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Goliath Games has announced the acquisition of Lucky Duck Games, best known for its industry-leading and award-winning digital hybrid board games such as Chronicles of Crime and Destinies.
Goliath, a global leader in kids and family games with multi-generational hits like Sequence, Floor Is Lava, Gooey Louis and Pop the Pig, has been building success in the Adult Games category, published under Endless Games. Notable releases include crime game Unsolved Case Files, TV hit sensation The Traitors and more kidult games slated for release under its global distribution deal with Funko Games announced last month.
Jochanan Golad, CEO of Goliath, said: “As a global games business, we see there are two major growth areas in games; (adult) party games and strategy games. Consumers and kidults particularly are playing boardgames like never before; this trend was already there, but the pandemic had greatly accelerated it.”
Lucky Duck Games’ library of high-quality strategy titles will complement Goliath’s existing multi-category catalogue.
Jochanan further expressed admiration for Lucky Duck Games’ swift rise in the strategy space. “Vincent and his team have done an astounding job in such a short time to become a notable player in the strategy games category. We are very impressed by the games they’ve brought to market.”
Vincent Vergonjeanne, founder of Lucky Duck Games, added: “Goliath’s entrepreneurial spirit perfectly aligns with ours. This partnership empowers us to continue investing in cutting-edge strategy games while leveraging Goliath’s expansive global distribution network to reach an even broader audience of tabletop gamers,”
Vincent and his management team will continue to run Lucky Duck Games autonomously as an independent studio within the Goliath group of companies, maintaining its commitment to designing and launching innovative strategy games on a global scale.
At Toy Fair at Olympia London, ‘Faithful’ fans will have recognised a couple of familiar faces, as Anthony and Ash made an appearance at the Goliath Games stand to try out the board game version of their BBC One show.
Inspired by the popular TV series, The Traitors Official Board Game brings all the excitement into the homes of viewers. Whether a Faithful or a Traitor, players will be able to put friendships to the test and battle it out at their own round tables. The board game sold out in the lead up to Christmas with 70,000 pieces flying off shelves.
Chloe Burrowes, marketing controller at Goliath Games, said: “At Goliath Games, we’re incredibly pleased with the success of The Traitors Official Board Game, and it was amazing for Anthony and Ash to join and support us at the Toy Fair. With the TV show already established with strategy and suspense enthusiasts, the game offers the same thrilling experience at home. We’re excited to see how fans will bring the thriller to life at their own game nights – just remember to get them before they get you.”
The duo gave their predictions for the show and thoughts on their shock exits. “You can’t practise before you go in, but I had the mindset of ‘I am the chosen Traitor’ and I wanted that advantage,” said Ash. “It was amazing to meet Claudia, she can be quite stern but she’s actually a sweetheart – she would definitely be a Faithful I think.”
Faithful contestant Anthony disagreed: “That’s what makes Claudia the perfect Traitor, she would play that role magnificently because she would be able to deceive everyone. My background in chess really helped with gaming under pressure, one of the key things about this whole game is this ideology – it’s either death by democracy, or death by dagger. Pick your poison… No pun intended, sorry, Diane.”
Commenting on Paul being a Traitor, he added: “We were a team when we made the decision in episode two to get the shield, then at the round table he froze and threw us under the bus, that’s when I knew he was a Traitor.”
BBC One’s second series of the deception reality series is proving a huge hit once again. Viewers have been tuning in to follow the tense psychological thriller where strangers come together to complete missions hoping to secure a cash prize of up to £120,000. Amongst the team, there are multiple ‘Traitors’ who are looking to sabotage the ‘Faithful’, and it’s the the Faithfuls job to find out who is conspiring against them.
At Toy Fair at Olympia London, ‘Faithful’ fans will have recognised a couple of familiar faces, as Anthony and Ash made an appearance at the Goliath Games stand to try out the board game version of their BBC One show.
Inspired by the popular TV series, The Traitors Official Board Game brings all the excitement into the homes of viewers. Whether a Faithful or a Traitor, players will be able to put friendships to the test and battle it out at their own round tables. The board game sold out in the lead up to Christmas with 70,000 pieces flying off shelves.
Chloe Burrowes, marketing controller at Goliath Games, said: “At Goliath Games, we’re incredibly pleased with the success of The Traitors Official Board Game, and it was amazing for Anthony and Ash to join and support us at the Toy Fair. With the TV show already established with strategy and suspense enthusiasts, the game offers the same thrilling experience at home. We’re excited to see how fans will bring the thriller to life at their own game nights – just remember to get them before they get you.”
The duo gave their predictions for the show and thoughts on their shock exits. “You can’t practise before you go in, but I had the mindset of ‘I am the chosen Traitor’ and I wanted that advantage,” said Ash. “It was amazing to meet Claudia, she can be quite stern but she’s actually a sweetheart – she would definitely be a Faithful I think.”
Faithful contestant Anthony disagreed: “That’s what makes Claudia the perfect Traitor, she would play that role magnificently because she would be able to deceive everyone. My background in chess really helped with gaming under pressure, one of the key things about this whole game is this ideology – it’s either death by democracy, or death by dagger. Pick your poison… No pun intended, sorry, Diane.”
Commenting on Paul being a Traitor, he added: “We were a team when we made the decision in episode two to get the shield, then at the round table he froze and threw us under the bus, that’s when I knew he was a Traitor.”
BBC One’s second series of the deception reality series is proving a huge hit once again. Viewers have been tuning in to follow the tense psychological thriller where strangers come together to complete missions hoping to secure a cash prize of up to £120,000. Amongst the team, there are multiple ‘Traitors’ who are looking to sabotage the ‘Faithful’, and it’s the the Faithfuls job to find out who is conspiring against them.
Funko, Inc. (Nasdaq: FNKO), a leading pop culture lifestyle brand, and Goliath, a private family owned and run global game company, today announced that the companies have entered into an exclusive worldwide license and distribution agreement for Funko’s portfolio of games marketed under the Funko Games brand. As part of the deal, Goliath also acquired the assets of Funko’s board game development studio, formerly known as Forrest-Pruzan Creative, and celebrated board game design team, Prospero Hall. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Under the multi-year agreement, Goliath will be the exclusive worldwide distributor of Funko’s current catalog of games and puzzles and has agreed to collaborate with Funko to develop and distribute new games and puzzles. The agreement includes an initial payment from Goliath, followed by future minimum guaranteed royalty payments for the use of the Funko brand. Additionally, Goliath will acquire Funko’s current inventory of board games and puzzles, as well as rights to intellectual property related to the studio.
“Funko Games is a highly regarded brand that includes hundreds of board games recently created as well as a great portfolio from Forrest-Pruzan. We look forward to bringing the Funko brand and style to the game aisle in new and innovative ways,” said Goliath’s Chief Executive Officer, Jochanan Golad. “With Pressman’s 101 years and Goliath’s 43 years of selling games, we believe we’re a perfect fit to partner with Funko to develop and distribute games on a global level. We plan to commence marketing several key games around the world immediately. We’re especially thrilled about our plan to bring to market a new and exciting game called Bitty Pop!® Chase, which includes Funko’s popular Bitty Pop!® miniature collectible characters.”
Funko Interim Chief Executive Officer, Mike Lunsford, said, “The transaction is designed to keep with our previously stated goal of streamlining our business by focusing on our core assets. We intend to use the proceeds from this transaction to reduce our debt. We believe that Goliath’s size and scale, as well as their intimate knowledge of the global games and toys market, make them a strong partner for Funko in the board game category.”
Goliath plans to showcase many of the Funko board games at the upcoming 2024 toy fairs in London and Nuremberg.
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