Fort Sumter: The Secession Crisis arrives

May 21, 2019 David Neumann 33

iOS, Android, PC/Mac When we heard about the partnership between GMT Games and Playdek, it was like hearing that your two favorite people were finally tying the knot. I mean, they’re so right for each other! It was only a matter of time before this pairing started to bear fruit and, today, they have their first born! (I’m discounting Twilight Struggle as that was pre-partnership and has turned into a titillating ménage à trois with Asmodee) It’s Fort Sumter and it’s coming to mobile and Steam today. Right now, as a matter of fact.

Playdek/GMT union producing more fruit. Here comes Fort Sumter

March 25, 2019 David Neumann 8

iOS, Android, Steam The biggest news story around these parts last year was word that Playdek and GMT Games, two names that carry a lot of weight around these parts, had formed a partnership. Playdek would have access to the GMT catalog and announced the first product, Labyrinth, would be coming to our touchscreens. We were wondering which other titles from GMT’s vast library would be coming. Now we know the second title, Mark Herman‘s fantastic Civil War filler, Fort Sumter is on the way.

A match made in heaven: Playdek and GMT form partnership

July 23, 2018 David Neumann 18

iOS, Android, PC/Mac • When something gets too much hype there’s a good chance that reality will never rise to meet the expectations already formed in your head. That was the fear when GMT started talking about a “major” announcement regarding digital games that would be coming in late July. I was expecting the announcement of something like Labryrinth or, if we were lucky, a digital COIN game being announced. Big, but hardly the earth shaking announcement we were led to believe was coming. Then I found out what the announcement was and, damn, if GMT didn’t actually surprise me with this one. Not only is Playdek making digital versions of GMT titles, but they’ve joined forces and formed a partnership which ensures we’ll be getting GMT games on our devices for a long, long time.

What does Playdek have up their sleeve?

May 23, 2018 David Neumann 12

Not a lot of time today, so I’m going to just touch on a little nibble that I found last week but haven’t been able to coerce a certain forum member into divulging any details. Yet. It all stems from a tiny little blurb in last month’s GMT Games newsletter.

Asmodee takes control of even more of Playdek’s stable

January 30, 2018 David Neumann 21

Back in September we were surprised to see the name Asmodee Digital on the App Store where Playdek once resided, specifically on the Playdek versions of Twilight Struggle and Ascension. Today we learned that those two games were only the beginning of the Playdek/Asmodee partnership as Asmodee is now also the publisher of Playdek’s first foray into the heavy euro-world, Agricola as well as their card battler, Summoner Wars.

Keep calm and bow before your new Asmodee overlords

September 6, 2017 David Neumann 14

I was stumbling around the App Store last night, as I’m prone to do from time to time, and came upon some startling info. When I visited the Twilight Struggle page on iTunes, I noticed that Playdek‘s name was no longer on the byline, replaced by none other than Asmodee Digital. This appears to be the case for Ascension as well. What the heck is going on?

Lords of Waterdeep going 64-bit and coming to PC/Mac

August 16, 2017 David Neumann 15

iOS, Android, PC/Mac • With all the negative news surrounding Playdek these days, it’s sometimes hard to remember they’re still one of the best digital board game developers out there. That’s going to become obvious later this month when the all-new version of Lords of Waterdeep hits the App Store, Google Play, and Steam.

Unsung Story is no longer Playdek’s problem

August 2, 2017 David Neumann 4

When someone sits down to write the history of digital boardgaming, Unsung Story is going to have at least one whole chapter all to itself, and not to sing its praises. Unsung Story is the Yoko Ono of digital board games, taking the most prolific and best board game app designer, Playdek, and basically driving a stake through their heart. Sure we got the awesome Twilight Struggle since then, but otherwise the Playdek output has slowed considerably since the Unsung Story Kickstarter kickstarted. Yesterday Playdek announced that Unsung Story is no longer their problem.

Playdek set to unleash the War of Shadows on Ascension later today

March 8, 2017 David Neumann 18

iOS Universal, Android, PC • A few weeks ago one of the big muckety-mucks at Playdek contacted me to let me know that the Stately Play emails he’s received have misspelt “postmaster” as “plostmaster”. Being the socially stunted infant that I am, I followed up his friendly email by neither fixing the problem nor emailing him back and thanking him for the information. That’s the kind of thoughtful, thankful response I guarantee when you contact me here at Stately Play. Turns out, he probably was too busy to read any reply I might have sent anyway, as Playdek’s first-born, Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer, has been taking up much of their time culminating in today’s release of the latest expansion, War of Shadows.

Twilight Struggle coming to Android and getting expansion all at once

December 16, 2016 David Neumann 15

If a gaming website were to have some type of “Best of” at the end of the year (spoiler, we’re doing it the week between Xmas and New Years), I think you’d find at least one writer putting in a vote for Twilight Struggle. If not the best app of 2016, it’s near the top and yesterday we learned that it’s going to get better before 2016 ends. Playdek announced that not only is the game making its long-awaited debut on Android, but it’s bringing with it an expansion pack and more. Oh, and it all happens next Monday.