The Asmodee spinout officially became a separate entity as of 2/2025, and has an 18 month deadline to refinance that debt. Fitch rates this BB- [0], which apparently implies >6% probability of default (at current interest rates). Asmodee will presumably achieve that by jacking up prices on existing (boardgame and cardgame) IP, and/or killing stuff that doesn't pay much, and/or refreshing newer versions of existing IP (like Sony Games' 2024 attempt to do forced relicensing on existing PS owners' libraries).
Right after the acquisition, Asmodee silently delisted beloved Steam titles like 'Pandemic' in early 2022 [1][2], without even notifying existing owners; and only 4 years after it had been released in 2018. Supposedly this after-sale revocation violates consumer laws in California and Australia (and maybe elsewhere); if Steam ever pulls the trigger on removing them we get to find out; meanwhile back up your binaries.
Asmodee also acquired the superb online site BoardGameArena.com in 2021, cofounders Grégory and Emmanuel both left in 2023 at the height of Embracer's pillaging.
I commented previously on Asmodee (mostly pre-Wingefors) milking the awful digital implementation of Terraforming Mars (which should have been a huge hit) for like 6 years without any meaningful playtesting or bugfixing [3][4].
Here are some Redditors helpfully filling in the gaps on Wingefors "I'm sure I deserve a lot of criticism" token gesture towards humility [5].
Wingefors' behavior in divesting Asmodee and sticking it with much of the debt for his/ Embracer's failed Covid-era acquisition spree feels something like Bruce Willis strapping plastic explosive to the monitor and chair and dropping it down a 36-storey elevator shaft. Make impressive noise. Or like Restaurant at the End of the Universe when they crash the starship into the sun.
Given Lars Wingefors' trail of digital tears, why he is now begging private individuals to donate their physical copies of old videogames to a private physical archive noone can access or visit, to make him somehow look like a community-minded benefactor, is bizarre. He could simply donate to an existing online archive.
[0]: https://www.fitchratings.com/research/corporate-finance/fitc...
[1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29968054 [2]: https://delistedgames.com/pandemic-the-board-game/
[3]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42303399 [4]: https://www.reddit.com/r/TerraformingMarsGame/comments/1443i...
[5]: https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/1cb93xy/embracer_ceo...
