How has coronavirus affected the games *business*

I don't know if this deserves this own thread, but one thing I've been wondering about lately is how COVID has affected the face to face board gaming industry.

Like, are sales up because so many people aren't going to concerts or movie theaters or whatever? Or down because they can't get 3 people together to play the same thing? I imagine that sales for tournament and lifestyle games are in trouble because you can't run events, but maybe MTG Arena is kicking ass right now?

Personally, I play games nearly ever day, but it's always 2p. Before I taught my new girlfriend to play, I used to play Catan and Kingdomino with my parents a few times a week.

I'm pretty sure I've read somewhere that sales, and popularity, have been good over 2020 especially during the worldwide lockdown months, I know when I put stuff on eBay during March to July it went fast. And people tend to buy more stuff when they're stuck inside for long periods, I bought a bit more than normal last year and I know when I was off work for over a month in 2019 I bought stuff just to relieve the boredom.

It got its own thread. We have some games business people who drop in and out, maybe they can enlighten us as well.

I think Kickstarter has done extremely well, which makes sense because someone would think "hey, the pandemic will end and this will show up on my doorstep, just in time!" :/

hotseatgames wrote: I think Kickstarter has done extremely well, which makes sense because someone would think "hey, the pandemic will end and this will show up on my doorstep, just in time!" :/

They did pretty well from me ! (maybe it was the possible impending death that made me get some games now rather than wait a few years ...)

I've followed this blog for years - he's a store owner in the Bay area.

blackdiamondgames.blogspot.com/

He also has a Facebook page.

Overall there have been some hiccups/pivots - for instance, jigsaw puzzles went bonkers early on in the pandemic. Obviously, events are currently on hold. In this stores case they spent a lot of their PPP money on staff payroll to start up a website, which both kept them employed as well as brought in some revenue.

But his store at least seems to have done well.

Another one is this store in the Phoenix area.

dsgcw.blogspot.com/

Not as much a game store from what I can tell but still a good hobby barometer.

Anecdotally the two stores nearest me seem to be doing OK - I've only gone in a couple times since this shit started.

My FLGS has actually done really well, per their anecdotes to me. I think customers "got" that it wasn't going to be like it was, so invested in purchases and things they might normally not to keep things going. They had their biggest Black Friday ever, and are still doing brisk business in MtG singles, paints, and all that. I try to source all my games through them, even if I take a little sales hit because I want them to be there.

Miniature Market is opening a second brink and mortar store in the st. Louis area, so I'd say they are doing well.

Asmodee did a big layoff early in the pandemic, but managed to pivot to online events for GenCon. Their FFG Event Center is closed, so no open gaming or events there, but their retail store and kitchen reopened many months ago. I suppose there could be enough of their own employees that get food there to justify keeping it operational.

It's hard to know if the Asmodee layoffs are part of the plan or pandemic shit.

Gary Sax wrote: It's hard to know if the Asmodee layoffs are part of the plan or pandemic shit.

I’d guess more the former than the latter. Buyouts are about consolidating and reducing expenses.

jeb wrote: I try to source all my games through them, even if I take a little sales hit because I want them to be there.

I also try to buy all my board games locally lately. It helps that some of them discount comparable to online. The only one that doesn't typically has EVERYTHING, which is where I got Dragon and Flagon. At most there have been a few other couples in the stores at a time, so it feels less risky than going to the grocery store or something.