Catan Studio

Catan Studio is the North American tabletop publishing and brand-development unit dedicated to the CATAN game brand. It was established in 2016 when Asmodee acquired the worldwide English-language CATAN licensing rights from Mayfair Games and created a new studio from the former Mayfair operation. The studio works with CATAN GmbH, the company associated with the Teuber family and the original intellectual property, as well as with Kosmos, USM, and other regional licensing and publishing partners. The studio's principal role is not to own the underlying CATAN intellectual property, but to develop, publish, market, and support CATAN products and community activity in English-language territories. Its remit includes physical board games, expansions, spin-offs, licensed content, accessories, organized play, tournaments, digital adaptations, merchandise, and broader brand experiences. This makes Catan Studio a focused brand organization within Asmodee rather than a conventional standalone toy manufacturer. The studio has described itself as an independent and flexible creative unit inside the Asmodee group, while remaining closely coordinated with the CATAN licensor and the wider international publishing network. CATAN originated in Germany as Klaus Teuber's The Settlers of Catan, first published in 1995. Mayfair Games began publishing the English-language edition in 1996 and helped establish the game in North America. The title's appeal comes from combining accessible rules with meaningful negotiation, resource management, variable board layouts, and substantial replay value. Players collect and trade brick, grain, lumber, ore, and wool while building roads, settlements, and cities. The system supports both family play and hobby-gaming audiences, allowing the brand to occupy a broad position between mainstream family entertainment and modern strategy gaming. Following the 2016 rights transfer, Catan Studio inherited the English-language publishing role and expanded the brand's activity through refreshed editions, expansions, tournament programs, digital products, and new designs set in the CATAN universe. Its portfolio has included the core CATAN game, large expansions such as Cities & Knights and Seafarers, scenario-driven products, family-oriented variants, and standalone titles such as CATAN: Starfarers and CATAN: New Energies. The studio also supports competitive play, including national and international championship structures, and uses partnerships and live activations to present CATAN as a social and community-oriented entertainment brand. The brand's positioning emphasizes connection, strategy, and shared play. Its products are designed to be approachable for newcomers but sufficiently variable and interactive to sustain repeat play. In refreshing the sixth edition of the core game, the studio said it retained the established mechanics while updating the visual design, components, and rules presentation. This illustrates its broader product strategy: preserve the recognizable CATAN experience while improving usability and extending the brand into new settings, formats, and themes. Catan Studio is headquartered in Roseville, Minnesota, and operates as part of Asmodee. Public company-profile material identifies it as a small specialist team. No reliable public financial information, stock listing, or independently verified revenue figures were supplied. The studio remains active in tabletop publishing, community engagement, organized play, partnerships, and development of new CATAN-related products and media opportunities.

CATAN was created by German game designer Klaus Teuber and first published in 1995 under the title The Settlers of Catan. Its modular hexagonal board, resource-production system, trading, negotiation, and settlement-building made it accessible to casual players while offering strategic depth. Mayfair Games began publishing the English-language edition in 1996 and became the principal English-language publisher in North America for many years. As the game expanded through editions, extensions, scenarios, digital versions, tournaments, and licensed products, management of the English-language business became increasingly distinct from the original German publishing arrangement. In January 2016, Asmodee acquired the worldwide English-language CATAN licensing rights from Mayfair Games and formed Catan Studio from the Mayfair operation. Pete Fenlon, previously Mayfair's chief executive, became the new studio's leader. The arrangement made Catan Studio a wholly owned Asmodee subsidiary focused on English-language brand development, while CATAN GmbH remained the licensor and other companies continued handling non-English markets. Catan Studio's mandate covers more than printing the base game. It develops and publishes licensed CATAN games and related content, coordinates with international partners, supports organized play, nurtures the player community, and seeks new opportunities in events, merchandise, digital entertainment, and storytelling. The studio has presented this structure as a collaborative brand ecosystem involving the licensor, Asmodee, Kosmos, USM, and regional publishing partners. The core brand has remained deliberately stable. A major edition refresh updated presentation and components without replacing the fundamental gameplay, while later designs explored new settings and mechanics. Products such as Starfarers and New Energies demonstrate how the studio can extend the recognizable resource-and-development formula into science fiction or contemporary environmental themes. Large expansions including Seafarers and Cities & Knights provide additional strategic systems for established players. Community-building is another important part of the brand's history. CATAN tournaments and championships have connected players across national markets, and the studio has supported competitive and organized-play programs alongside retail publishing. Partnerships such as the Minnesota Timberwolves collaboration have taken the game into sports venues and community events, reinforcing the company's description of CATAN as a social game brand. Catan Studio is based in Roseville, Minnesota, and continues to operate within Asmodee. Public material supplied for this dossier does not establish a separate stock listing or disclose reliable brand-level financial results. The company's current activities center on CATAN product development, English-language publishing, marketing, community support, live play, and coordination of broader licensing and media initiatives.

1. 2025Sixth edition of CATAN is introduced

   The refreshed edition updates art, components, and rule presentation while preserving the familiar core mechanics.

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2. 2016Catan Studio is created within Asmodee

   Asmodee acquires the worldwide English-language CATAN license from Mayfair Games and establishes Catan Studio as a dedicated publishing and brand-development studio.

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3. 1996Mayfair Games begins English-language publication

   Mayfair Games starts publishing English-language CATAN products, helping introduce the game to North American audiences.

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4. 1995The Settlers of Catan is first published

   Klaus Teuber's German-designed board game debuts and establishes the game system that later becomes the CATAN global brand.

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A premium, social strategy-game brand that combines accessible rules, negotiation, replayability, and community play across physical, digital, competitive, and licensed formats.

• CATANCore strategy board game1995

  The principal CATAN title is a modular multiplayer strategy game in which players develop settlements and trade resources across a variable island. Its mix of negotiation, probability, route building, and competition for scarce locations makes it suitable for family audiences while retaining enough interaction and variability for hobby players.

• CATAN: SeafarersExpansion1997

  Seafarers extends the core CATAN system with maritime exploration, additional islands, ships, and scenario-based maps. It broadens the spatial and logistical choices of the base game while retaining its resource collection, trading, and settlement-building foundation.

• CATAN: Cities & KnightsExpansion1998

  Cities & Knights adds more developed city management, progress tracks, commodities, knights, and external threats. The expansion gives experienced players a more involved strategic layer and a stronger sense of technological and civic development.

• CATAN: New EnergiesStandalone strategy board game2024

  New Energies reinterprets CATAN through the theme of energy development and environmental consequences. It preserves recognizable trading and territorial decision-making while adding systems intended to create a meaningfully different strategic experience.

• CATAN sixth editionCore game edition2025

  The sixth edition refreshes the presentation of the main game with new artwork, improved physical components, and a substantially simplified rulebook. The studio's stated approach was to modernize usability and appearance without changing the mechanics that define CATAN.

• 2025CATAN 30th-anniversary and sixth-edition campaign

  English-language markets

  Catan Studio used the brand's 30th anniversary to explain the launch of a sixth edition and communicate how the team was balancing continuity with modernization.

  Outcome. The campaign positioned the refreshed edition as an evolution of the established game rather than a rules reset.

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• 2024CATAN x Minnesota Timberwolves partnership

  United States

  CATAN became an official partner of the Minnesota Timberwolves in a collaboration built around strategy, community, and shared play. Planned activity included interactive concourse games at selected home games, prizes, a social sweepstakes, and community programming.

  Outcome. The partnership expanded CATAN promotion beyond specialist game retail into professional sports venues and local fan engagement.

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• 2025Refresh of the core game for the sixth editionGeneration change

  The studio sought to celebrate CATAN's long history while making the retail product easier to use and more contemporary in appearance.

  What changed. It introduced new artwork, improved components, and a simplified rulebook while retaining the established gameplay mechanics.

  Aftermath. The edition refresh was presented as a continuity-focused update intended to welcome new players without alienating established fans.

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• 2025Expansion of CATAN into film, television, animation, and gamesOther

  The CATAN brand had developed beyond a single tabletop title into a broader entertainment property.

  What changed. Netflix reportedly acquired exclusive global adaptation rights covering potential live-action and animated films, scripted and unscripted series, and games.

  Aftermath. The agreement created a potential route for CATAN to reach audiences outside tabletop gaming, although the supplied report does not confirm completed productions.

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• 2016Transfer of English-language CATAN rights from Mayfair GamesM&A

  Mayfair Games had published English-language CATAN products since 1996, while the brand's underlying intellectual property remained associated with CATAN GmbH and the Teuber family.

  What changed. Asmodee acquired the worldwide English-language license and created Catan Studio to manage publishing and brand development in those markets.

  Aftermath. Catan Studio became the dedicated Asmodee studio for English-language CATAN games and related community and content activity; other language markets continued under their existing publishing arrangements.

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• 2025CATAN celebrates its 30th anniversary with a sixth edition

  Catan Studio promoted a sixth edition that retained the core game system while introducing revised artwork, improved components, and a simpler rulebook.

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• 2025Netflix acquires adaptation rights to CATAN

  Netflix reportedly acquired global rights covering potential live-action and animated films, scripted and unscripted series, and games based on CATAN.

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• 2024CATAN partners with the Minnesota Timberwolves

  Catan Studio and Asmodee announced CATAN's first sports partnership, including arena activations, prizes, and community programming with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

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• 2016Catan Studio becomes part of the Asmodee Group and assumes English-language CATAN publishing

  Asmodee acquired the English-language CATAN license from Mayfair Games and established Catan Studio as a dedicated brand-development and publishing unit.

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1. CATAN official website
2. Helping Grow the Catan Brand
3. English-Language Rights for CATAN Find a New Home
4. Kevin Hovdestad discusses the latest CATAN edition
5. CNN: How a board game like Catan is created
6. CATAN and Minnesota Timberwolves partnership
7. Catan Studio company profile
8. CATAN intellectual-property guidelines
9. Deadline: Netflix acquires CATAN adaptation rights