At Asmodee, the boosters rustle louder than the game boxes
27.5.2026
Translation: machine translated
Asmodee presents strong figures. However, the annual report shows that the growth spurt is mainly due to trading cards. For board game fans, this is more exciting than a financial report might initially suggest.
Asmodee sounds like «Ticket to Ride», «Dixit», «Dobble», «7 Wonders» or «Exploding Kittens» to many board game fans. After evenings at the kitchen table. After cardboard, wood, plastic figures and people who only understand the rules of the game when they've already lost. However, the Group's latest annual report tells a different story: Asmodee is growing strongly. However, the biggest boost is not coming from the classic board game business.
Card games
Quantity discount
CHF15.– per piece for 4 units
Asmodée Exploding Kittens
German, 2 - 5 Players
Revenue rose to 1.68 billion euros in the 2025/26 financial year. That is 23 per cent more than in the previous year. However, the most exciting figure is further back in the report: Asmodee generated a good 1.02 billion euros in turnover with trading card games (TCGs) alone. The figure for classic board games was 527 million euros. In other words, trading cards are now almost twice as big as board games at Asmodee.
You have to let that sink in for a moment. Many people perceive Asmodee primarily as a board game giant. However, the company is actually growing particularly strongly where fans are opening boosters, pre-ordering displays and discussing new sets.
Pokémon, One Piece and Magic: Asmodee is part of the machine
Importantly, Asmodee does not simply produce «Pokémon» boosters or print «Magic» cards. The brands belong to other companies. «Pokémon» is owned by «The Pokémon Company», «Magic: The Gathering» by «Wizards of the Coast» and «Hasbro», «One Piece» in the TCG sector by «Bandai». Asmodee did not invent these worlds, but merely brings them to the market.
In the annual report, Asmodee refers to «Games published by partners», i.e. games and trading cards from external partners. These partner products grew by 40 per cent in 2025/26. In contrast, Asmodee's own studios declined by 5.8 per cent.
Trading Cards
CHF299.95
Magic the Gathering The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth
English, Booster display
That sounds less romantic than the idea of the next big author game. But in economic terms, it's at least as important. You buy a board game once. Maybe you play it for ten years. Maybe it ends up on the shelf after two games, right next to your guilty conscience.
A TCG works differently: new sets, new cards, new decks, new tournaments, new collecting goals. It is a game, collectible, Community and product cycle all in one.
Collectible cards are every distributor's dream
For a group like Asmodee, this is attractive. Trading cards need functioning logistics, good relationships with specialist retailers and reliable availability. This is exactly where Asmodee is strong and, as a partner, earns a few cents or centimes on every booster.
The fact that distribution pays off is also demonstrated by Blackfire. The German B2B distributor has been part of Asmodee since 2018 and supplies local hobby shops. In the TCG sector, Blackfire stocks products including «Magic: The Gathering», «One Piece», «Pokémon», «Yu-Gi-Oh!», «Dragon Ball», «Digimon» and other brands.
Blackfire is also a distributor in Switzerland.
For Switzerland, however, not every brand automatically runs through Asmodee. In the case of Pokémon, the official reseller page for Switzerland lists Carletto. In other European countries, however, several Asmodee companies appear.
Party games are suddenly part of the Group strategy
The second exciting part of the report has less to do with trading cards, but a lot to do with growth: party games. Asmodee has acquired «ATM Gaming». The French company develops social games such as «Quickstop», «Holy Sheep» and «Pili Pili». Asmodee calls party games the fastest growing category in the board game market.
Card games
Quantity discount
CHF12.50 per piece for 4 units
ATM Gaming Quickstop The letter duel
German, 2 - 7 Players
Party games have long stood on the sidelines as small, loud games. Good for family parties, shared kitchens, cocktail parties and people who quit «Terraforming Mars» as soon as they set it up. In the meantime, they are strategically important.
ATM Gaming is expected to contribute at least 50 million euros in turnover in the 2026/27 financial year. These are pretty grown-up figures for a sector that is often ridiculed as uncomplicated, fun and games.
The logic behind the trading card boom also applies here: party games are low-threshold, quickly explained and easy to share. They work at the table, on social media and in stores. You don't need a three-hour round of rules, just a group, a good moment and ideally a name that you can remember.
The classic board game is not dead
You could easily make a doomsday story out of these figures: The classic board game is losing, trading cards are winning, party games are taking over. But it's not that simple.
Asmodee writes that board games grew in all regions in the fourth quarter. The report also mentions its own new products, including «Dixit Kids» and «The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Trick-Taking Game». Classic board games therefore remain important.
Card games
CHF30.70
Lord of the rings : The Two Towers Trick-Taking Game (ODLO05EN)
English, German, 1 - 4 Players
However, the growth music is playing elsewhere. For the year as a whole, board games at Asmodee were slightly down on the previous year. TCGs, on the other hand, grew massively. What's more, even at Asmodee's own studios, «Star Wars: Unlimited» put the brakes on development. The game was unable to keep up with the previous year's strong period directly after the launch.
This shows: Even trading cards are not a sure-fire success. A TCG can explode. But it can also fall back to a normal level after the initial hype. If you want to grow in this area, you have to keep adding to it.
What this means for board game fans
For us fans, this doesn't mean that soon there will only be boosters on the table. But it does mean that the industry is shifting.
Board games are no longer just individual boxes that publishers develop, publish and then sell for years. Systems are becoming more important: brand worlds, licences, accessories, tournaments, events, communities, social media and distribution networks.
Asmodee thus stands for an industry that has become broader. The group earns money with its own games, partner products, TCGs, accessories, distribution and quick party games. This is less cosy than the image of a candlelit games evening. However, it explains well why a board game company works differently today than it did ten years ago.
Perhaps this is the real point of the annual report: Asmodee is not simply growing because board games are booming. Asmodee is growing because the gaming hobby has become bigger, faster and more commercially versatile. And because the modern gaming table sometimes begins not with the opening of a box, but with the opening of a booster.
Do you play TCGs yourself or do you prefer to stick to classic board games? Let us know in the comments.
Header image: Veronica Winters / Shutterstock.com
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