Matagot
Matagot is an independent French board game publisher founded in 2005 and based in Bordeaux, publishing 500+ original and licensed tabletop titles across strategy, family, children's, party, cooperative, and solo categories, sold globally in 30+ countries through direct e-commerce, retail, resellers, and crowdfunding.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2005
- HeadquartersBordeaux, France
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingHardware or Manufacturing
What Matagot does
Matagot is an independent tabletop board game publisher headquartered in Bordeaux, France, operating as MATAGOT SAS since its 2005 founding. The company designs, publishes, and distributes physical board games spanning party, family, children's, cooperative, strategy, expert, role-playing, and solo categories, with mechanics including deck building, area control, hand management, tile placement, worker placement, deduction, and dice rolling. Its catalog exceeds 500 published titles (164 currently offered in English international format) and includes original creations as well as French editions of licensed international properties such as Wingspan, Takenoko, The Witcher, Everdell, Kemet, Cyclades, and Hidden Leaders. Sub-brands Micro-games and Nano-games serve compact / portable play formats.
Matagot generates revenue through three primary streams: (1) direct board game sales via its own e-commerce storefront (ipa-gameshop.com), (2) licensed game editions including both French and international properties, and (3) pre-order and crowdfunding campaigns on Kickstarter, Gamefound, GameOnTabletop, and Ulule. Pricing is per-unit, with base games typically €30–€70, expansions €15–€50, and deluxe/special editions at premium points. Distribution is multi-channel and global, combining D2C e-commerce, authorized resellers (e.g., Surfin Meeple), physical retail game stores, and crowdfunding platforms, with multilingual editions in 25+ languages across 30+ countries including the US, UK, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Poland, Brazil, China, Japan, and Korea. Marketing is content-led through matagot.com, YouTube (@editionsmatagot9795), Instagram, Facebook, Linktree, a monthly newsletter, and press kit distribution.
The company is privately held with 11–50 employees, no disclosed parent company, no disclosed funding rounds, no M&A activity, and no executive leadership information in the public record. Matagot is a member of the Independent Publishers Alliance (IPA), a consortium of independent publishers supporting mutual distribution and growth. No AI/ML capability, mobile app, SDK, or API is disclosed; the business is fundamentally a physical product publisher with supplementary crowdfunding and content marketing. Revenue, ownership details, and management biographies are not publicly disclosed, limiting external visibility into financial and governance structure.
Matagot firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Matagot
- Legal name
- MATAGOT SAS
- Website
- https://matagot.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2005
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Matagot is an independent French board game publisher founded in 2005 and based in Bordeaux, publishing 500+ original and licensed tabletop titles across strategy, family, children's, party, cooperative, and solo categories, sold globally in 30+ countries through direct e-commerce, retail, resellers, and crowdfunding.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Matagot industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Tabletop Board Games
- NAICS
- Hobby, Toy, and Game Retailers (459120), Hobby, Toy, and Game Retailers (45912)
- SIC
- Retail-Hobby, Toy & Game Shops (5945)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Hobby Games & Miniatures Retail (Tabletop RPGs, Wargaming) (CRALAFAH)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Wargames & Historical Board Games Retail (CRALALAD), Role-Playing Games (RPGs) & Sourcebooks Retail (CRALALAE)
Keywords
Where Matagot is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Bordeaux
- HQ country
- France
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Matagot business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Hardware or Manufacturing
- Cost components
- Supply Chain, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others
Revenue model
- Board Game Sales: Primary revenue from publishing and selling tabletop board games, including base games, expansions, and accessories through direct and retail channels.
- Licensed Game Editions: Revenue from publishing French and international editions of licensed titles and international board game properties.
- Crowdfunding Campaigns: Pre-order and crowdfunding revenue through Kickstarter and Gamefound platforms for new releases and special editions.
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels5 records
Matagot product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Matagot is an independent publisher of tabletop board games, producing both original creations and licensed international editions across categories including family, strategy, expert, party, cooperative, solo, role-playing, and children's games. The company publishes more than 500 titles with diverse mechanics such as deck building, area control, hand management, deduction, tile placement, and worker placement, and distributes them in 25+ languages through direct e-commerce, retail stores, authorized resellers, and crowdfunding platforms.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Micro-games: Compact card games that are easy to carry and perfect for playing anytime, anywhere.
- Nano-games
Products and services
- Ohio Bob and the Lost Amulet A card game for ages 10+ in which players attempt to steal the sacred amulet; designed for solo or multi-player tabletop play.
- Nature A strategy game for ages 10+ with 1-4 players and 45-minute play time, centered on adapting to a changing environment and growing a population.
- River Dragons - New Ed. 2025 A family board game released as a new edition in 2025 with updated cover, box, format, and materials.
- Coucou la Girafe A micro card game for 2-4 players focused on risk-taking and speed, in which players feed giraffes with colored leaves; part of the Matagot Micro-games line for young children.
- Petites Sorcières A children's role-playing board game for 2-5 players aged 6+, set in a dice-game universe as an homage to Terry Pratchett and featuring a coin-shaped world.
- Doodle Match A children's board game of observation and speed for ages 6+, supporting 2-6 players with 10-minute play time.
- The Peak Team A family board game for 1-5 players centered on coordinating rangers to safeguard animals in a wildlife park.
- Micro-games Collection A sub-brand line of compact, portable card games designed for quick play anywhere, including the smaller Nano-games variant; exemplified by titles such as Coucou la Girafe.
- Wingspan (French edition) French-language edition of the international strategy board game Wingspan, published by Matagot as part of its licensed international titles catalog.
- Takenoko An original Matagot board game featured in the publisher's catalog of notable titles.
- Kemet A strategy board game in Matagot's catalog of notable titles.
- Cyclades A strategy board game in Matagot's catalog of notable titles.
- Everdell A licensed international board game property in Matagot's catalog.
- The Witcher (board game) A licensed board game in Matagot's catalog based on The Witcher intellectual property.
- Hidden Leaders A board game in Matagot's catalog of notable titles.
- KANO A board game that combines strategy and aesthetics, inspired by Japanese art, featured in Matagot's news announcements.
- Kyoto no Neko A family board game featured in Matagot's catalog and highlighted in the site's main navigation.
- Chu Han A new board game featured in Matagot's latest game reviews section.
- Room 25 A board game returning via crowdfunding as announced on Matagot's news section.
- Board Game Accessories An accessories category listed on Matagot's official website navigation, encompassing physical tabletop game accessories.
Companies that use Matagot
Customer profileSegments5 records
Ideal customer profiles5 records
Matagot technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Matagot partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- Independent Publishers AlliancecoreMatagot is a member of the Independent Publishers Alliance (IPA), a collective of independent publishers supporting mutual growth and distribution.
Scale indicators3 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Matagot competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Z-Man Games: US hobby games publisher of Pandemic, Love Letter, and Carcassonne variants, owned by Asmodee. Comparable mid-tier publisher with a mix of licensed and original IP across strategy and family categories.
- IELLO: Independent French board game publisher of similar size and vintage, known for titles like King of Tokyo and The Mind. Highly comparable as a Bordeaux-region competitor publishing family and hobby games through international distribution.
- Repos Production: Belgian-origin board game publisher of 7 Wonders, Just One, and Concept, now part of the Asmodee group. Directly comparable as a European hobby publisher with global distribution of strategy and family games.
- Stonemaier Games: US-based independent publisher of Wingspan, Viticulture, and Scythe. Direct peer as the original creator of Wingspan (which Matagot publishes in French), with the same global hobby-game positioning and crowdfunding-led model.
- Plaid Hat Games: US indie board game publisher of Mice and Mystics, Summoner Wars, and Stuffed Fables. Comparable as a similarly sized independent publisher mixing strategy, family, and story-driven hobby titles with crowdfunding-led launches.
- Pegasus Spiele: German board game publisher of Azul and Bohnanza. Highly comparable as a mid-sized European hobby publisher with multilingual distribution and a mix of family and strategy titles.
- Days of Wonder: Publisher of Ticket to Ride, Smallworld, and Memoir '44, owned by Asmodee. Comparable as a hobby and family board game publisher with international reach and a curated portfolio of evergreen titles.
- CMON Games: Global hobby games publisher known for Zombicide, Blood Rage, and Rising Sun, with strong Kickstarter presence. Comparable as an independent publisher leveraging crowdfunding for big-box strategy and miniatures-adjacent titles.
Broad incumbents
- Asmodee: World's largest hobby games publisher, headquartered in France, owning Repos Production, Days of Wonder, Z-Man, and Fantasy Flight. Defines the competitive context Matagot operates within and the consolidation pressure on independents.
- Kosmos Verlag: Established German publisher of Catan, EXIT, and Ubongo. Comparable as a long-standing European publisher with broad hobby, family, and educational game portfolio, but operating at significantly larger scale.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses1 record
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Matagot social profiles
Digital presenceMatagot financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Matagot leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Matagot funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Matagot M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Matagot
What does Matagot do?
Matagot is an independent publisher of tabletop board games, producing both original creations and licensed international editions across categories including family, strategy, expert, party, cooperative, solo, role-playing, and children's games. The company publishes more than 500 titles with diverse mechanics such as deck building, area control, hand management, deduction, tile placement, and worker placement, and distributes them in 25+ languages through direct e-commerce, retail stores, authorized resellers, and crowdfunding platforms.
Is Matagot a public or private company?
Matagot is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Matagot founded?
Matagot was founded in 2005. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Matagot based?
Matagot is headquartered in Bordeaux, France, in the Europe region.
How does Matagot make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Board Game Sales are the primary driver. The others are licensed Game Editions and crowdfunding Campaigns.
Who are Matagot's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Z-Man Games, IELLO, Repos Production, Stonemaier Games, Plaid Hat Games, Pegasus Spiele, Days of Wonder and CMON Games. Broad incumbents are Asmodee and Kosmos Verlag.
Does Matagot have an API?
No public API is recorded for Matagot.
What industry is Matagot in?
Matagot's product category is Tabletop Board Games. Its primary akta.pro industry code is CRALAFAH, Hobby Games & Miniatures Retail (Tabletop RPGs, Wargaming), with a secondary code of CRALALAD, Wargames & Historical Board Games Retail. Its NAICS code is 459120 and its SIC code is 5945.