Tag Archives: CMON

Board game pioneer CMON teams with Monsoon Digital for new foray into NFTs

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The hit board game publisher, CMON Ltd has partnered with Monsoon Digital to launch a new series of digital products and promotional material using Monsoon’s soon-to-launch NFT trading platform.

Slated to go live later this year, Monsoon will become the exclusive platform for CMON digital collectable items, cards, artwork, and games. The first offerings will strive to expand upon CMON’s reputation as a leader and pioneer in the gaming space.

“The overall potential of NFTs adds a brand-new dimension to the hobby, game and collectible markets, one that we’re extremely excited to explore with Monsoon Digital,” said Chern Ann Ng, CEO of CMON.

“The goal of Monsoon is to provide collectors, art fans, and gamers with a stable and secure online home where they can organize, display, buy, sell and trade their digitally owned blockchain. It’s designed from the ground up to be tailor made for these particular fanbases, so that creators can design and launch products that are innovative and consumer-specific.”

Monsoon Digital will launch the public beta of its platform later this year, with CMON’s first wave of digital collectible packs set to be the site’s flagship product. Details of the first wave are being kept under wraps.

“While this is absolutely a breakout year for NFTs, we were determined to do something different and unique with the blockchain technology,” said Geoff Skinner, CMON’s SVP of Marketing and Entertainment.

“As it is with our tabletop games, our focus is on the customer. The goals we set for this new collector experience are simple: it has to be easy to use and accessible, it has to offer a special, personalized experience, and most importantly, it has to be fun. To these ends, we’re working with our top game designers, graphic designers and artists to create our first blockchain product on Monsoon’s incredible platform.”

CMON has earned a reputation as a trendsetter in the gaming industry since successfully launching its first crowdfunded game on Kickstarter in 2012. The company remains the number one fundraiser across all categories, having raised over $72 million from 48 successful campaigns.

To celebrate the launch, CMON will be giving many of its more than 100,000 Kickstarter backers the chance to receive free NFT airdrops when Monsoon goes live. In addition, each of those backers will eligible to receive a “CMON Backer” promo NFT that will never be offered again.

Asmodee’s Aconyte Books details publishing plans for hit board game IP Zombicide and Terraforming Mars

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Aconyte Books, the fiction imprint and publishing arm of Asmodee Entertainment, has detailed a raft of new partnerships with some of the leading names in tabletop gaming to develop a series of novels set within the worlds of a selection of the most critically acclaimed board games.

Kicking off the latest signings, the publishing arm has secured a multi-year agreement with CMON – otherwise known as Cool Mini Or Not – to create a new series of novels set in the worlds of its popular Zombicide range of games.

Having made its debut back in 2012, Zombicide became the first of a wildly popular series of tabletop games that pit players against the walking dead. Featuring detailed miniatures and fast-action gameplay, the games have since picked up legions of players around the globe.

As well as the modern day original, CMON has also developed versions set in medieval times (Zombicide: Black Plague) and far out in the depths of space (Zombicide: Invader). Aconyte now plans to publish novels based on all three settings with the first title expected to hit shops in time for Halloween 2021.

Aconyte publisher Marc Gascoigne, commented: “We love Zombicide, for the all-out mayhem of the game, the passion of its dedicated following – and the lovingly detailed (and incredibly deadly) worlds that its designers have created. There are a whole bunch of stories we want to create, to explore their secrets further.”

CMON’s COO David Preti, added: “We designed the Zombicide games to tell exciting stories populated with iconic characters who had unique personalities that came through in the gameplay.

“We wanted each play session to feel like its own pulp novel. We’re so happy to have a great partner in Aconyte, who understands the world and tone of the game, and is going to put these stories in prose for the first time.”

Continuing its ambitious mission to set up new content platforms for its own and third-party properties, Aconyte has also detailed a multi-year agreement with FryxGames to create new novels set in the world of its own Terraforming Mars games.

Since its launch in 2016, the original Terraforming Mars has been a firm favourite with gamers, and currently sits at number four in the all-time best games list on Boardgamegeek.com.

Designed by Jacob Fryxelius and published by the Swedish games company set up by him and his brothers, the game has grown in scope with several expansions, and is now available in more than 25 languages. Set in the early 2400s, Terraforming Mars explores the many challenges facing mankind as rival corporations attempt to open up the inhospitable surface of the Red Planet to make it fit for human settlers.

The underlying spirit of the game is one of optimism and scientific progress, qualities the novels will embody.

Aconyte’s Gascoigne, said: “We’re big fans of the Terraforming Mars games, and we’re looking forward to telling epic tales of science fiction exploration and adventure in this exciting setting. We may have our problems down here on Earth, but these novels will provide a much needed escape to a different world.”

FryxGames’s CEO, Enoch Fryxelius, added: “Terraforming Marsis a game of bold and innovative ideas to take on the hostile environment of an alien planet, and turn it into a living, breathing biosphere and a vibrant human civilization.

“We are excited to see some of these ideas come to life and become the backdrop of inspiring stories. Through these novels we hope that more people will be dreaming about Mars and the future of human exploration.”

The first Terraforming Mars novel is expected to hit shops in summer 2021, with several further volumes being planned.

Asmodee brings iconic board games Android and Twilight Imperium to comic book space with CMON

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The board gaming giant, Asmodee Entertainment has entered into a licensing partnership with the tabletop gaming specialist, CMON Ltd, to bring two of the hobby’s most famous boardgame universes to the pages of a comic book series.

Best-selling games, Twilight Imperium and Android are slated to make their graphic novel debut in 2021 in a deal that goes to highlight Asmodee’s continued expansion into licensed publishing opportunities. For CMON, meanwhile, the deals secures the first licenses for its newly minted comic books arm, Guillotine Press.

“We are delighted to announce this new partnership on the run-up to exhibiting at the Festival of Licensing in October,” said Alexander Thieme, licensing manager for publishing and consumer goods at Asmodee Entertainment.

“Bringing some of our most iconic intellectual properties to the medium of visual storytelling through the pages of these first graphic novels is a natural step for us to be taking and we are absolutely thrilled to begin this exciting journey with the great team at CMON.”

As with CMON’s first set of graphic novels, these new books will be created by veteran writers and artists, who will bring their talents to the projects. Scheduled to be launched on Kickstarter in 2021, the books will be paired with tie-in game components designed to delight long-time fans of both franchises. 

CMON COO, David Preti, said: “All tabletop games tell stories, and we are especially happy to work with a great partner like Asmodee Entertainment to bring some of those stories to life. With our first wave of comics, the ones based on CMON titles, we worked hard to create book-and-game component combos that were exciting for comic fans and board gamers alike, making it one of the most successful publication Kickstarters of all times.

“With this second wave of books, we hope to continue that precedent, and we aim to become the go-to publisher for board game inspired comics.” 

Recognised as a genre defining strategy game that immerses players into interstellar conquest and diplomacy, Twilight Imperium is set against a back drop of a sweeping, epic space opera filled with iconic races, locations, ships, and characters.

Meanwhile, Android is known as a cyber-noir that explores a future in which mega-corporations compete across the globe and cyber-espionage is just business as usual, while criminals fight for dominance in the overcrowded streets below. Android has been explored thrugh board games, card games, and roleplaying games for over a decade.

Both titles are part of Asmodee’s renowned Fantasy Flight Games studio.

“Both graphic novels will make use of the combined three decades worth of Asmodee’s existing design and world development,” said CMON’s VP of licensing, Geoff Skinner.

“Both of these incredible games are fully realized and bursting at the seams with style, tone, and best of all, story possibilities. Our goal is for fans of the games to feel right at home in the pages of these books and to capture the essence of what makes each title special, while still making the titles accessible to newcomers who are in it for a great comic experience.” 

Andy Jones, head of Asmodee Entertainment, concluded: “I am delighted to announce this ground-breaking deal with the team at CMON. Bringing together just two of the many Asmodee IPs and telling their stories in this unique ‘comic book and game component’ format, initially via Kickstarter, with some of the very best talents in the industry, is a fantastic project to be working on.”