Funko Sells Games Assets to Goliath

Funko has sold its game studio to Goliath as it attempts to streamline its business in the wake of declining sales. Today, Funko announced that it had entered into an exclusive licensing and distribution deal with the privately owned Goliath Toys. As part of the deal, Goliath will be the exclusive worldwide distributor of Funko's current catalog of games and puzzles and will acquire Funko's board game development studio and its board game design team, Prospero Hall. Additionally, Goliath will work with Funko to develop and distribute new games and puzzles and will license the use of the Funko brand in various new products.

While Funko Games was best known for producing games that used versions of its famed figures, Funko also produced a number of licensed games based on popular movies and IPs such as Jurassic Park and Disney. Additionally, Funko had partnered with Hasbro to produce a 25th anniversary of the popular board game Cranium. Funko launched its game studio in 2019 with the purchase of Forrest-Pruzan Creative and its game design studio Prospero Hall, which was best known for designing the original Disney Villainous game. 

The announcement comes several months after several waves of layoffs at Funko, including many former staff members of poster maker Mondo. Those job cuts were made to help "drive long-term growth," which were once again cited as the reason for the sale of its game assets. 

At least at the outset, there shouldn't be too many changes with this transaction. Goliath has already committed to continuing to sell Funko's current portfolio of games and it's likely that it will retain Prospero Hall's game designers to help expand its games line beyond its current offerings of kid-friendly games. Prospero Hall's strength comes in making appealing and fun licensed games, which Goliath now has access to thanks to its new partnership with Funko.