Kraków-based publisher Lucky Duck Games, the studio behind the million-copy-selling Chronicles of Crime series, is stepping back from localising other studios' games to push its own titles instead. If you were waiting on a French edition of Cascadia: Alpine Lakes from Lucky Duck, that one is now off the books.
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Set up your group for freeGlobal brand director Scott Morris told BoardGameWire that localisation is 'resource intensive' and dependent on too many external factors, whereas original development 'offers more opportunity for long-term value'. According to the publisher, Chronicles of Crime has now sold more than one million copies worldwide, and its recent Beyond Doubt Kickstarter raised around 373,500 EUR from fans keen on a new case file.
Now owned by Goliath since 2024, which handles wider distribution, Lucky Duck is turning its attention to in-house designs. That means Borealis: Arctic Expeditions, a family-weight strategy game about running a scientific expedition through the Arctic, the ASTRA Play Awards finalist Purrramid (a push-your-luck family dice game about stacking sleeping kittens into pyramids), and the cosy Oakspire. There are also unannounced projects in the pipeline.
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See how it worksFor gamers, it means fewer localised editions coming through Lucky Duck's catalogue, but more of their own designs to try. For groups who have spent years adding Chronicles of Crime to their rotation, Beyond Doubt is still on the way, and the studio is betting its future on games you've not played yet rather than ones you've already read about in English.
Sources: BoardGameWire | Lucky Duck Games | Borealis
