The Asmodee Group has announced the acquisition of Board Game Arena (BGA), the digital multiplayer board-game platform, with its intention to bolster the platform's visibility among consumers and accelerate the long-awaited releases on it of beloved Asmodee games.
Founded in 2010 by Grégory Isabelli and Emmanuel Colin, BGA has emerged has the global leader in online board gaming. The platform provides official online versions of more than 250 games, supported in 40 languages, to more than five million members around the world. Within this huge and regularly updated catalogue are Asmodee hits including Carcassonne, Jaipur and 7 Wonders, of which more than four million online games have been played since its release on the platform in 2018.
Thanks to the commitment of gaming communities since its creation, BGA has seen continuous growth – registering a 600 per cent growth in 2020, a sign of the increased demand for board games both remotely and at home. To support such growth and pursue further development, BGA’s management team has chosen to join Asmodee. Indeed, the two companies have known each other for a long time and this natural move will allow Asmodee to accelerate the availability of its key titles on the platform.
BGA co-founders Isabelli and Colin said: “Working with Asmodee allows us to continue our massive growth, with a partner that shares our love and passion for board gaming. Asmodee fulfils a sine qua non criterion for us: that BGA is always run by passionate board-game fans whose core business is board gaming.”
“Our growth is based on one crucial commitment: offer the best gaming experience to consumers and bring our brands to the widest audience,” added Thomas Koegler, Head of Strategy at Asmodee. “Having a platform that allows players from all over the world to meet, play their favourite games together or discover new games is a natural fit alongside our amazing catalogue of board games. Skull and Splendor will be the first of a long list of Asmodee releases on the platform in the coming weeks; we hope that players will enjoy them!”
As with other Asmodee entities, BGA will remain completely independent and current management will remain at its helm. Pricing policies and editorial line remain unchanged, with BGA continuing, as always, to rely solely on the quality and popularity of games, offering its services to all publishers and market players.
