tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7150649422744296369.post2260011797664869413..comments2023-12-23T02:17:12.549-08:00Comments on Quest for Fun!: Mature Markets and Board GamesGary Rayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11897166491600280320noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7150649422744296369.post-56618270099593426952015-04-24T14:22:17.063-07:002015-04-24T14:22:17.063-07:00Hell Blackdiamond925 : I assure you lots of indepe...Hell Blackdiamond925 : I assure you lots of independant shops remain Magic centric in France, some of them rely only on Magic in Paris. However, I heard about a very agressive battle on price that make some shops becomes less and less interested to spend so much time on it, while the margins are decreasing. <br /><br />The CCGs still are very strong : Magic, Yu gi oh, and I do not talk about Pokemon (which was the key licence to launch Asmo's success), they remain very very important.<br /><br />To someone: Surprising ! Well, on which game are you thinking about? The international board game companies with French people ? The coming of Kickstarter in France in May or June could create some space for small indie companies as the big ones are already on the place for sure:)John Voscainhttp://gozu.zonenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7150649422744296369.post-87900739177271495942015-04-24T07:03:28.802-07:002015-04-24T07:03:28.802-07:00Interesting insights! Our board game sales are jus...Interesting insights! Our board game sales are just about equal with CCGs, but I don't think that's the norm. We have a ton of Magic centric stores in the US.blackdiamond925noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7150649422744296369.post-49589677051171102062015-04-24T06:28:32.037-07:002015-04-24T06:28:32.037-07:00Dunno if this is related, but I'm seeing more ...Dunno if this is related, but I'm seeing more French companies on board game kickstarters (which are a blessing and a curse, for sure).someonenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7150649422744296369.post-1243221393965945002015-04-24T00:38:27.388-07:002015-04-24T00:38:27.388-07:00What an interesting article ! As I live in Europe ...What an interesting article ! As I live in Europe and as we sell 3D printed game accessories to brick and mortars shops, this is what I could say, from discussions with shop owners in France:<br /><br />- Asmodee has got a good reputation in distribution. Their team is extremly focused on actively promoting new games. Their policy toward shops is friendly (some exclusivity for the Brick &Mortar shops) before it goes online for instance. The official speech was to make a lot of money by selling very accessible games and getting money to feed core gamers publishers. Could we imagine that Asmo will take good advantage on the FFG's ability<br /> to distribute core games for shops with nice organized play and a mix of "ticket <br />to ride" and focus on selling "time twister"-likes and very accessible games to <br />grocery stores? Or will they increase the reseller price like a monopoly? It is such a competitive environment that I could hardly imagine this. <br /><br />- Kent, concerning the interest of this big investment fund in Asmodee, I would imagine that the plan is to prepare the company until the IPO on stock market and make X5 or X10. They might have a 3-5 years middle term strategy toward Asmo. This investment fund gives them the money to grow. Indeed, "a little bird" told me Asmo wants to catch up and do better in market <br />share for board games than Hasbro, which owns Wizard which owns Magic <br />right? It seems consistent. Getting bigger and bigger.<br /><br />- However, to make more money, the challenge for Asmodee is to increase its sales by putting new products in big groceries stores without creating a sale price gap too important between independant brick and mortar shops and these big super malls. <br /><br />- You talked about maturity of the market. This is very interesting, in some French specialized and independant shops, tabletop games combined (descent, caylus, ticket to ride) do better than Magic already. In other shops, Magic remains the number 1 but not in margins, so some of the owners complain they have too much resources allowed to that organized play for lower margins.John Voscainnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7150649422744296369.post-91832540166539619452015-04-21T09:36:06.910-07:002015-04-21T09:36:06.910-07:00I skipped mentioning their holding company.
Edit:...I skipped mentioning their holding company.<br /><br />Edit:<br />Why does this even matter? First, it's interesting that the French holding company that owns Asmodee Group, that buys things like parking, lots is also keenly interested in Ticket to Ride and X-Wing as a means to make money.blackdiamond925noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7150649422744296369.post-67938025088637983532015-04-21T09:02:31.506-07:002015-04-21T09:02:31.506-07:00I don't get what Asmodee has to do with parkin...I don't get what Asmodee has to do with parking lots.Kent Bunnnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7150649422744296369.post-28367932171164337972015-04-19T20:42:20.476-07:002015-04-19T20:42:20.476-07:00Wiz Kids includes pretty much all things Wiz Kids ...Wiz Kids includes pretty much all things Wiz Kids except licensed RPG miniatures. So all the ones you mentioned. We do exceptionally poorly with WZK products, I think. <br /><br /><br />I'm not too concerned about markets maturing. I'm definitely concerned about the industry maturing and the kind of attention it can draw. It's one of those things where you think you're on the cusp of a gold mine when in reality you're about to have the rug pulled out from under you. <br /><br /><br />It reminds me of opening up of the Internet when we ran BBS systems. We thought we had a new service to offer, when in fact, the Internet was about to obsolete us and we needed to transition to something entirely else. Those who had capital could transition to ISPs, the rest of us just disappeared.blackdiamond925noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7150649422744296369.post-25768134615467263012015-04-19T20:39:17.977-07:002015-04-19T20:39:17.977-07:00It's essentially stock piling product for a fe...It's essentially stock piling product for a fee and buying it on a consignment basis when needed. It tends to create ill will with products that are in short supply. Personally, I don't really care.blackdiamond925noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7150649422744296369.post-29283558453196220252015-04-19T18:37:41.188-07:002015-04-19T18:37:41.188-07:00Great article as always. Interesting with Cryptozo...Great article as always. Interesting with Cryptozoic opening their exclusivity with Alliance and going back to its other distributors. Bet that 27% in one game makes you a little nervous. What does "Whiz Kids Board Games" include...HeroClix, Dice Masters, Attack Wing(s)?Brian Evanshttp://hardwired.ccnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7150649422744296369.post-64199771223380036862015-04-19T16:16:37.437-07:002015-04-19T16:16:37.437-07:00What does the term to "floor" games for ...What does the term to "floor" games for Amazon mean?Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7150649422744296369.post-90450297432475092302015-04-19T10:12:01.988-07:002015-04-19T10:12:01.988-07:00Excellent article. As yet I have not checked how m...Excellent article. As yet I have not checked how much of our board games sales are Asmodee Group, but since I know FFG is our leader in that category this makes me believe that I will find a higher percentage from the combined entity. I also agree with the cultural shift, and that we will be seeing board games become a more prominent component of game stores.Joe Beckernoreply@blogger.com