The cheeky UK party-game label behind Beat That! has a new owner. Savana, the small French publisher of titles like Traitors Aboard and Emblems, has bought Gutter Games in what is Savana's first ever acquisition, taking the UK maker of party-night staples like Beat That!, Gutterhead and Trunk of Drunk under its wing.
Run game nights? Backseat Gamer handles RSVPs, waitlists, date polling, and game voting so you can focus on playing.
Start organising for freeGutter Games has had quite the journey. Founded in 2017, the studio became a fixture of UK Christmas tables thanks to Beat That!, a fast, silly dexterity-and-stunts game where you flick things, balance things and generally make a mess in front of your mates. In 2021 the company was bought by US Amazon aggregator Perch, which was itself swallowed by private equity-backed Razor Group three years later, the sort of pass-the-parcel ownership that rarely does anything good for the actual games. Savana taking over from a roll-up operator is, on paper, a much better fit.
Savana founder and president Romain Chemière de Carné said in BoardGameWire's report that "Gutter Games built something genuinely special," with the goal to "restore the brand to the prominence it deserves" and develop new entries in the Gutter Games universe. That last bit is the interesting one. Beat That! has sat in a holding pattern under various owners while sequels and spin-offs from rival party-game brands have flooded UK shelves.
Looking for board gamers near you? Browse local communities and find your next game night.
Find events near youFor UK gamers, this is welcome news. Gutter's games have always been the sort of thing you bring out when your non-gamer mates rock up at 10pm with a bottle of something and zero patience for rulebooks. Hopefully Savana actually invests in the line rather than just milking the back catalogue. If you fancy a session of the original, round up the group on Backseat Gamer and dust off whatever odd household objects you can find. You will need them.
Sources: BoardGameWire | Savana Games | Mojo Nation
