I’m fortunate in that I have two kids and a spouse who love to play board games, so I haven’t had to try to make virtual tabletop spaces work much during the pandemic whenever I get the itch to play a round of Splendor or Takenoko. But other folks aren’t as fortunate as I am, and getting virtual options to work and feel satisfying can be annoying.
This is why Asmodee has acquired Board Game Arena, a digital platform for playing board games. The giant board game publisher made the announcement today, but it did not release any terms of the acquisition (including how much it paid for Board Game Arena). While Asmodee does have a significant portfolio of digital adaptations of its board games (think Gloomhaven, Scythe, or Ticket to Ride), this move is all about bringing tabletop games into a virtual tabletop. According to an Asmodee spokesperson, Board Game Arena saw 600% growth in 2020.
Board Game Arena has been around since 2010. It has official virtual tabletop versions of 250 games, and it supports 40 languages. It has more than 5 million people signed up. You play in your web browser or on smartphones and tablets, and it even works on PlayStation and Xbox consoles.
It will operate independently, and an Asmodee spokesperson said that Board Game Arena will also remain focused on virtual tabletop development, not PC adaptations of Asmodee games.
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