Moodbox Games Will Enter U.S. Mass Market Where Party Games are Hot
Asmodee announced that it has launched Moodbox Games, a new U.S.-based party game studio.
The new studio will be focused on creating party games that spark collaboration, social interaction, and conversations between players, and are easy to learn and quick to play. The studio will be helmed by former Catan Studio director of brand development Kelli Schmitz as director of sourcing and innovation, and former YA book editor Shaina Olmanson as operations and communications manager. The studio has already joined forces with Hedyverse, a creative development studio from Liza Keckler and Jessica Aceti, to develop new games at affordable prices.
“It will strengthen our presence in a category where Asmodee studios, such as Exploding Kittens and Zygomatic, are already seeing great success,” said Jean-Sébastien De Barros, Asmodee’s Chief Product Officer and EVP Publishing about the move to form Moodbox. “I truly believe Moodbox will become a hub for creativity and innovation, giving inventive designers the space to explore new ideas and continue delivering engaging experiences for players in the U.S. market.”
Party games have been fairly hot with mass market buyers since the beginning of the pandemic. This category has only picked up more steam heading into the uncertain era of tariffs, as the price point for party games have remained cheap relative to other game categories. In fact, party games have been so hot lately that ICv2’s recent Channel Checks of Barnes & Noble (see “Party Shelf“), Meijer (see “Party Shelf 2“), and other stores have shown that mass retailers are stocking party games heavily for the holidays. Asmodee’s formation of Moodbox has the potential to help the company out significantly in this space.
Source: ICv2
