I was going over the books and timelines, and thought about how Covid has altered the business for us, and for myself personally.
It’s been a wild two years, with a wide range of ups and downs. I think we all have had our trials and tribulations with the plague, so by no means do I think I was alone in this. However, I can only speak of my personal experience, so let me get into that a bit. We all hoped for 3 weeks to flatten the curve, and as that faded away, I began to get a little depressed from the lack of interaction. I used to play games with friends two to three days a week, and playtest with my usual group two to three days a week also. I had a pretty active social life, so going from that to ZERO interaction began to wear on me. In addition, not being able to go to conventions and sell things was putting a pinch on the company in no small way.
In late 2020, a few convention cancellations cost us some money. With airlines, hotels, and the cons refusing to refund the money we spent, it hurt. When Essen Spiel Fest was cancelled, all of the costs associated with the hotel stay, the items we shipped to Germany, among several other charges did not get refunded. That cost us almost $30k.
With other cons still cancelling (or moving/changing dates), it makes me very hesitant to outlay money. Recently we had planned to go to the New York City Toy Fair, but they just cancelled. Conventions like these are great places for a smaller game company like ourselves to get our games in front of the representatives from mass market stores. It would have been the first professional convention for us since 2019, and having it get cancelled certainly hurts us (and I’m sure others as well).
We’ve been asked, “Do you sell your new games at conventions?”
I would love to, but convention cancellations have had an adverse effect on us. I almost fear spending the money to prep on them after a few fails.
Omicron is making me think back to the issues we experienced in 2020, so while it’s unfortunate, we may not attend too many conventions this year.
Our company also runs Escape Winter Con. We had to cancel that in early 2021, and move it to September 2021. Unfortunately about two weeks after we announced our dates, Gencon moved to the same weekend. The ripple effects of this modern day plague, is ripping up a lot of industries, but live entertainment groups are being particularly hard hit.
So, how do you sell your games then?
We sell on Amazon and to friendly local game stores (FLGS) stores. We also have a distribution company, PSI, who has helped us make in-roads into the mass market.
As many people are aware, FLGS foot traffic is lower, so that means that sales to hobby stores are down. The ripple effect mentioned above hurts them as well.
What costs are going up?
Unfortunately EVERYTHING is going up in price. Resources needed in China for the factories cost more due to the shipping and supply chain issues. Shipping the games and items from the factory is now four to five times what it did previously. Even shipping it within the continental United States has doubled in price as well.
This means that as a company, we are having to consider increasing the MSRP (manufacturer’s suggested retail price) on our games, in order to cover our costs. We know that many other game companies are in a similar situations, and it’s rough. You don’t want to price anyone out of participating in the hobby, but you still have to pay your employees at the end of the day too.
Kickstarter’s company model is failing with the price increases.
We have all seen several game companies go under recently, and it is sad every time you see another announcement from a company closing its doors. Unfortunately, our margins in this industry are pretty slim. With costs increasing exponentially, we all took some big hits. Many companies did not have the reserves to survive that pinch.
Kickstarter companies in particular took a hit, as all the budgets they made got destroyed. Many of those were single-person companies, which paid themselves a salary, and now they don’t have the money to pay for printing, or pay to ship the games. It’s unfortunate, but I see a wave of cancellations coming from the Kickstarter bubble popping.
How are you trying to cope with COVID?
I live in Florida, where COVID rules have been relaxed, but still I cut costs across the board. When COVID first happened, I was told that as I was non-essential, I should not keep my office open. This means that I was by myself for many months.
Streaming shows, assembling and painting models, and teaching myself new skills helped, but I was certainly lacking the socialization I previously enjoyed from working and my board gaming hobby. My only interactions at this point were digital, except one of the times I had to get groceries, a woman and I talked for 20 minutes about cooking vegetables. I think we were both looking to talk to someone. I realized at that point that I needed more of a human connection. I found that using Discord to talk to my gaming friends and set up online gaming sessions helped to scratch this itch.
Depression is real, but it is something that can be difficult to recognize in yourself. The more I was able to interact with people, the better I felt. It still took a bit to recover to the point where I was able to look back and say, “Yeah, maybe I didn’t handle lock down in the best way”. I know we all have issues, some more apparent than others, but talk with people, relax somewhere outside your home, and try to pay attention to how you’re feeling, especially if that feeling is something negative. It may be as simple as, “I don’t feel like going out or showering today”, but self-care and introspection can help people work on the person they’d like to become.
How can I socialize if I can’t go places?
You can use the online meeting tools to speak with people. Some are video, and many are just audio if that makes you feel more comfortable.
Board games have several discussion channels on Discord, Zoom, and Skype, so try and use them to interact.
Several of us have multiple interests, and many can have actual chat groups on Discord. So you can post or chat about any number of things with people from all over. I know that it’s helped me to have this outlet, and I hope that it’s helpful for all of you as well.
Things for us to think about
- Am I getting outside enough?
- Am I interacting with people outside of work?
- Is social media bumming me out?
- Am I getting joy from things that are not electronic?
Let us know on our Facebook page