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Publishers have plenty of strategies to implement brand protection that doesn't run afoul of antitrust laws. We've seen this already with a number of publishers, with Asmodee being the biggest and most recent example. There is nothing stopping WOTC from protecting their brand other than their...

Their methodology is asking publishers what their sales are. The vast, vast majority are private, so they can give ICV2 a number, or not, or something aspirational. I mean, it's better than nothing, but there's not some huge index where data is reliably compiled.

So... 1. ICV2 data is considered highly suspect. 2. It's all the game trade has to go on, so it's generally accepted. Nobody else is collecting data (publicly). It "feels" right. 3. The consensus, because nobody knows anything in the game trade for sure, is well over half of RPG sales happen...

Has anyone ran a "funnel" adventure? This is where each player runs a bunch of mooks through a meat grinder adventure, and then chooses which one to play going forward. My plan is to have this be at the end of the war the previous PCs start. Their city-state sends who they can, mostly...

If these products had never been produced, the alpha customers who buy games would have had money in their pockets for something else. That something else *may* have been at my store which would have resulted in sales for me. Before KS, a subset of those games would have been produced anyway and...

In regards to how relevant Kickstarter is in the game trade, it's worth about $200 million at this point. http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/crowdfunding-is-driving-a-196-million-board-game-renaissance/ The game trade itself is about a $2 billion dollar industry. KS is now 10% of the trade...

I backed products predicting certain customers would be interested, and they were. It's much like how every item I carry in the store (500 RPG titles for example) is speculative in this way. You buy it with your customer base in mind, including predicting depth of interest. In the case of...

You're referring to my blog specifically here, so I thought I should reply. How do I know I'm losing sales? I talk to my customers. RPGs are especially a brutally idiosyncratic gaming category so it's imperative I understand what my RPG customers are playing, what they want, what they're waiting...

It's also entirely possible that 3PP publishers, who I believe do most of their sales direct, sell a more balanced number of products between the two systems. That's my understanding, at least. Those buying 3PP direct from publishers are likely "alpha" gamers, while those buying in my store are...

It's going to be interesting to learn if the traditional wisdom that once a market leader, always a market leader will stand. By common marketing wisdom, D&D *could not* lose it's position in the marketplace. It could not become the number two game. It was called the Law of Exclusivity by...

From a retailer perspective, here's how it usually works: Edition is met with skepticism. On release, player's from every edition come out of the woodwork to buy the new edition, to see what it's all about. Sales, by the way, are epic for us, as even 4E was delivered to my store on a pallet. For...

Price Point Hate to break it you, but the original $35 Player's Handbook for third edition, adjusted for inflation, is now around $48. That's reflected in the reprint pricing as well. $50 is your new $35 and don't expect an enormous Pathfinder style combo book. That's just economics.

Wow, you are like the first person to ever predict the demise of game stores. Bravo.

Game stores have a lot in common with independent book stores. There are around the same number of each. They cater to a customer base they know intimately and drive people to their business with events. They go up against the likes of Amazon and still succeed in their small niche. Their demise...

Bottom line is it's brick and mortar retail. You have to embrace being a retailer and what that means for your business and your life. Retail is slow to change, resistant to progress, and resource poor. The money is bad and the hours long. It's often feast or famine (right now it's feast). Game...

Yes, and that type of story would be a mystery. Nobody knows. What we don't know about the game trade is staggering and should make anyone who wants to get involved with it pause for a moment. Nobody knows: a) How many game stores there are (probably 2,500 to 3,000) b) What even constitutes a...

CA is high risk-high reward, but most stores do fine in lower income, lower cost areas. I was talking with one store owner in the Midwest whose rent was about on par with a car payment. Online sales are growing fast, but they haven't grown as a percentage of the overall retail pie. There's...

How To Opening a game store *should* be like opening any other type of business. You write a plan, you scout locations considering demographics, you raise funds, and you attempt to appeal to as many people as possible. You carry what your local community will buy and always try to expand that...

Another thing to consider when creating a retailer tier is attempting to maintain contact with retailers after the project if you plan to have additional product available. It's great to sell a retailer half a dozen books, but what if they need more later? Most consumers won't be in that boat...

Brick and mortar stores are another sales channel for selling your games, a subset of customers that will never be reached through the usual online marketing methods. In exchange for splitting the profits, retailers who are likely to carry your cutting edge project are going to do a professional...