Hachette’s Rob Trounce talks us through the company’s exciting 2025 slate

How, Rob, have the past 12 months been for Hachette Board Games?
Honestly, it’s hard to describe how huge a year it’s been without sounding grandiose, but here goes… Pivotal! We’ve seen success after success. We’ve signed several new publishers: from Japan’s small-box darlings Oink Games, to one of the biggest new publishers in the Netherlands – MNKY Entertainment. They’ve produced stunning licensed titles such as Gigantosaurus, and Wednesday: Creatures and Outcasts. Meanwhile, we’ve lined up new publishers for distribution – we’ll have huge new titles at London Toy Fair.

Were there any titles that proved to be a good ‘anchor’ for Hachette? One that helped establish the company and what you stand for?
Our games naturally fit into five pillars, each serving as an anchor for our identity while driving future growth. We have a hero game for each category – they serve as fantastic anchors for Hachette. First, family games… Titles for families with children as young as three, where everyone can play. Stomp The Plank is quintessential here. Easy to learn, yet raucous fun to play…

Next, we have ‘anytime games’: 30-to-60-minute experiences that almost anyone can enjoy. Castle Combo captures much of this – a deft game with simple rules and rich, brain-burning tactical gameplay. Then social games. Quick, easy to play in large groups and packed with laughs and banter. Traditionally, they’d be described as party games – but you can play them anywhere: a party, the pub, a café, game night! CDSK captures this. It’s a team-based trivia game with the twist of betting on how much you think you know.

Sounds great! So family games, anytime games, social games… What’s left?
Strategy games – rich, complex and textured titles, full of ever-evolving strategies and challenges. Shackleton Base has become just such a hit, rewarding players who invest in learning its intricacies. And finally, puzzle games. These are easy to learn, but with an ever-escalating skill curve.

And is Katamino Tower a good example of that?
Yes! In that, Katamino Tower stands majestic on the table, tempting you with ‘one more challenge’ gameplay like a glorious, tactile sudoku! With these five categories and audience profiles, we evaluate every game on how it might fit into these spaces and help us achieve our broader mission of getting more of the UK gaming.

With that in mind, what makes a title attractive to Hachette?
We view ourselves less as distributors and more as curators for the UK market. How we come to choose our games is simple: it’s about our values. We can be looking at a complex heavyweight euro game or a laugh-out-loud dexterity game and the decision point is always the same… Will this entice gamers and show them just what board games can do? We take a gamer-first approach and assess each game based on quality and how it fits into the UK market. We’re all gamers, so we love that part of the job too!

You’ve bolstered your offering with No Loading Games and Spielwiese. Let’s talk about the latter first. It’s the studio behind the MicroMacro series…
Yes – and MicroMacro perfectly tapped into the rapidly growing ‘kidult’ space. We’ll be repackaging the MicroMacro line in a new series of boxes that’ll become the definitive way to play and collect the games.

We also have a number of new Edition Spielwiese games on the way. The Same Game is the first of these, coming from Wolfgang Warsch – it’s a spiritual sequel to his party game phenomenon, Wavelength. We also have the new MicroMacro Jigsaw, bringing MicroMacro to a new format. And swing by our stand at Toy Fair to be the first to see the brand new MicroMacro Kids – a new chapter for the series.

Perfect. And No Loading Games… That might be a new name to many of our readers. On what does this studio focus?
No Loading Games is one of our newest partners. London Toy Fair attendees can get the first taste of games we have on the way from them. Their focus is licensed products – predominantly licenses from video games. While their first title with us will be a card game in the Asterix universe, their subsequent titles include Gwent… This is a 1v1 card game that exists within The Witcher 3 video game. With full backing from CD Projekt Red, the studio behind the video game, Gwent is going to be one of the biggest tabletop hits of 2025.

Thanks Rob. I always love a prediction! Last question… What’s the most unique title in Hachette’s portfolio?
That’s a tough one! If I were to pick one, I’d suggest Kronologic: Paris 1920. This is a compact and compelling murder mystery set in an Art Deco era Paris Opera House. Jon Purkis of the hit YouTube channel Actualol called it “the perfect modern alternative to Cluedo” and we agree… It’s snappy and fast, contains plenty of deductive challenges – and is gorgeously illustrated.

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