Purple Pawn’s 2013 Game Industry Survey is now online.

I collected information from nearly 300 companies from over 20 countries and from 40 US states. Of those companies that didn’t close, the overwhelming majority are doing fine or better than last year. 13% report doing worse than last year (down 2% from last year’s survey); this percentage doesn’t take into account companies that closed.

More than half of responding publishers use, or plan to use, a crowdfunding source such as Kickstarter to publish their games.

Among responding retailers, Hasbro’s Magic: the Gathering CCG, Game Workshops’ Warhammer miniatures and rules, Mayfair Games’ Catan board and card games, and Paizo’s Pathfinder RPG products were at the top again this year, as they have been for the last three years. Rio Grande Games’ Dominion games sales dropped; its place in the top five was taken by Konami’s perennially popular Yu-Gi-Oh CCG.

Pathfinder products outperformed Wizards of the Coasts’ Dungeons & Dragons products by 2.5 to 1 – even more than last year – while players wait for D&D 5th edition to be released later this year. Gaming accessories, such as card sleeves, and items consumed by gamers, such as soft drinks, continue to be strong dependable sellers. RPG and miniature products from smaller publishers were included in the bestselling product lines of some retailers.

Strong new sellers this year include Fantasy Flight Games’ Star Wars X-Wing miniatures, Fantasy Flight Games’ Star Wars Edge of Empires RPG, and basically all Fantasy Flight Games’ living card games (LCGs), especially Android Netrunner (many retailers simply listed “Fantasy Flight Games” as their best selling products).

Another big new seller at responding retailers is Cards Against Humanity, a perverse alternative to more traditional and safe party games. Amazon already listed this game as a top-seller during most of 2012, but the survey respondents are now catching up.

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Purple Pawn checked over 8,400 companies who make money from analog, tabletop games from across the globe to see if they were still operating. We conducted our annual survey of over 7,700 operating companies to see how they performed in 2012 and received 212 responses. You can download the 17 page report for free here [PDF].

Summary

Over the course of a year, around 4.7% of the companies in our DB closed. Single-game game companies closed at twice the frequency than that of other companies.

We received 212 responses from 22 countries and 29 US states. 2012 apparently was much like 2011 and 2010. Of those companies that didn’t close, the overwhelming majority are doing fine or even better than last year – only 15% report doing worse than last year.

Among the responding retailers, the top performing game lines from last year – Magic: The Gathering, Catan properties, Dominion games, Ticket to Ride games, and Warhammer properties – were the top again this year. Dominion did not score quite as well as Catan did this year; last year they were neck and neck. Pathfinder products outperformed Dungeons and Dragons products by 2 to 1, just as they did last year. Cardfight: Vanguard was the best new performer.

To participate in future surveys, send your name, company name, website address, and email address to shadejon@gmail.com .

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Purple Pawn checked over 8,500 companies  who make money from analog, tabletop games from across the globe to see if they were still operating. We conducted our annual survey of over 6,900 operating companies and received 391 responses. You can download the 18 page report for free here [PDF].

Summary

Over the course of a year, around 7.5% of the companies in our db closed. Single-game game companies, brick-and-mortar retailers, and miniature manufacturers closed at a higher frequency than other companies. Sometimes new retailers open in the same locations as ones that closed.

We received 391 responses from 35 countries and 39 US states. 2011 apparently was much like 2010. Of those companies that didn’t close, the overwhelming majority are doing fine or even better than last year – only 13% report doing worse than last year.

Among the responding retailers, the top performing game lines from last year – MtG, Catan, Dominion, and Warhammer – were the top again this year (and in the same order). Pathfinder products outperformed D&D products by 2 to 1 (last year they were about even).

To participate in future surveys, send your name, company name, website address, and email address to admin@purplepawn.com .

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Updated to clarify the survey vs response rate.

Purple Pawn has conducted a survey of over 7,000 companies around the world who made money from analog, tabletop games and received 421 responses. You can download the 14 page report for free here [PDF].

Summary

Of the companies responding, those that did not close reported good results, with 85% reporting that they had done at least as well or better in 2010 than they had done in 2009.

Single-game game companies (sggc’s) make a significant portion of publishers. Sggc’s are eager to get the news out about their products, but likely to not actively build relationships, maintain an accurate website, respond to emails, and ultimately survive more than a year or two.

Top CCGs continue to provide steady income for game stores; Catan, Carcassonne, Dominion, Munchkin, Warhammer, and Warmachine lines also performed well. There is still room for new games, as demonstrated by the success of Dixit, Rory’s Story Cubes, Dominion, Small World, and Forbidden Island, all of which are games released in the last year or two. A successful new game should be followed by expansions or additional games; many new games perform well initially but drop off due to lack of continued innovation.

To participate in future surveys, send your name, company name, website address, and email address to admin@purplepawn.com .

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