2025 at Pektis Studio: Wait… Is It Already 2026?!

Can we all just take a step back and realize that January 2026 is already halfway past?!

What?!Seriously. Time, please slow down.

Before it completely runs away from us, we wanted to pause and look back at what an incredible year 2025 was for Pektis Studio. If you prefer watching instead of reading, there’s also a video version of this recap — just click right here

A Year Fueled by Games, Community, and Gratitude

2025 was another great year—just like the one before, and the one before that. Sure, there were hard moments (hello stress, old friend), but in the end, nothing compares to the joy of doing what we love together.

Seeing people enjoy our games.Seeing people believe in us.Seeing people cheer us on.

That’s everything.

At this point, every year feels like it’s divided into three phases:Before the campaign. After the campaign. And Essen.(You know exactly what we mean. 😂)

So let’s do this chronologically.

Q1: Development, Decisions, and Bremenspielt

Fintastic Sea Development & Campaign Prep

The first quarter of 2025 was all about development, development, and—surprise—more development.

There were a lot of internal discussions (okay, arguments) about what Fintastic Sea should be and which direction it should take. It took way longer than planned, but in hindsight, it was absolutely worth it.

We’re proud to say that Fintastic Sea turned out exactly how we wanted: deep, strategic, and full of those “Ahhh, now I get it!” moments. The kind of game that slowly reveals its intentions and rewards thoughtful play.

We also showed the game publicly for the first time at Bremenspielt. We gathered valuable feedback and once again fell in love with this small but incredibly welcoming convention. We’re officially fans—and yes, we’ll definitely be back.

Q2: Marketing Madness & Crowdfunding Adventures

Running the Fintastic Sea Campaign

Ah yes. Marketing.Our good old love-hate relationship.

On one hand, crowdfunding makes it possible for us to publish our games. On the other hand… wow, it takes so much time and energy to run and maintain a campaign.

Since this was our second crowdfunding campaign, we were able to apply everything we learned from our Wandrlust campaign. There’s still a lot for us to learn (marketing is a beast), but overall, this campaign felt much smoother and more controlled than our first rodeo.

Growth! Even just a tiny bit at a time...

Q3: Production Panic, Logistics, and a New Website

Manufacturing, Shipping & Website Redesign

Our big goal was to deliver Fintastic Sea before Essen Spiel, which meant sleepless nights, constant emails with the factory in China, crossed fingers, and… let’s be honest… a bit of panic.

Throw in global logistics issues and US tariffs, and things definitely didn’t get easier. But—we did it. The games arrived before Essen. Huge relief.

Another big achievement during this time was redesigning our website. We restructured everything, improved the flow, and made it feel much more “us.” We’re really happy with how it turned out, and we hope you feel the same when browsing around.

Q4: Fulfillment, Essen Spiel & Darmstadt Spiel 🎁

Community, Conventions & So Much Love

First of all: huge kudos to Julian. He handled most of the paperwork, Excel sheets, calculations, and logistics wizardry. He even found the perfect shipping box for Fintastic Sea—compact, secure, and economical.

Thanks to that, we were able to fulfill the games ourselves, right from our living room. Every single copy was packed with love and care. ❤️

Then came Essen Spiel—the happiest time of the year for every board gamer.

This year, we had extra help from René and Lena, and honestly, things would have been way more chaotic without them. Thank you both so much!

We sold many copies, built meaningful relationships, and—most importantly—got to see all of you. That energy is what keeps us going and reminds us why we do this in the first place.

We also returned to Darmstadt Spiel, a convention we truly adore. It’s smaller, more family-focused, and all about playing games. You can borrow games from their library and just spend two full days playing. What’s not to love?

Looking Ahead to 2026 ✨

Looking back, 2025 was a fruitful, challenging, and incredibly fun year.

And the good news? 2026 already has a lot planned. New games, new ideas, and new adventures are on the way—and we can’t wait to share them with you.

Thank you for being part of our journey.

Here’s to another great year together. 💙🎉

— Pektis Studio