Chronicles of Crime maker snagged by same Dutch publisher that now owns Funko Games brand

Lucky Duck Games has been acquired by Goliath, a Dutch company that specialises in family-weight tabletop games, for an undisclosed amount. Best known for digital hybrid board games such as Chronicles of Crime and Destinies, Lucky Duck joins the remnants of Funko Games (former Forrest-Purzan Creative) under the wing of a business that seems to be fastly redefining its market position.

The two companies announced their new partnership in a press release on April 22nd, saying that Lucky Duck founder Vincent Vergonjeanne and his management team would “continue to run Lucky Duck Games autonomously as an independent studio within the Goliath group of companies.”

“It's been really hard to keep this a secret,” Vergonjeanne wrote in a Facebook post. “Not only is it the best possible next move for Lucky Duck Games, but on a more personal note this is a meaningful moment for me too.”

Goliath made headlines earlier this year when it purchased the exclusive licence to Funko Games’ portfolio, brand and most assets from the plastic collectibles maker. A scant few members of Funko Games staff - many of whom were part of the original Forrest-Purzan Creative board game studio - survived the transition, and most others were either laid off, shuffled into the larger Funko business or had left prior to the sale.

Goliath may not be the first name you conjure as a growing owner of hobby-level tabletop studios. The company historically produced most of its revenue off the evergreen sales of Rummikub, Triominos and Sequence. Lately, though, CEO Jochanan Golad has been reorienting the company towards publishing and distributing already proven hits in the space. According to the press release, he saw Lucky Duck as “a notable player in the strategy games category” and was impressed by what it had accomplished since its founding in 2016.

“As a global games business, we see there are two major growth areas in games: (adult) party games and strategy games,” Golad said. “Consumers and kidults particularly are playing board games like never before; this trend was already there, but the pandemic had greatly accelerated it."