R.I.P., Mayfair Games

Apparition · February 10, 2018, 12:27:48 AM

Mayfair Games, the maker of DC Heroes RPG, Underground RPG, and more popularly the Settlers of Catan board game, is no more.

QuoteAfter nearly 40 years in the tabletop industry, the longtime publisher of the popular Settlers of Catan franchise is closing its doors. Mayfair Games has sold its remaining games catalog to Asmodee North America, a massive games publisher and distributor, the company announced.

"As of today, the management team at Mayfair Games, Inc. announces we will wind down game publishing," the company said in a statement. "After 36 years, this was not an easy decision or one we took lightly, but it was necessary. Once we had come to this conclusion, we knew we had to find a good home for our games which is when we reached out to Asmodee."

Asmodee owns Fantasy Flight Games as well.

Shawn Driscoll · February 10, 2018, 02:13:28 AM

Games stores with game boxes collecting dust on their shelves. And CCGs cost way less to produce.

Omega · February 10, 2018, 11:34:54 AM

Quote from: Shawn Driscoll;1024751Games stores with game boxes collecting dust on their shelves. And CCGs cost way less to produce.

Actually CCGs are some of the most expensive games to produce next to minis heavy games. They are cheap to print. But anything but cheap to produce.

David Johansen · February 10, 2018, 12:15:30 PM

Hopefully this means Coleman Charton and Pete Fenlon will go back to ICE and Coleman can sort out RMU make Pete can make maps for things. Oh well, wishful thinking but they never really did leave the gaming industry and Rolemaster was their baby.

Just Another Snake Cult · February 10, 2018, 01:16:28 PM

DC Heroes was underrated and Underground is a genuine lost masterpiece.

I thought Settlers of Catalan was a breakout hit. What happened?

Abraxus · February 10, 2018, 02:11:22 PM

I know in my neck of the woods one of the main FLGS went board game crazy. As apparently they thought it was the next big thing. Completely not understanding or want to that the average person let alone the average gamer usually don't want to spend the money to buy them on a regular basis . I'm not saying board games are not played or bought, to the level that it remains consistently profitable for a FLGS to stock shelves upon shelves of them I don't think so imo.

David Johansen · February 10, 2018, 02:28:38 PM

That's certainly how I've always seen it. Big expensive boxes sell slower than smaller products.

Spellslinging Sellsword · February 10, 2018, 02:34:58 PM

Quote from: Just Another Snake Cult;1024805I thought Settlers of Catalan was a breakout hit. What happened?

Asmodee took over the English rights to Catan from Mayfair in 2016.

Omega · February 10, 2018, 03:04:20 PM

When they took over Plaid Hat they gagged the designers who till then had been very hands on on the fora.

Just Another Snake Cult · February 10, 2018, 05:49:48 PM

I recall really liking some of their Role-Aids line of modules, too. I ran Evil Ruins three or four times for different groups back when I was in my early teens. Really regret losing that one.

Shawn Driscoll · February 10, 2018, 07:04:22 PM

Quote from: Omega;1024796Actually CCGs are some of the most expensive games to produce next to minis heavy games. They are cheap to print. But anything but cheap to produce.

And that's why there are far more metal and 3D-printed figures than collectible cards in the world. Whatever, dude.

Just Another Snake Cult · February 10, 2018, 07:14:44 PM

I've read from other sources that CCGs are surprisingly expensive to produce, but never exactly why. The large volume of cards? The art? Long playtests?

GameDaddy · February 10, 2018, 08:55:24 PM

Quote from: David Johansen;1024800Hopefully this means Coleman Charton and Pete Fenlon will go back to ICE and Coleman can sort out RMU make Pete can make maps for things. Oh well, wishful thinking but they never really did leave the gaming industry and Rolemaster was their baby.

Eh? Pete Fenlon is CEO of Catan Studios at Asmodee. He joined them and left Mayfair after Larry Rosnai sold Catan U.S. to Asmodee back in late 2015. I still remember running into them both at GenCon in 2006 and remember catching Pete talking smack about me to Larry. Now I'll wager Larry knows Pete as well as I do.

David Johansen · February 10, 2018, 10:25:00 PM

dang, you've punctured my totally unrealistic pipe dream of an ICE renaissance.

chirine ba kal · February 11, 2018, 12:29:38 AM

Quote from: Just Another Snake Cult;1024836I've read from other sources that CCGs are surprisingly expensive to produce, but never exactly why. The large volume of cards? The art? Long playtests?

I've been told by an industry contact it's the cards themselves; there are, it seems, very few printing plants in the world that can print, coat, die-cut, sort, and package the cards and their packing all in-house - which does cut costs vs. having to send the product around to specialists. Since the production capacity is so restricted, the CCG publisher has to pay a premium for a place in the production schedule.