugan and the rival samurai clans who fight with swords and magic.

“We’re so pleased to be able to offer so many different ways for Legend of the Five Rings fans to represent and celebrate their favourite Great Clans,” says Katrina Ostrander, Creative Director of Story & Setting at Fantasy Flight Games. “Whether it’s wearing your clan’s colours on tote bags and tees, decorating your space with beautiful prints and accent pillows, or recording your character’s journey in a themed notebook, this shop offers something for everyone, no matter whether you’re a fan of the card game, roleplaying game, or the fiction.”

At launch, fans can expect to see merchandise designed around art they might recognise from the games. EML designers have worked closely with Asmodee Entertainment and Fantasy Flight Games to design beautiful pieces that include art prints, tote bags, hoodies, notebooks, and more. Fans can share their love of the Legend of the Five Rings universe or announce their allegiance to specific clans as this initial launch also includes mini- collections for each of the Great Clans. The initial collections are now available on the site and fans can expect more exciting products to be added to the store regularly after launch.

Nick Hallet, lead designer from Event Merchandising on the project, says: “We are delighted to be partnering with Asmodee on designing and creating a fantastic range of products and an online store for Legends of the Five Rings. There is a rich collection of artwork which has been wonderful to work with.”

EML are based in the UK and their fan shops ship worldwide while a dedicated US store is also in development. The Legend of the Five Rings is the first of a number of online fan shops envisaged under their agreement with Asmodee Entertainment. An Arkham Horror store is coming soon with more details to follow.

Asmodee Entertainment builds out European licensing team with new appointment

Asmodee Entertainment is building on its licensing success of 2020 with the appointment of Etienne Bonnin as the firm’s new senior manager, media development and licensing.

Based in Paris, Bonnin will report into Darren Kyman, SVP, business development for Asmodee Entertainment, a unit of the board game giant dedicated to building out wider franchises from the Asmodee IP, led by managing director, Andy Jones.

Bonnin has spent 15 years at Glénat Editions SA, the largest independent book publisher in France. In his role as Rights and Licensing Director at Glénat, Bonnin has been running the licensing department and negotiated all rights formats (translations, Film/TV, podcast, merchandising, partworks) globally for all of the Glénat group’s catalogues: comics & graphic novels, children’s books and illustrated books.

Asmodee Entertainment’s SVP of business development, Kyman, said: “Given our well-established global presence and diverse catalogue of leading IPs, it was important for us to have a dedicated media development and licensing manager based right in the centre of Paris.

“With his years of experience in both media development and IP licensing at Glénat, we are delighted to welcome Etienne aboard.”

Aconyte Books details long-planned novel series based on hit board game Pandemic

Aconyte Books, the fiction imprint of the global games group, Asmodee, has lifted the lid on its long-planned series of novels inspired by the global bestselling game, Pandemic.

The first title in the series will be Pandemic: Patient Zero, scheduled to land on shelves this September and promising to take fans of the franchise on a journey into the future, where an expert team of epidemiologists are tasked with tracking down potential outbreaks and resolving them before a pandemic breaks out.

A synopsis of the title reads: ‘In this first title, new recruit Bodhi Patel finds himself in South America, far from his comfort zone, where the clues to the source of a new mutated virus lie on land controlled by a local warlord.’

Aconyte’s publisher Marc Gascoigne, said: “To say this series has been long in the planning would be an understatement. Patient Zero was completely written and about to be announced in early Spring 2020 when… well, we all know what happened next. Even with a message as positive as the one enshrined in the game and the novels, the timing wasn’t right.

“Now updated, it truthfully and respectfully captures the courage and sacrifice of experts in the field, and shows what can be achieved when teamwork, cooperation, and empowerment are put to the test.”

The title has been written by Amanda Bridgeman, whose pair of futuristic crime thrillers, The Subjugate and The Sensation, have recently been optioned for a TV series by the team behind True Detective and Mr Robot.

The Perth, Australia-based writer has worked closely with the Aconyte and Z-Man teams, constructing a complete cast of relatable characters, and the organisation they work for, who will appear throughout the series. Two more novels are currently in development, for publication in 2022.

Asmodee’s fiction book division Aconyte partners with Ubisoft for Assassin’s Creed novel trilogy

Aconyte, the fiction imprint of the global games group, Asmodee, has partnered with the international video games company Ubisoft to publish a new Assassin’s Creed trilogy of novels, beginning this summer.

Set in 16th Century China, the new series will kick off with the title The Ming Storm and will follow the central character Shao Jun, a young assassin and already a fan-favourite from the franchise as the protagonist of the Assassin’s Creed: China video game.

Following the elimination of the Chinese Brotherhood by the rival Templars, Shao Jun must travel to Europe to train with the legendary Ezio Auditore, before she returns to exact revenge.

Written by bestselling Chinese author Yan Leisheng, the novel has recently been published in his homeland as well as France, with a Russian edition imminent. The Ming Storm will be published in the US and Canada on June 1st 2021 and on July 8th in the UK. The book will be available in paperback and ebook formats, with an audiobook version expected to follow shortly after.

“When we started out on this project for the Chinese fans of Assassin’s Creed, we wanted to create something that would feel meaningful and engaging to them. We worked hard finding the author who would understand both our franchise and how to tell a compelling story that would resonate with the audience,” said Aymar Azaizia, transmedia and business development director at Ubisoft.

“We are really proud to be able to bring this original trilogy to English readers worldwide through Aconyte. Although the content is not set in the continuity of the main storyline, you will find a great authentic Assassin’s Creed story. Enjoy the ride.”

At the end of 2020, Aconyte was announced as Ubisoft’s go-to fiction partner for novels for adult readers, to create new adventures from unexplored corners of the worlds of popular games like Watch Dogs, Tom Clancy’s The Division, Beyond Good & Evil and more.

More announcements are expected as Aconyte’s range of compelling tie-in fiction expands further.

Asmodee acquires digital gaming platform Board Game Arena in latest global growth plan

Asmodee has acquired the online multi-player board gaming platform, Board Game Arena in a move that will allow the tabletop giant to scale up its online play and allow players around the world access to some of Asmodee’s biggest games.

Founded in 2010, Board Game Arena has emerged as a global leader in online board games, providing official online versions of more than 250 games across 40 languages to more than five million members around the world.

Asmodee has suggested that the combination of the two companies will help to ‘bridge the gap in board game get-togethers created by the pandemic,’ while also offering that five million member base access to hit Asmodee titles including Catan, Ticket to Ride, and Pandemic.

Board Game Arena’s already expansive catalogue of games includes Asmodee hits Carcassonne, Jaipur and 7 Wonders, of which more than four million games have been played since its release on the platform in 2018.

The digital platform has been one of a number in the gaming space to have seen a surge in popularity driven by the pandemic last year, and in 2020 it registered a 600 per cent growth, indicating the scale of the current board game craze among families and single players.

To support its growth and pursue its development, Board Game Arena’s management team has chosen to join Asmodee in a move that will allow Asmodee to speed up the availability of its key titles on the platform.

Grégory Isabelli and Emmanuel Colin, Board Game Arena co-founders, said:  ”Working with Asmodee allows us to continue our massive growth, with a partner that shares our love and passion for board gaming.

“Asmodee fulfills a sine qua non criteria for us: that BGA is always run by absolute board game fans whose core business is board game.”

Thomas Koegler, head of strategy at Asmodee, said: “Our growth is based on one crucial commitment: offer the best gaming experience to consumers and bring our brands to the widest audience.”

“Having a platform that allows players from all over the world to meet, play their favorite games together or discover new games is a natural fit alongside our amazing catalogue of board games. Skull and Splendor will be in the coming weeks the first of a long list of Asmodee releases on the platform: we hope that players will enjoy them.”

As with other Asmodee entities, Board Game Arena will remain independent, and current management will remain at its helm. Pricing policies and editorial line remain unchanged, with Board Game Arena continuing to rely solely on the quality and popularity of games, offering its services to all publishers and market players.

Pokémon in for “a massive year” says Asmodee UK as Trading Card Game anniversary expansion prepares for launch

Asmodee UK has cited 2021 to be a ‘massive year for the Pokémon Trading Card Game’ which is gearing up top release the Shining Fates expansion, its first major product release in the year as the brand celebrates its milestone 25th anniversary this year.

Despite the challenges of the pandemic, the Pokémon Trading Card Game saw a ‘phenomenally successful 2020,’ and is now set to receive ‘an even bigger boost’ thanks to the milestone year for one of the most popular and successful entertainment franchises in the world.

Launching this Febraury, the Shining Fates set spotlights the game’s ultra-rare and powerful Shiny Pokémon variants with a special expansion that sits outside of the current Sword & Shield expansion block. The latest instalment of the Sword & Shield expansion will arrive in March.

This is the first time that the game has released such a set this early in a year, having previously only done so in Q4.

The set will be led by the iconic Pikachu, who stars in the Pokémon TCG: Shining Fates – Pikachu V collection. This boxed set features Pikachu V in the form of both a full-art foil promo card and a foil oversize card, as well as coming with four booster packs.

Another fan-favourite Pokémon, Eevee, will take a turn in the spotlight as well as it fronts the set’s Elite Trainer Box in gigantic VMAX form. This bumper product, attractive to both collectors and players, includes a majestic foil promo card of Eevee VMAX as well as 10 Shining Fates booster packs and a variety of themed accessories.

The Pokémon TCG, including the full Shining Fates expansion and other exciting lines in the works for the remainder of this celebratory year for the game, is available to the UK trade exclusively through Asmodee UK. Retailers wanting a closer look at what’s next for this mega-popular brand should make sure that they book a meeting at the third edition of AsmoFair, the company’s pioneering virtual trade show.

Running from January 17 to 23, AsmoFair will bring attendees closer than ever to the feeling of an in-person event thanks to additions including a 360-degree virtual tour of a fully built show stand.

With meetings also available at evenings and weekends in order to accommodate as many needs as possible, retailers can visit asmofair.co.uk in order to book a slot and see everything that’s coming up from the games specialists.

Asmodee to launch PAW Patrol, Pixar, Marvel, and Minions licensed Dobble

Asmodee is launching four new licensed editions of its hit speed observation game Dobble this year thanks to a slew of partnerships with PAW Patrol, Pixar, Marvel, and Minions.

Dobble, a game in which players must spot a single matching image between two cards, has grown into a national phenomenon in recent years, becoming the UK’s best-selling game of 2018 and 2019 per NPD Group data.

The game has made a success of previously launched licensed editions through partnerships with The Gruffalo, LOL Surprise, and Harry Potter. In fact, it’s according to Asmodee that the Harry Potter edition practically flew off the shelves throughout 2019.

Beginning with Dobble Pixar, the four new games will be released across 2021, offering new opportunities for fans of each property to find a new way to enjoy the fast-playing game of Dobble.

“Dobble is a game whose format lends itself very well to great licensing crossovers, which we’ve already seen with the phenomenal success of the likes of Harry Potter Dobble,” said Anil Boodhoo, Asmodee UK’s national channel director.

“We’re excited to be partnering with four iconic brands on an ambitious release schedule as we continue to take Dobble from strength to strength.”

Retailers will be able to get an up-close look at these new editions, as well as find out what else is next for the Dobble brand and discover other major new additions to the Asmodee catalogue, at the third edition of AsmoFair – Asmodee’s own virtual trade show.

Running from January 17 to 23rd 2021, the event now features a 360-degree virtual tour of a fully built show stand that brings attendees even closer to the feel of an in-person show. With weekend and evening meeting slots available, retailers can head to asmofair.co.uk for more information or to book a meeting.

Asmodee partners with Blok.Party to bring CATAN to its digital tabletop device TapTop

Asmodee Entertainment is embarking on a new partnership with the social gaming platform, Blok Party, to bring the wildly popular board game title CATAN to its TapTop digital tabletop device in 2021.

TapTop is a tabletop device that allows players to engage with digital versions of popular physical tabletop games, including other Asmodee titles such as Ticket to Ride, Splendor, and Codenames. The device also enables players to create their own tabletop games and card games, as well as interact with NFC figures such as LEGO Dimenstions, Nintendo’s Amiibo, or even Skylanders.

“I started in the video game industry in 1984 and have watched Catan take its place alongside the board game legends over the past 30 years,” said Gilman Louie, partner at Alsop Louie Partners, the lead investor in Blok Party. “Catan proves the value of having a social platform for board games, interacting with other players, making it easier to set up and play games, and allowing the game to merge digital and physical interactions through game play. This is a great partnership for both companies.” 

Since its creation in 1995 by Klaus Teuber, CATAN and its many expansions have sold more than 32 million games around the world. The game is published in more than 40 languages and is sold in more than 70 territories. As the world’s pre-eminent boardgame, CATAN is a truly global phenomenon and enjoys growing success in the digital, lifestyle and entertainment categories through Asmodee’s carefully curated deals.  

“CATAN has long been one of the premier board games so a partnership with the premier digital tabletop gaming platform is a natural fit,” added Christian Dunn, interactive licensing manager at Asmodee Entertainment. “Blok Party’s ambition matches our own and this deal is the first of several over the coming months as many great Asmodee titles will be coming to TapTop in 2021 and beyond.”

CATAN arrives on TapTop devices in early 2021, with more details expected soon.

Asmodee’s licensing game: “It’s about time this happened, the fans out there are starving for stuff”

“The world is going to look very different now that Asmodee – one of the biggest players in the board gaming sector – is very actively pushing into licensing,” Alexander Thieme, manager of licensed publishing and consumer products, Asmodee Entertainment, promises.

The board game giant kicked off October with a show of force when it entered Festival of Licensing’s European leg with a tranche of partnership announcements covering both its hobby gaming portfolio and publishing imprint Aconyte Books.

Tapping into a fanbase and core audience of gamers and pop culture fans that are “positively starving for Asmodee licensing,” all of a sudden, the international hobby gaming specialist was landing graphic novel deals with CMON, bringing its artwork to the fore in pop culture collaborations, and partnering with the major entertainment studio, Ubisoft, to develop novels based on some of the largest video gaming IP on the planet.

Alexander Thieme, licensing manager of publishing and consumer products, Asmodee Entertainment

Yet while it may seem there’s not been a day over the last two weeks that a new development hasn’t emerged from Asmodee Entertainment, Thieme confidently informs us this is just the beginning.

“It’s about time this happened,” he tells Licensing.biz. “The fans out there are hungry, they are starving for stuff. Whenever I talk to fans and tell that I do the licensing, I ask them what they are looking for – is it comics, is it this, or that? And they bite my hand off. They are really crazy for it right now.

“But it’s the truth to say that we are just getting started.”

And that must be music to the ears. As dedication to a cause goes, you’ll find few more resolute than the tabletop gaming audience and the connection they have with their favourite titles. Yet, for so long, this has been a vastly under-served, if not, unrecognised market. With tabletop, hobby, and board gaming reaching new global heights, Asmodee Entertainment is on a mission to change all of that.

“I was part of the inventory at Games Workshop for many years, and I know the fanbase and the depths of their immersion,” says Thieme. “But I was surprised at how strong the connection is here, between fans and their board game titles.

“Arkham Horror is one of those that I am just super fascinated with how positive or how engaged the fans are when we announce something. It is incredible, they just pour out their love. The trick now is to find the right partners that are willing to jump into the boat with us.”

This will be Thieme’s remit. In the ten short months since he joined the board gaming giant, he has already seen this side to the business begin to flourish. The formation of Aconyte Books last has been an ace up the sleeve for the games publisher, having given the company a swinging door through which to license in and license out. It’s allowed the company to align itself with major entertainment companies such as Marvel and Ubisoft, as well as a platform from which it can propel titles like Twilight Imperium or Arkham Horror outside of the board game space.

“For me,” says Thieme, “as much as Asmodee’s statement is that there is a game for every gamer, I believe that here, there is a brand for every licensee. It’s about finding the right commercial endeavours.

“Dobble behaves very differently and has different opportunities to Arkham Horror. Catan is a beautiful hybrid of a mass market casual game and a super-ingrained hobby game. All of this produces very distinct audiences and very distinct opportunities.”

It’s just a matter of unearthing them. And that is what excites Thieme the most. His is a vision for Asmodee Entertainment unburdened by limitations of the IP. His is a belief that the opportunities are boundless, and that the success can be big. Bigger even than video gaming.

“How far can the medium be taken into licensing? That’s a simple answer,” he says. “Look at other media, such as video games, and how they are branching out. We have three licensing managers here at Asmodee; me for publishing and consumer products, a licensing manager for interactive games – so we can do interactive licensing next to us having our own publisher, and we have someone in Los Angeles talking television and film.

“There is no segment or category that won’t work. Of course, it won’t be everything for all of it. Dobble as a movie will not work. Dobble in a TV show… that can work. Dobble in apparel? Absolutely. Dobble in publishing? Oh yes. Comics or a Dobble Kids’ magazine? Hell yes.

The chances that Asmodee has as a licensor are gigantic. But it is early days right now; we are getting the first people in the boat and getting the market used to the idea that there is more to a board game than just rolling a dice. Customers and consumers are emotionally linked to them.”

What is intrinsic to Asmodee’s output is its storytelling. The board gaming scene thrives off its immersive storytelling; it’s ability to bring an audience one level deeper into a narrative by having them play a role within it. Of course, you can argue that video games do it just as well. Thieme will argue back that what analogue gaming delivers, however, is a social, shared-experience of living a narrative together.

“There’s a social story happening with every board game,” he explains. “I and many others find stories in board games that we remember for the rest of our lives. These social stories are extremely strong, and strong for licensing because what you want is a brand that someone will wear in their heart.

“Board games are in the home, on the table and a part of your life, more so, I would say, than digital games. You see the people around you. You have a drink with them, it’s a shared experience and it creates social fabric, and this is the canvass that we paint the licensing programme on.”

It’s with this that Asmodee Entertainment can start to have fun with the licensing endeavours it embarks upon. Over the coming months or years, promises Thieme, fans will begin to see what he calls ‘licensing with secret handshakes,’ or ‘guerrilla licensing’; the kind that will nod to the internal jokes or idiosyncrasies found in individual gaming titles.

“I call them the secret handshake of the geek, the kind where you’ll have just a symbol on a hat or something subtle,” says Thieme. “Of course you’ll have more obvious ones, but games like Arkham Horror or Pandemic are good for those idiosyncrasies.

“I think this will all be very welcomed. I think there has been a media fatigue in licensing and people are looking to break the monotony and be more dynamic. It’s why I can assure you, Asmodee Entertainment has plenty more to come.”