News Digest Episode 134
This is a copy of the “script” we used to organise Brainwaves Episode 134. It is not a full transcript but should give you an overview of the news as we reported it. Quotes are in italics.
Headlines
Wizards steals more art
- A card in the recent Magic: The Gathering set, Lost Caverns of Izalan has attracted some controversy. The artist of the card, Wayfarer’s Bauble, David Sondered was accused of plagiarising the Background from fellow Magic illustrator Lorenzo Lanfranconi
- Lanfranconi posted the allegation on X, formerly Twitter, tagging Wizards of the Coast, the publisher of Magic: The Gathering. Someone also posted a gif comparison of the two pieces on imgur and it is hard to deny the similarities.
- Sondered responded to the allegations by issuing an apology to social media, and saying this.
- “In my process of painting I collect references, especially for things I feel uncertain about, and sometimes I put those positioned on the canvas and paint over them. I sometimes use this as a way to make my illustration unique by overpainting and altering the reference until it isn;t possible to see the original piece anymore. Occasionally I do this with poses, but I also use art from colleagues as references,”
- “In this case, I have unfortunately not done a good job of turning it into a uniquely mine painting. I could show how I have painted over things but in the end it does not matter. The matter of the fact is that it looks too close to someone else’s original piece of art,” “It is 100% on me, and I made a very bad call on this one. Most likely (as it is so long ago) I came to a point where I wasn’t looking at the reference anymore and was just trying to make sure all the colours and lighting matched.”
- Sondered contacted Wizards and Lanfranconi. The latter has chosen to take no further action on the matter, and speculated that overwork may have been to blame for what they called a ‘stupid mistake’.
- Wizards of the Coast contacted Dicebreaker after they posted the story, saying this:
- “We recently became aware of claims that David Sondered’s artwork on the card Wayfarer’s Bauble used art created by another artist without that artist’s permission. Such misuse of art is expressly prohibited by our artist guidelines and does not reflect the values of Wizards of the Coast. As such, we will be suspending any future work with David Sondered until further notice,”
- Wizards came under fire earlier in the year for AI art being in the book Bigby presents, Glory of the Giants.
Embracer in trouble
https://kotaku.com/embracer-dead-island-2-remnant-2-layoffs-lord-rings-1851028963
- Asmodee may be the largest board game company in the world, but it is owned by a much bigger fish.
- That fish is Embracer Group, a swedish based investor who has been buying up properties at a substantial rate over the last couple of years. This has left them with a large portfolio of computer game companies, the lord of the rings license, and a large financial hangover.
- After missing out on 2 billion dollars in investment from what was reportedly the Saudi public investment fund last year, Embracer has been closing studios and firing staff in the hundreds in order to try and get out from under the financial burdens it finds itself in order to ‘maximise shareholder value’
- Lars Wingefors, CEO of embracer, announced on November the 16th that about 900 people have been laid off across the companies subsidiaries, that is about 5% of the workforce. While doing so he said
- “For me, personally, it is crucial that the [restructuring program] is carried out with compassion, respect, and integrity,”
- Large companies with strong reputations have been affected by the layoffs including Crystal Dynamics and Volition, the publisher behind the Saints Row reboot in 2022.
- Asmodee has not been immune to the restructuring, announcing on the 21st of November that changes have begun at the board game publisher. The announcement was made by CFO Muge Bouillon on an earnings call
- On that call it was revealed that Asmodee’s profitability over the last quarter was $39million up $10million from last year. The PC/Console side of the Embracer group made a $120million loss in the same period.
- Muge Bouillon said
- “I’m very happy with the performance of Asmodee. September itself is an important peak season period for us, and the implemenation of restructuring programme has started also at Asmodee, so the good performance is the combination of both the current trading, the operational performance and the proper executiong of the plan.
- “So it was important for us, we don’t take it lightly, so we are on track and we aim at delivering our fiscal year and run rate targets.”
- A spokesperson from Asmodee contacted Boardgamewire after the story broke wit this statement:
- “Asmodee is actively supporting its parent company, Embracer, in achieving cost-savings targets.
- “However, it’s crucial to note that Asmodee’s participation in the group’s restructuring plan does not necessitate nor will it result in any disruptive changes.
- “Our publishing and distribution activities remain unaffected. We want to emphasize that Asmodee continues to be a robust global leader in the board games industry, with a firm commitment to our employees, partners, and players.”
Dicebreaker Awards
https://www.dicebreaker.com/events/tabletop-awards-2023/news/tabletop-awards-2023-finalists
https://www.dicebreaker.com/events/tabletop-awards-2023/news/tabletop-awards-2023-winners
https://www.dicebreaker.com/companies/dicebreaker/news/dicebreaker-owner-reedpop-investigating-sale
- While we’ve been away from the studio, tabletop site Dicebreaker have announced the finalists and then the winners of their Tabletop Awards
- The categories for the awards were as follows
- Best Board Game
- Best Roleplaying Game
- Best Ongoing Card Game – these were all collectible card games
- Best Art
- Designer of the Year
- Publisher of the Year
- Rising Star: Designer
- Rising Star: Publisher
- The nominees were announced on the 13th of November and were a nice selection of big names and a lot of focus on up and coming games which we really appreciated. On top of the above awards there was a people’s choice award.
- The award winners were
- Best Board Game
- Sky Team. A co-operative game that sees players trying to land planes in a variety of escalating challenges. Published by Scorpion Masque.
- Best Roleplaying Game
- Women are Werewolves, published by 9th level games. Game with card based prompts examining the role of non-binary characters in a family that believes women transform into werewolves under a full moon.
- Best Ongoing Card Game
- Disney Lorcana, published by Ravensburger.
- Best Art
- Tarot based game Sefirot, Eli Baum and Viv Tanner helmed.
- Designer of the Year
- David Thompson and Trevor Benjamin. Designers of the Undaunted series and General Orders: World War 2.
- Publisher of the Year
- Restoration Games. A publisher known for reviving older titles with modern design sensibilities. They have recently republished The Dark Tower and Thunder Road alongside the very successful Unmatched Series.
- Rising Star: Designer,
- Cassi Mothwin is an RPG designer who has two games out Clean Spirit, and The Sticker Game. Dicebreaker says of Cassi:
- Championing deep and meaningful play experiences that veer from spooky to hilarious, Cassi always puts the experience of the player first – making her a talented designer you should be paying close attention to in the years to come.
- Rising Star: Publisher,
- Hot Banana Games, a publisher dedicated to Asian Themed Games by Asian Game Designers. They are the publisher of Steam Up.
- People’s Choice: Fabula Ultima RPG, a JRPG style game
- Just before the awards were announced, Matt Jarvis, the Editor-in-chief of Dicebreaker, posted to the site that ReedPop who owns them and other gaming websites was looking to sell its digital business. That sale would also include Eurogamer and Rock Paper Shotgun, two large computer game focused websites.
- Reedpop said in a statement
- “ReedPop, part of RX, has reviewed its UK business and decided to investigate the potential sale of its Gamer Network and associated editorial Digital properties. We believe that new ownership offers the best conditions for the growth of the business.”
- Matt finished the piece by saying that was all the team knew for now and for the moment their output would be unaffected.
Updates
Berserk Games
https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2757485/seeking-help-regarding-berserk-games-resolved-reop
- Back in episode 130 we reported on the announcement from Scottish publisher Digisprite games that they were pulling DLC from virtual boardgame platform, Tabletop Simulator.
- This was due to non-payment of royalties from the publishers of the platform, Berserk Games.
- In episode 86 we also reported on the non-payment of royalties to the publisher of Three Kingdoms Redux. One of the people behind that announcement Ken Leeng Yeo, posted the issues on Boardgamegeek in a thread entitled “seeking help regarding Berserk Games”. This thread had originally been resolved but Ken reopened it on August the 10th 2023, detailing further issues the publisher was having with Berserk Games.
- On October the 25th of 2023 Ken posted an update saying this:
- In Berserk Games’ usual cryptic style, we suddenly received a Paypal transfer from Berserk Games yesterday. There was no accompanying e-mail or other forms of communication. The amount was wrong (see similar past experience above); It was slightly more than the amount we invoiced them. It was labelled as royalties for Q2 2022, Q3 2022, Q4 2022 and Q1 2023 in Paypal.
- There was no mention about the missing Q1 2022 sales report. There was also no mention about the now due Q2 2023 sales report.
- We did reach out for comment from Berserk games at the time of episode 130 but have never received anything back from them.
Hasbro women innovators winners announced
https://spark.hasbro.com/womeninnovators#contest
- Also back in Episode 130 we told you about an initiative from Hasbro, the owners of Wizards of the Coast who publish Dungeons and Dragons.
- The initiative was designed to find the next woman-led mass market toy or game.
- The winners have been announced and Hasbro posted this to announce them
we can officially announce our winners who have each won $10k, a mentorship session with one of Hasbro’s top women leaders, and will visit Hasbro HQ!
- Meet talented minds behind these winning, innovative games:
- Ellie Dix – d owner of The Dark Imp.
-
- Sandra Harewood – The brilliant mind behind a captivating family word game. serving as a Women in Games Ambassador (UK).
-
- Mandy 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐌𝐚𝐠𝐠𝐢𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐝𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐝 – Dynamic duo and co-inventors of an exciting preschool game.
New york board game cafe unionises
- Back in Episode 131 we reported on the efforts of employees at New York City Board Game Cafe Hex & Company, to unionise.
- The company had refused to acknowledge the union voluntarily and had been accused of union busting efforts.
- Reported on Boardgame wire, the employees successfully unionised on the night of 14th of November in a landslide vote, 50 votes to 16.
- This effort has led to staff in Uncommons and the Brooklyn Strategist, two other board game venues in the city, to demand union recognition.
- Employee Joseph Valle Hoag who was part of the union organisation efforts said:
- “Winning our union means I don’t have to listen to management try to convince me that I shouldn’t have rights anymore.
- “It means that the false rumors they have spread about me and the organizing committee can stop and It means my coworkers and I will finally be treated with the respect we deserve in the workplace.”
Tranqulity
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/boardgamehub/tranquility-the-ascent/posts/3977117
- Also from episode 131 we reported on the collapse of publisher Board Game Hub. They were a UK publisher who had come to the community’s attention with their game Tranquillity. The sequel Tranquillity: The Ascent had funded on Kickstarter. Earlier in the year they announced that they would no longer be able to fulfil the game and that the company was filing for bankruptcy.
- Now it looks like Tranquillity: The Ascent will be picked up by publisher Lucky Duck Games.
- In an announcement on the Kickstarter for the game, Board Game Hub made the announcement alongside some changes to the final product. Will link to that in our show notes.
News
Colin Dixon dies
https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/381735-colin-dixon-has-passed/
https://twitter.com/Eldritchseer/status/1726963857162457350
- We are sad to share the news that Colin Dixon passed away last month.
- Colin was a well-known miniature painter and sculptor whose career included working for Games Workshop as their first-ever full-time miniature painter and later sculpting miniatures for them as well as Marauder Miniatures which were still a separate company at the time, Wargames Foundry and Citadel Miniatures.
- Colin was also a talented illustrator and sketch artist, painting the iconic cover art for the second edition of Blood Bowl among many others.
- Colin leaves behind a huge legacy and many sad fans. The whole Brainwaves team sends their sincerest condolences to Colin’s family and friends.
Games companies sue each other
- Thanks to Richard from We’re not Wizards for bringing this one to our attention. The information came from Eric Martin who posts news to Boardgamegeek on a regular basis.
- In early 2022 University Games a publisher of mainstream toys, games and puzzles, became interested in acquiring the assets of Forbidden Games, a more hobby focused publisher.
- Forbidden Games and its then CEO/president Glenn Drover are being sued by University Games for breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and fraud. Forbidden Games are counter suing for fraud, breach of contract and wrongful termination.
- From the university games lawsuit filed on October the 30th, 2023
- About a year later, Glenn Drover resigned from UGC. Both before and after his resignation, Forbidden Games and Glenn Drover breached their contractual obligations and Drover breached his fiduciary duties of loyalty and good faith and committed fraud. Defendants’ breaches of their contractual and fiduciary obligations included, among other things, failing to transfer the assets and intellectual property as required by the contract, failing to transfer monetary proceeds to UGC’s account, refusing to work with UGC under the terms the parties had negotiated, holding UGC’s game development hostage until Drover’s increasing monetary demands were met, chronically violating University Games procedures and policies, interfering with the development and launch of UGC games, refusing to return company property after Drover’s resignation, and claiming that the intellectual property Drover and Forbidden Games had transferred to UGC actually belonged to Drover.
- Or to summarise, not doing anything that been agreed upon.
- From the Forbidden Games lawsuit filed on October the 31st
- Prior to the asset sale, Forbidden Games board games like Mosaic and Raccoon Tycoon had earned industry and consumer accolades and awards, as well as early promising sales figures. However, University Games fraudulently had no intention of permitting Plaintiffs to earn the additional $1 million in deferred payments or otherwise to promote the acquired Forbidden Games board games. Instead, University Games and its principal, Robert Moog, set about to breach their promises by: (i) promoting existing University Games over the Forbidden Games; (ii) refusing to attend and/or feature Forbidden Games at major tradeshows in the boardgame industry; (iii) slashing the Forbidden Games’ marketing budget; (iv) making a hostile work environment for Mr. Drover and the colleagues he brought over to University Games so that they could not effectively promote the Forbidden Games board games in the market, and eventually would have to leave the intolerable working conditions at University Games; and (v) otherwise taking unreasonable commercial action and doing everything else they could to impede the performance of sales of the acquired Forbidden Games’ assets (board games).
- Or to summarise, not giving Forbidden Games’ titles fair promotion and being hostile to the staff that had come over to University games.
US postal service D&D stamps next year
- We’ve talked many times about how gaming has been moving into the mainstream over the last few years, becoming part of the wider cultural landscape instead of being a more niche concern.
- Well if you need any more evidence for that fact you can look to the US postal service who have just announced a series of Dungeons and Dragons stamps to be released in 2024.
- The stamps are being put out to coincide with the 50th Anniversary of Dungeons and Dragons, and highlight characters and creatures from the game.
GW £2500 bonus
- Games Workshop, model makers of Warhammer and its many iterations, have announced that due to the 9% rise in sales this financial quarter, staff would be sharing a £7.5m bonus pool, equating to about £2500 per person. This is about a grand each more than last year’s 4.5 m pot
Jobs, Opportunities, and Events
Contestants wanted for the Genius Game in the UK on ITV
https://www.thegeniusgameuk.com/
- Are you a fan of mental challenges, games or strategic reality competitions?
- Do you have the brainpower AND social skills to build alliances – and maybe even manipulate your fellow players in order to succeed?
- Those are the questions that Remarkable Television is asking of potential contestants for their upcoming reality game show The Genius Game UK, which will air on ITV.
- The Genius Game is following the trend of South Korean reality game shows that make their way over to the UK. It is going to pit thirteen contestants against each other as they compete in various challenges that test strategic thinking and social skills. Contestants will be eliminated in head-to-head matches until only one remains, who will be awarded the title of “the Genius” and a cash prize.
- Does this remind you of another South Korean TV show? Probably.
- Anyway, the closing date for applications is midnight 4th January 2024, so be quick if you want to be in for a chance to represent the board game hobby on national TV.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/TabletopJobs
Patreon Shoutouts
James Naylor
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game-a-lot.fun/en
facebook.com/gamealotboardgames
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https://www.patreon.com/thegiantbrain
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Promo Code: ROLLWITHBRAINS
Sir Meeple
Outro
Bonjopoly
- This might be the last episode of the year, so I thought we’d leave you with a monopoly gift idea for all those fans of New Jersey based music. No it’s not Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon nor My Chemical Romance. It’s 80s rockers Bon Jovi.
- Travel around the board collecting famous Bon Jovi gigs throughout their career, with their most prestigious being the 2018 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in 2018 in Cleveland, Ohio.
- The ‘collectible tokens’ include Jon Bon Jovi’s famous acoustic guitar, the band’s heart and dagger logo, and the state of new Jersey.
- The box boasts ‘custom designed heart and dagger money’, ‘custom Bon Jovi railroads and utilities’ and ‘‘It’s My Life’ and ‘Living On A Prayer’ replace traditional chance and and community chest cards’
Natwest board game
https://www.tabletopgaming.co.uk/News/natwest-bank-launch-their-own-christmas-board-game
https://www.natwestgroup.com/news-and-insights/latest-stories/financial-capability-and-learning/2023/nov/fighting-fraud-this-christmas.html
- But if Bon Jovi ain’t your bag, maybe you’re more of a fan of fiscal responsibility and London based banking firms.
- National Westminster Bank, more commonly known as Natwest, has produced a board game that is playable at several of their branches called ‘All Mod Cons’ to highlight the proliferation of scams at this time of year.
- It is part of a campaign that: ‘aims to encourage families and friends to have open discussions around scams this festive season’. It was ‘created by a team of game developers in partnership with the Bank’s fraud team’
- “All Mod Cons is a game for 4-6 people where players make their way around the board with the aim of holding onto their money whilst avoiding the scams they encounter along the way. The game draws on NatWest data and aims to encourage family discussions and equip players with crucial information on how to detect, avoid and report different kinds of scams in real life.”
NatWest
- Angel, Islington
- Brighton Churchill Square
- Bristol
- Milton Keynes
- Cambridge
- Preston
- Newcastle upon Tyne
- Sheffield City Centre
- Basildon
- Stratford City, Westfield
Royal Bank of Scotland
- Glasgow City
- Livingston
Ulster NI
- Belfast City
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