We received a tip that Mayfair Games has closed down as of November 2 with employees being let go. It’s unknown the exact state of the company but layoffs have occurred.
When we reached out to the company’s public relations team we received an automated response back confirming some of the news:
Julie Yeager and Chuck Rice are no longer employed with Mayfair Games.
The company’s website hasn’t been updated in some time with it Retweeting on November 3 and the Facebook page seeing an update of its cover photo and a mention of International Games Week on November 2.
The company has had a rocky existence with previous financial trouble and it’s possible it’s currently restructuring or possibly being bought out.
Mayfair Games was founded in 1981 to publish the railroad game Empire Builder. In 1996 the company became the publisher of The Settlers of Catan in the US, it’s most well known game.
In 1997 the company shut down and was bailed out by Iron Crown Enterprises who purchased most of the company’s assets and restarted operations as Ironwind, Inc.
In 2007 Pete Fenlon became CEO amid a major organization that focused on core brands including Catan.
In January 2016 the company transfered all publishing, commercial, and brand rights for all English-language Catan products to a new subsidiary of the Asmodee Group, Catan Studio. Fenlon left the company to become the CEO of that new company.
Larry Ronzai became the new CEO after being a board member, President, and COO. After our initial outreach the automated response directed us to Loren Ronzai for further questions.
The company had a sizeable footprint at this year’s Gen Con 50 with their usual space for gaming and store present.
Customer service is still operational to some extent. Inquiries about game components/parts issues can be directed to custserv@mayfairgames.com. We are awaiting an official response and expect this to be a topic at this weekend’s PAX Unplugged where the game publisher is still listed as an exhibitor though not the Expo Hall map. We have been told they won’t be present though the website hasn’t been updated to reflect that.
Update (11/15/17): Loren Ronzai, Executive Vice President of Mayfair, has responded:
This is not accurate. Since it has become a rather rapid rumor the last few days we are working on a press release to address it. Alliance still has stock of all of our current titles and we are still operating and taking orders.
Update (2/9/18): We were indeed correct in our initial reporting. The company has sold its assets to Asmodee. Read the full story.
The board game publisher Asmodee Group is rumored to be exploring a sale. The potential sale could see the company valued at more than 1.5 billion euros/$1.7 billion. According to Reuters, Guyancourt, a French-based company, owned by private equity firm Eurazeo, has hired investment bankers to run the sale process. Eurazeo owns Asmodee.
Mayfair and Lookout Games are returning Le Havre to the tabletop with a new release for some time in early 2017.