Amid a tumultuous economic environment, board game giant CMON announced plans to sell off the recently required intellectual properties of Hel and Anastyr to Don’t Panic Games. These properties were only acquired by CMON 18 months before, which speaks to the kind of downward spiral that the company finds itself in.
CMON reported losses totally $3 million in 2024, and $7 million in the first half of 2025.
Is this a problem that’s localised to this specific company and its practices? Or is it a sign that board games as an industry are at risk of continually losing money?
Don’t Panic Games
If the industry as a whole is struggling, how can Don’t Panic Games afford to buy up these IPs from CMON?
CMON themselves bought Hel and Anastyr from Mythic Games in early 2024 in a very similar situation, so it could be that not every business is suffering concurrently. Don’t Panic Games is a French board game company with many licensed titles in their catalogue, such as Naruto, Cowboy Bebop, Attack on Titan and more.
CMON Losses
CoolMiniOrNot (CMON) reported big losses in the first half of 2025, amounting to between $6 million and $8 million in the first half of 2025.
CMON have long been involved in the board game fundraising scene, and have had many successful titles through that approach. However, with inflation and other economic conditions like the US tariffs having a detrimental effect on the board game industry, staying afloat becomes particularly difficult, especially when so many projects take a long time to be released and see revenue.
Will the Backers See the Game?
For fans of these IPs, the shift of hands from one company to another will come as bittersweet news. On the one hand, it’s just another sign that they might not see more from these properties as development will inevitably be restarted, but at the same time, there wasn’t necessarily a good chance that it would see release under a company that was struggling as much as CMON.
This means that this might actually be good news in the long run. However, for those who were financially invested in these two games – as the fundraising campaign earned over $3 million – it might be difficult to feel particularly optimistic after so many setbacks.
