One of the benefits of Asmodee being acquired by video game conglomerate Embracer Group is the amount of financial and market information the company will be releasing to the public.
The previous owners, private equity company PAI Partners, were under no obligation to release any information about the interworking of Asmodee.
But that changes with Embracer.
As a public company listed on the Nasdaq First North Growth Market in Stockholm, the Embracer Group are required to release timely financial information for their investors.
Their latest report on May 19 includes the first real financial information seen from Asmodee.
Here is what we know:
Asmodee net sales for Q4 were $266 million, a 19% increase over last year. The company said Q1 and Q4 typically were lower contributors to overall sales with pre-holiday buying in Q3 being the strongest.
Asmodee said growth for the quarter was driven particularly by European and North American markets with strong performance of trading card games.
From April 2021 to March 2022 Asmodee had total sales of $1.2 million, a 34% increase over the previous year. The company said EBIT for the same time period was $204 million, a 31% increase.
The company said it expects EBIT for 2022/23 to be between $204 million and $256 million. That amount grows in 2023/24 to $235 million and $297 million.
The company reported 2,346 employees, 22 studios, 21 distributors and 369 IPs in the fiscal year. During that time it contributed 38% of Embracer Group’s net sales.
The company sold 43.7 million board games during the fiscal year, excluding trading card games.
Sales by channel
- Hobby including wholesalers +35%
- Food/Mass +16%
- Toy/Multi Specialised +56%
- Online +20
Sales by type
- Board games +13%
- Trading Card Games +79%
- Emerging platforms +8%
- Other (accessories, miniatures, etc) +70%
Sales by geography
- France +21%
- UK +49%
- US +16%
- Rest of World +44%
Licensing and transmedia remains a core part of Asmodee’s business. The company said it has about 30 IP deals, options and ongoing discussions announced across media, interactive games, publishing and consumer products.
It also has a strong pipeline for the coming years, predicting more than 125 new product releases and 25 or more new IPs each year.
New licenses signed in 2021 include Stanger Things, Squid Game and Koh-Lanta.
Aconyte, the book imprint Asmodee launched in 2019, have published 30 new books last year in IPs owned by the company or through third-parties, including Arkham Horror, Twilight Imperium, L5R, Pandemic, Descent, Marvel Universe, and more.
The company continues to acquire within the tabletop gaming industry. It added Miniature Market, Exploding Kittens (majority stake), Board Game Arena, Plan B Games and The Island in 2021.
Asmodee also announced its first collaborative projects within the Embracer Group working with Saber Interactive on Gloomhaven and Descent digital games. It also worked with Ghost Ship Games to distribute the Deep Rock Galactic board game.
