ENGARDE
Realms of Aetheria
A debt unpaid by sunset becomes the sky's debt by midnight.
Media · Press Room
Press & Stories
News from EnGarde Games and short takes on the hobby industry around us. Journalists: see the press kit below or write to press@engarde.lt — we reply within one business day.
Company news
12 May 2026
EnGarde Games closes profitable 2025, opens Series A round
The Vilnius-based studio crossed €6.4M ARR in 2025 and grew its monthly player base 76% year-on-year. CEO confirms a planned €8M Series A targeted to fund North American retail entry and 12 new hires.
Launch
28 Apr 2026
Season 7 · Aetherial Tide goes live — 186 new cards, new region
The CCG's seventh season opens the Ironspine region with twelve new dungeons, a raid, and a Mythic-tier card pool. Tabletop expansion Blades of the Ashen Vow ships in parallel — a first for the studio.
Industry
15 Apr 2026
The TTRPG market is up 15% — and streamed play is why
New ICv2 numbers put the pen-and-paper RPG market at $1.1B, with the fastest CAGR in hobby games. Most of the growth traces to live-streamed tables; published-system sales are the second derivative. We look at what this means for new publishers.
Community
02 Apr 2026
Bell Cup Vilnius · 280 players, three days, one winner
Our flagship CCG tournament hit a record turnout in March. Champion Niamh "Falconcrest" Connolly took the bronze bell home with a mono-Resonance deck the meta hadn't seen coming. Full bracket, decklists, and VOD links inside.
Opinion
22 Mar 2026
Why we will never sell power: a note on pay-to-win
Some markets reward "competitive monetisation". We don't think hobby games are one of them. A working note from our design director on why every paid item at EnGarde is cosmetic — and what that costs (and saves) us at the quarterly review.
Industry
14 Mar 2026
CCGs after the great consolidation — what comes next
With two top-five CCG publishers now under the same ownership, the field is thinner than it has been in a decade. We argue this is a once-in-a-generation opening for connected-IP newcomers willing to span CCG, RPG, and tabletop in one universe.
Launch
28 Feb 2026
EnGarde RPG · Rulebook v2.4 Ironspine drops
Our 320-page core rulebook lands a major revision: streamlined combat, rewritten magic-tithe table, and a new Hollowing discipline. Free digital update for existing buyers; print-on-demand for paperback fans.
Community
10 Feb 2026
Guild Spotlight — Ashen Vow turns 5
The largest mercenary-styled guild on the EnGarde server celebrates a half-decade. We talk to founder Vanguard-47 about how the guild structured itself, what rituals carry across years of leadership rotation, and why every member's progression starts with a wake.
Opinion
22 Jan 2026
AI in game design — a builder's case for restraint
Generative AI is everywhere in production toolchains. Inside EnGarde we use it — but with rules: no training on player data, labels on AI-assisted content, and human approval before anything ships. What that looks like in practice, and how it survived a quarter under fire.
Company news
04 Jan 2026
EnGarde Games hits 280K registered players
The studio crossed a quarter-million accounts on New Year's Eve — six years after first launch and three years after going profitable. CEO note on what changes at this scale, and what does not.
Press kit
Logos, screenshots, art at print resolution, executive headshots, and the EnGarde fact sheet. Free to use in reviews, interviews, and editorial coverage. Please credit EnGarde Games.
Editorial enquiries: press@engarde.lt · Interviews booked within one business day.