Jul 07, 2020 16:00:00

The board game market has changed significantly with the advent of crowdfunding

In the past, board games were only available to professional retailers, and games made by individuals and small businesses were especially difficult to distribute. However, with the advent of ' cloud funding ', which announces what you want to do on the Internet and what you want to make, and collects wide funds from people who agreed, board games made by individuals and small companies are also commercialized. It came to be. The board news market is changing drastically due to such crowdfunding, NPR of overseas news media points out.

A Look Into The Wild Economy Of Tabletop Board Game Funding :NPR

https://www.npr.org/2020/07/05/887283058/a-look-into-the-wild-economy-of-tabletop-board-game-funding

There have been cases where individuals and small businesses use the crowdfunding site Kickstarter to commercialize and sell board games. If you invest in Kickstarter, you can get the real thing of the game as a return. In addition, the investment amount is set lower than that usually purchased at retail stores, which is a great advantage for investors. It also has the advantage that the demand for the game can be clearly seen from the game development side.

According to game-related news media Polygon , Kickstarter's total investment in projects in the ``Game'' category was $221 million (about 23 billion yen), accounting for 34% of Kickstarter as a whole. That. Polygon also reported that about 92% of the total investment in projects that met its target in the Games category was related to board games.

However, due to the impact of the new coronavirus infectious disease (COVID-19) that has been rampant since the end of 2019, the board game manufacturing plant was closed and the distribution was greatly affected. The board game scheduled for release after January 2020 has been postponed, and the event has also been postponed. The retail stores that handle board games have also been forced to close temporarily. Quartz, an overseas news media, said, ``The turmoil of COVID-19 may cause the unemployment rate to rise sharply, consumers may stop spending money on games, and the board game market including Kickstarter may shrink. with the expected '

it says .

Meanwhile, the sequel `` Frost Haven '' of the super heavyweight RPG board game `` Groom Haven '' with a weight of about 9 kg and an estimated play time of 100 hours or more, was asked for investment by Kickstarter in March 2020, the target amount of 500,000 At the dollar (about 54 million yen), the total investment amount exceeded 3 million dollars (about 320 million yen), which greatly exceeded the target amount in the first 3 hours. In the end, it became a hot topic by collecting the highest investment amount of Kickstarter history of $ 12,969,608 (about 1.4 billion yen).

Overseas news media NPR points out that Frost Haven's success is a real indicator of changes in the board game industry. Frosthaven proved that the market with cloud funding platforms such as Kickstarter will be more successful than ever while the traditional market and distribution channels are confusing and shrinking due to the COVID-19 pandemic. ..

'The board game community has a culture of raising money with Kickstarter. Kickstarter automatically follows the board game creators,' said Isaac Childress, CEO of Cephalofair Games, creators of Bloomhaven and Frosthaven. It's like a big way to help.'

Of course Kickstarter is by no means a 'fun way to enjoy'. When the investment amount exceeds the target amount and the project is successful, the creator must take responsibility for producing the game and delivering it to the investor. A large toy company has a large production line, so smooth production and delivery are possible, but production and delivery can be a heavy burden for individuals and small companies. According to Quartz , a project made a miscalculation on the board game shipping costs, resulting in unexpected spending and selling home.

'Still, the positives and negatives for many creators are outweighed,' says NPR. “I think no one paid attention to my game if it wasn't a Kickstarter, but somehow I managed to raise some money and sell it at a retail store,” Childress said.