Hobby Game Market Strong, RPGs Deeply Troubled

Mistwell

Crusty Old Meatwad
ICv2 - Hobby Game Market Strengthens

In Q2 2009
Published: 08/27/2009 12:00am

The hobby game market improved in Q2 2009, according to a report in the recently released ICv2 Insider’s Guide #68. Conservative ordering has kept inventories low at retail, but as a result, sell-throughs are good and restocks frequent, according to distributors and retailers interviewed for the report, leading to relatively healthy hobby game stores despite the ferociously bad economy.

Board games continues to be the category with the most heat, with retailers and distributors across the board still reporting increased sales.

Collectible Card Games as a category are bouncing off the bottom, with the top brands getting most of the benefit: Magic: The Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh! in the hobby, and Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh! at mass.

The Collectible Miniature Games category is still churning, with no replacement for HeroClix, the anchor brand, and Monsterpocalypse dropping off after its launch due to product configuration changes.

Both of Games Workshop’s miniature lines are doing well in North America, with more friendly packaging and assortments making the line easier to handle at all levels.

The roleplaying game category remains deeply troubled, with most brands down, and the gap between Dungeons and Dragons and the rest growing.

This chart of the Top 5 Roleplaying Games (hobby channel) reflects sales in Q2 2009. The charts are based on interviews with retailers, distributors, and manufacturers.

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These charts of the Top 5 Collectible Games Over-all, Top 5 Mass Market Channel Collectible Games and Top 10 Hobby Channel Collectible Games reflect sales in Q2 2009.The charts are based on interviews with retailers, distributors, and manufacturers.

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This chart of the Top 10 Board, Card and Family Games (hobby channel) reflects sales in Q2 2009. The charts are based on interviews with retailers, distributors, and manufacturers.

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This chart of the Top 5 Non-Collectible Miniature Lines (hobby channel) reflects sales in Q2 2009. The charts are based on interviews with retailers, distributors, and manufacturers.

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Thanks. For White Wolf I wonder if that is all WoD lines together or just the World of Darkness line. It is nice to see Song of Ice and Fire up there.
 

Has there been a time when rpgs have had sales anywhere close to board games? Board games have more general mass appeal so its no wonder they top game sales.

How do they define troubled? Are board game sales roughly the same as last year and rpg sales that much lower?
 

Pretty telling report right there, sttraight from the industry itself.

I'm not surprised about the GW hobby as they've made some significant strides to insure profitability in the past three years.
 

How do they define troubled? Are board game sales roughly the same as last year and rpg sales that much lower?

Yah. Purely qualitative statements, with no scale of comparison. Maybe the full report has better coverage, but that blurb just doesn't convince me.
 


Interesting. I'm shocked that Dark Heresy has overtaken WoD, I didn't realize it was so popular.

The "Mass market" collectible game lists make me weep.
 


Doesn't tell me anything I don't already know, WOTC sells in the hundreds of thousands for D&D and everyone else sells under 10,000, until Paizo released Pathfinder the RPG. Nothing new.
 


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