BoardGameGeek have acquired Tabletop Events, the struggling convention management service. BGG will take ownership immediately, but the Tabletop Events staff will spend the rest of the year working with BGG to transfer technology, add features, fix bugs, and more.
Tabletop Events was forced to shut down due to the collapse of the convention industry. They had originally announced they were shutting down at the end of April, but were able to keep afloat for the rest of the year after raising more than $50,000 from fans of the service during Con of Champions, a virtual convention.
“All along we said we would continue to look for alternative sources of revenue, and we have. We’ve considered over a dozen different options, but found that one option made the most sense. We should hand the reigns of Tabletop.Events over to a larger entity in the tabletop world; someone who has the resources to ensure a very bright future, and BoardGameGeek (BGG) has exactly those means,” said Tabletop Events founder Jt Smith.
Scott Alden, owner of BoardGameGeek said in an announcement on their site, “The first time I saw Tabletop Events in action I was blown away by how comprehensive it is. I wished we had used it for BGG CON. When I heard that TTE had been affected by COVID-19, I wanted to see what was possible to keep TTE as an essential part of the gaming community. We struck a deal that can allow TTE to keep running into the future alongside BGG and be supported by us. I’m excited to see TTE evolve and adapt to the current conditions, and become the de facto place to operate virtual and physical conventions.”