Kevin Hovdestad – Director of Brand Development at CATAN Studio – talks us through the latest edition of the classic game

Kevin, it’s great to catch up. This year sees CATAN celebrate its 30th anniversary! What do you put the enduring success of the game down to?
At its core, CATAN has that ‘just-right’ mixture of simplicity and depth. It’s easy to learn, but infinitely replayable and challenging to master. Having a game develop this kind of legacy means the gameplay and themes are relatable across generations, which is an incredible achievement.

You’ve just debuted the sixth edition of CATAN. What’s new?!
Our goal was to keep the game the same – all the mechanics you know and love are unchanged – but refresh it with all-new art. We also improved the components and drastically simplified the rulebook.

How do you approach the balance between retaining what makes CATAN what it is, and introducing something fresh in a new edition?
In a lot of ways, this is honestly a fun challenge for the team. We want to respect and cherish the original game’s legacy while continuing to find creative ways to build upon it. I look at something like New Energies, where we still have a very CATAN experience, but some clever additions put a spin on it that’s meaningfully distinct and fun in its own right. The base game has stood the test of time and benefits from a periodic facelift, but we’re excited to grow what CATAN means beyond that.

I imagine each edition of CATAN reflects the games industry of its time. Are there any aspects of this refresh that you feel will resonate especially with the ‘modern CATAN fan’?
Absolutely. The world is always changing and part of the reason for evolving the game’s look and feel is to meet those moments. There are all kinds of little considerations that go into this: precise adjustments to the box sizes, minimising plastic use, updating the art to reflect more people and places, and so much more. It’s a fascinating dance where we’re trying to make sweeping updates to the overall ownership experience without impacting what’s going on under the hood in the game itself.

What are some of your main aims for CATAN this year?
We’re treating this as a chance not only to release our amazing new edition, but also take stock of how people experience the whole brand. We’re hoping to engage more actively with our community on social platforms, have more incredible experiences at all kinds of live events, partner with great brands and people who love the game, and give people more ways to celebrate how this game touches their lives. Longer term, I think aspirationally we’re excited about more powerful CATAN experiences outside the board game world too.

On that, in what other product categories do you feel CATAN could thrive?
My dream state would be that we partner with a bunch of world-class companies making the best, most interesting, built-to-last versions of products – and then finding good fits where those lifestyles or hobbies overlap with CATAN. For example, I think a lot of outdoor enthusiasts love board games, if for no other reason than it’s nice to have something to do when you’re around a campfire or your excursion is rained out… I could see us working to make some cool collaborations in the outdoorsy space.

Sticking with licensing, there have previously been Game of Thrones and Star Trek versions of CATAN. Is there potential to do more licensed versions?
Finding great partners to work with is something I think we’d all be genuinely excited for, and I think it cuts both ways… I imagine there are other places and ways in which seeing a CATAN-ified version of other games, or CATAN represented in other media, could be thrilling for everyone involved.

There’ve also been several expansions and standalone titles – like Rivals for CATAN, CATAN Junior and CATAN: New Energies. Is there an appetite to produce more variations in the coming years? Or spin-offs that don’t necessarily follow the original’s template?
We’re always talking about what kind of fun ideas are out there to make interesting new crossovers, partnerships or licensed products. I think there’s a balance to be struck… People have the expectation that CATAN is going to be something of a premium product or experience, so we have to put a lot of thought into what the right fit looks like. We’re also looking at ways to diversify the core experience across new and different formats. The new edition and the next few years look to be CATAN’s best and brightest yet – so stay tuned.

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