‘Catan’ Game License Moves from Mayfair to Asmodee

Jan 7, 2016

To the surprise of gamers everywhere, it has been announced this morning the license to produce the English language editions of the venerable and best selling Catan series is moving from Mayfair Games to Asmodee North America. This certainly seems like an odd turn of events as the Klaus Teuber design has been Mayfair’s biggest and steadiest seller over the years.

It’s possible this is all part of a shake up taking place at Mayfair with Larry Roznai taking over the reins of CEO as well as president. I’ll be interested to see what other developments are cooking at the Skokie, IL based company as the announcement below also details some MArtin Wallace titles coming over to Mayfair.

If you’re scheduled for any of the specially sanctioned Catan events this year, fear not. Mayfair will aid in the operation those events for the near future.

The announcement from Mayfair:

As of today, Asmodee North America has acquired the license for the English language publishing and sales of Catan from Mayfair Games, Inc.. From this, Catan Studio, Inc. has formed and becomes the newest creative unit in the Asmodee group. Mayfair Games will continue to do business as an independent company publishing both Mayfair and Lookout Games products.

Mayfair Games (MGI) will assist Catan Studio, Inc. and Asmodee North America in the promotion of the Catan brand including but not limited to the continued coordination of the 2016 Catan tournament schedule, Catan Day 2016 and the 2016 Catan World Championship.

MGI carries a strong and skilled team moving into the new year. Its staff includes Larry Roznai, who will continue as President and take on the role of CEO previously held by Pete Fenlon, Alex Yeager will take on an expanded position as VP of Acquisition & Development, taking on responsibilities previously held by S. Coleman Charlton. Daniel Decker, as the new VP of Sales, and Julie Yeager, as Director of Marketing, will manage department responsibilities previously held by Robert T. Carty, Jr.. Loren Roznai will serve as MGI’s Executive VP. Jim Miles becomes MGI’s Director of Event Management.

MGI continues to retain a controlling interest in Lookout GmbH and Mayfair GmbH, providing a wide range of games worldwide, and distribution to the European marketplace. These efforts will be expanded with a new focus on multi-language and international products.

MGI is also pleased to announce the acquisition of several Martin Wallace games as permanent additions to the Mayfair game library. Those titles include Steam, Aeroplanes, Automobile, Test of Fire and Clash of Wills.

Moving forward, all of MGI’s distributor and retailer terms will remain the same. MGI will also be continuing its exclusive agreement with Alliance for all sales in the USA to the hobby market and with Esdevium for the UK market. MGI will be reevaluating and making some adjustments to its distribution strategy in Canada.

The new team at Mayfair Games, Inc. is excited about the possibilities ahead, and as always, our focus will continue to be to offer games of the highest quality to our faithful and ever-growing fan base.

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Jeff McAleer

Founder/Editor-in-chief of The Gaming Gang website and host of The Gaming Gang Dispatch and other TGG media, Jeff tackles any and all sorts of games but has a special fondness for strategy, conflict sims, and roleplaying games. Plus, he's certainly never at a loss for an opinion...