Steve Jackson Games 2005 report

[Steel_Wind]

It's this sort of "annual report" without really throwing out serious financial data to the public which I find so refreshing and candid.

Thanks for posting this link.

I don't think anything Steve Jackson has to say about the industry is "unsupported". It may or may not be wrong, but I am inclined to cut the guy some serious slack and give him the benefit of the doubt.

If I was going to court and had to call an expert witness on the RPG indutry, Steve Jackson's credentials would withstand any challenge to his being qualified to give that evidence. Perhaps a little less reaction and a little more consideration over what he says would be in order?

 

[WingOver]

It's this sort of "annual report" without really throwing out serious financial data to the public which I find so refreshing and candid.

Perhaps a little less reaction and a little more consideration over what he says would be in order?

Agreed. He deserves props for giving us a peek behind the curtain. It's interesting information. I don't know any other privately-held RPG company doing this.

I've been a big fan of SJG since Car Wars. Thanks guys.

 

[The Traveler]

How can you seriously believe a claim that non-D20 RPG sales have been hurt because companies like Fast Forward Entertainment put out crappy D20 products?

Because it's a finite market, and the market isn't "D20/D&D", it's "roleplaying games."

So if you glut the market, some segments are gonna suffer. The D20 boom was an interesting time, with major booksellers actually stocking companies like Green Ronin, Mongoose, and Guardians of Order.

Trouble being I think the major booksellers got burned on this when the boom was over, so now they're back to stocking mostly WotC and White Wolf. If it wasn't for the fact that White Wolf owns Sword and Sorcery, I doubt we'd be seeing any D20/OGL books at Borders or Barnes and Noble.

Distribution is the real measure of market penetration in this business too. Companies like SJG weathered it a bit better, as they still have a good level of distribution. Still, I'd say there's even less of a chance of a smaller company getting a book out to the major booksellers these days. Can't find AEG anymore, and we all know what happened to GOO.

It was an interesting experiment, but what it produced is an environment in which it was hard to sell something that wasn't D20, and now it's hard to even sell a D20 product. Sure, normal gaming stores will still carry some of the stuff, but that's a niche market compared to what an independent company could hope for during the boom.

 

[Steel_Wind]

Well - the switch from 3 to 3.5 was the major cause of the glut of unsold product on the market, so I'm not sure its fair to say that the boom/bust cycle was solely OGL related.

As the bust has hit, it will continue to weed out the smaller players and put them in .pdf only. Which is ok. Makes their product accessible to those who seek it out - and still leaves printing cost as a barrier to entry in the market - and a means for the consumer to sort one from the other.

 

[DaveMage]

Agreed. He deserves props for giving us a peek behind the curtain. It's interesting information. I don't know any other privately-held RPG company doing this.

I wish more companies would give us such a peek. Share the direction in which they plan to go, what their own financial situation is, where they see the market for future games, etc.

 

[MonsterMash]

Interesting reading - I didn't realise Munchkin was so big, even though I do like it a lot. Presumably GURPS, followed by things like Illuminiatii and OGRE are the other big sellers. Got to admit I think highly of the quality of SJG product and I use the GURPS sourcebooks even though I don't actually own or use GURPS rules.

 

[Mark]

Happy 25th Anniversary, SJG!

 

[DrZombie]

I'm just guessing like the rest of you guys, but I think what SJ means is that, well, since there are so many crappy d20 books out there, most stores are hesitant to take anything but the big league players in stock, and even not all of their products. Wich has got to hurt for everyone.

 

[Sebastian Francis]

Steve Jackson is one of the very few people in the industry who can boast a $2.8M annual gross.

How does that compare with Palladium?

 

[Crothian]

How does that compare with Palladium?

We will never know. Palladium never releases information like that. But considering that the new GURPs has a beena big hit and they have non RPG sources of revenue I imagine SJG is a bit higher then Palladiums.