Three unfulfilled crowdfunding campaigns. Over a million dollars on the line. A decade of indie board game dreams. And it’s gone! In a puff of debt, unpaid invoices, and total radio silence from one of the industry’s biggest players. And if you backed Merchants Cove Master Craft, The Sixth Realm or the Coloma reprint? This is gonna hurt!
Final Frontier Games just dropped a bombshell: they’re bankrupt. The tabletop studio behind hits like Merchants Cove and Coloma officially shut down, leaving three major Kickstarter campaigns—worth nearly $1.4 million dollar —floating in crowdfunding limbo.
Now let’s talk about what really went down.
Final Frontier says it all started with a deal that went sideways with—brace yourself—CMON, the massive board game publisher you’ve definitely heard of. According to Final Frontier, CMON placed a hefty order for a Chinese localization of Merchants Cove, but then ghosted them. Like, full-on “we’re not answering emails anymore” ghosted. That payment? Never arrived. And without that cash, Final Frontier couldn’t pay their bills, couldn’t fulfill backer rewards, and couldn’t even keep their employees.
To quote Final Frontier’s own words: “We are living in the darkest timeline”.
Now, don’t get it twisted—Final Frontier isn’t pretending they were saints in all this. They admit they were running tight cash flow for years, ever since COVID-era shipping costs blew up their margins. Back then, instead of charging backers more, they ate the extra $350,000 in freight costs hoping to earn community trust. It worked for a while. But behind the scenes? They were always one failed project away from collapse.
And now it’s here.
The last straw? CMON, a supposed “giant of the industry,” didn’t just skip the check—they allegedly agreed to new terms, told Final Frontier they’d pay before picking up the games… and then vanished. Final Frontier’s inventory is just sitting in warehouses, draining storage fees, while CMON ghosts.
And what about CMON’s side of the story? Well… crickets. No public response. No clarification. Just whispers that they’re dealing with their own financial problems—including a $2 million loss in 2024 and some sketchy delays in reporting their finances. We made a dedicated video about that topic!
Meanwhile, Final Frontier has laid off all staff, shut down operations, and is now desperately trying to sell off IPs just to keep the lights on for backers. But even they admit: they don’t know what happens next.
Backers are disappointed. Some are furious. And who can blame them if they have invested several hundred dollars in a current project?
This is more than just a failed campaign—it’s a full-on cautionary tale of what happens when indie studios stretch too far, when big publishers flake, and when trust in the tabletop space crumbles.
So if you backed Merchants Cove Master Craft, The Sixth Realm, or the Coloma reprint—don’t hold your breath. At best, you might get something if an IP deal goes through – like backers of six Siege the Board Game did. We made a video about that topic as well. At worst? Your money is gone.
