Video: Boardgame prices increasing considerably

Buy used.

Sorry, I didn't mean to sit on your new thread. But there's a certain level of self-inflicted pain here that is just becoming more acute with the interruption of supply chains.

Every doggone one of us has a couple of titles from a few years back that we'd love to try and haven't gotten the chance to yet. I appreciate shiny new things are fun, but this will all work itself out. Buy something that's half price instead of something that's double.

Sagrilarus wrote: Sorry, I didn't mean to sit on your new thread.

Indeed you are doing no such thing.

Sagrilarus wrote: But there's a certain level of self-inflicted pain here that is just becoming more acute with the interruption of supply chains. Every doggone one of us has a couple of titles from a few years back that we'd love to try and haven't gotten the chance to yet. I appreciate shiny new things are fun, but this will all work itself out. Buy something that's half price instead of something that's double.

I agree wholeheartedly.

Quibble: Boardgames are not cheaper here in China, they are unavailable locally. So his throwaway point about shipping costs not impacting the country of manufacture isn't accurate. I would have to double ship as well. I think there is a boardgame store in Hong Kong but despite being a "train ride" away am not allowed to go to HK.

Carry on with the real discussion.

I would imagine demand is also down quite a bit due to the pandemic. Except for solo playable games people should have been without opportunity to play physical copies.

mtagge wrote: Quibble: Boardgames are not cheaper here in China, they are unavailable locally. So his throwaway point about shipping costs not impacting the country of manufacture isn't accurate. I would have to double ship as well. I think there is a boardgame store in Hong Kong but despite being a "train ride" away am not allowed to go to HK.

Thanks for the insight, I had no idea!

mtagge wrote: Quibble: Boardgames are not cheaper here in China, they are unavailable locally. So his throwaway point about shipping costs not impacting the country of manufacture isn't accurate. I would have to double ship as well. I think there is a boardgame store in Hong Kong but despite being a "train ride" away am not allowed to go to HK.

Carry on with the real discussion.

I would imagine demand is also down quite a bit due to the pandemic. Except for solo playable games people should have been without opportunity to play physical copies.

I don’t think demand is down; based on game store owner blogs I’ve read business is just fine. Supply chain is the biggest issue, not demand. GMT said 2020 was their best year ever.

Shelf toads will be shelf toads in or out of a pandemic won't they?

Thanks for the video, he makes some good points. I think this might be an interesting topic to discuss, especially when people like mtagge chime in with information about the situation in other parts of the globe.

I do have a minor problem with the China bashing here, it's a little gratuitious IMO. There is a difference between a government and a way to run a capitalist enterprise. China is not a free country and the dude is absolutely right to point that out. But in the US and Europe, companies like Amazon also pay shitty wages and harass their employees but that is somehow seldom a problem. I just would have liked him to acknowledge that not everything is peachy anywhere, I guess. I would go as far as saying it's our responsibility as consumers to be aware of that sort of thing. Buying used (if possible) is better for the planet anyway.
And sorry (not sorry), but if producing and shipping something from China to Western Europe is cheaper than from Poland, it's not only the wages, import taxes have a part here, too. Buying boardgames from the US directly usually almost doubles the cost for Europeans. Our governments made deals to encourage worldwide shipping from a regime they themselves talk trash about. And while we are talking about political decisions, if governments stopped subsidizing fossil fuels shipping costs would rise even more.

A different angle: when TI3 came out fifteen years ago, I seem to remember an outcry for how much it was going to cost. $100 was a threshold back then, with Kickstarter that rose to about $150, which is now a common price. In the same time, Ravensburger games more or less stayed in their price range.

And I have a suspicion GMT games are actually soloed more than played in groups. I have several and can confirm this from personal experience

Boardgames are indeed luxury items.

Nodens wrote: when TI3 came out fifteen years ago, I seem to remember an outcry for how much it was going to cost. $100 was a threshold back then

In fairness, TI3 had twice as much stuff in the box as your average $50 game. I remember folks losing their minds over Space Hulk 3rd edition costing $100.

The latest campaign update for Street Masters: Tide of the Dragon has an extensive rundown of factors contributing to the Global Shipping Crisis. 'Buy used' indeed.

Nodens wrote: I remember folks losing their minds over Space Hulk 3rd edition costing $100.

This was major. The debate raged for many a forum thread. It feels like a harbinger with hindsight.

Nodens wrote: And sorry (not sorry), but if producing and shipping something from China to Western Europe is cheaper than from Poland, it's not only the wages, import taxes have a part here, too. Buying boardgames from the US directly usually almost doubles the cost for Europeans. Our governments made deals to encourage worldwide shipping from a regime they themselves talk trash about. And while we are talking about political decisions, if governments stopped subsidizing fossil fuels shipping costs would rise even more.

I'm not familiar enough with this from a European perspective. Isn't this double cost just for individual games shipped (a la kickstarter) and not for retail? If a proper distributor was moving the product you wouldn't have the customs double dip (once in America as a batch and then once in Europe as a single product), since the distributor wouldn't pay American duties if they are not being "sold" in the US, right?

If I had the space I'd crack out Labyrinth (although I hear it has perspective problems from a 2020 POV), but The Napoleonic Wars doesn't get cracked open unless there are three of us, better with four.

Sorry, I think I mixed several things there. This is all just personal experience and IANAL as might be obvious.

Ordering a single item from a seller in the US, whether a boardgame or a shirt, will put me back the amount on the bill a second time in import taxes.
Of course there is a proper importer (UGG) who has GMT games for a reasonable amount (a little more than US retail). They even do P500.
I haven't kickstarted so don't know anything about that. I suspect they have partners in the EU to prevent this kind of thing.
Ebay sellers in China send me their stuff without even charging any shipping costs.

I do have an unplayed copy of the Napoleonic Wars, bought second hand with laminated player aids and all kinds of bling, though.

A similar topic popped up on reddit.

old.reddit.com/r/boardgames/comments/ohp...evelopers_and_there/

As a miniatures gamer, I can confirm most of the major minis companies (Warlord, Mantic, Footsore, etc.) have either gone through with or announced price increases due to the increased cost of literally everything that goes into their products (cardboard, plastic, resin, metal, and especially shipping.)

I am interested to see where the intersection of increased demand for boardgames meets up with increased prices. How far can publishers go in raising prices before the bubble bursts and casuals move on to other hobbies. Although with Kickstarter & preordering basically creating an environment where manufacturing is as close to pre-sold as it's ever been, maybe a horrible hobby crash can be avoided. It's not the olden days, where Hasbro printed half-a-million copies then crossed their fingers and hoped shoppers walked by it in a store and put it in their shopping cart.