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There is something to say that may seem obvious to some, but not to others: there is a market for board games, and, when the market is shaken, board games change too.
I will try to overturn the point of view, and I will start from bases with “The Economist” style (for dummies like me…) than “Board Game Geek” style for this article.
The last 20 years have seen the rise of Asia, in particular China, in the global market scenario. With calm, unscrupulousness and somewhat harmonious and perhaps too often forced way, the Dragon has incorporated practically all the production and value chains within its borders, arriving today to become the undisputed “factory of the world”. Many have associated this radical transformation of the world economy with the concept of globalization: from the point of view of trade this word fits perfectly, but from the point of view of production it seems more the exact opposite. China is now the global hub which everything is manufactured from: the nerve center from where all physical goods are destined for the rest of planet earth.
The pre-pandemic economy has seen this double-sided system develop enormously (global trade VS centralized production) and, until 2020, it seemed that this was now the only way.
However, something began to creak when the first lockdowns appeared patchily, and we soon realized that this economic neocolonialism had its problems. Shortage of raw materials, slow shipments, skyrocketing prices: it’s like when you get to a “runaway leader” situation in a board game, in the real world we realized that this regulation was leaking everywhere. It’s just a shame to realize it when the game was already in full swing, and you couldn’t start again.
The market of board games has been heavily affected by this centralization: in the last decade in particular, more and more publishers have turned to the “Chinese Dragon” to produce games they have created, and a very solid bond has been created between publishers, almost never Chinese, and producers, almost always chinese. Crowdfunding campaigns have been the final step in this transformation: the collection before production has allowed practically anyone to benefit from the concessions that China could bring, almost always associated with enormous economies of scale based on minimum order quantities and very low-cost shipments, justified by privileged routes such as Shanghai-Rotterdam (the maritime highways, on which more than 90% of physical goods travel today). Giants of the gaming scene were born based on the trinomial: cash advance, low-cost production, shipments on privileged routes: thanks to “backer” patients, more than willing to wait months or years for delivery in exchange for exclusive discounts and stretch goals.
However, the wind changed well before the sails could be lowered. Production costs in China have increased exponentially and shipments have become increasingly rare and increasingly expensive. This has currently led to a substantial drop in the crowdfunding business, while kickstarter-based publishers are suffering incredible cost increases and delivery delays justified by the shipping situation but, above all, by waiting for better times to not go at a loss on the project. Meanwhile, those who have supported these projects have less and less patience and more and more fear that their product will not be delivered or will get requests of further funding to cover the losses of publishers. An objectively unsustainable situation.
What to do then?
Many are asking the question, and the answer is not at all obvious. Between those who hope that these exceptional market conditions will return to normal in a short time and those who are already moving to bring part of the production back to Europe or the USA, whatever choice is made is a gamble at present. We, The Dicetroyers, have chosen an all-Italian production, a few km from home, to constantly monitor our products and then… because it is wonderful to follow their creation step by step!
The wind is changing and, as someone who knows about evolution once said “whoever knows how to adapt better will survive better”. Whoever emerges from the storm will certainly be stronger, and this can only benefit this wonderful market, which will create more beautiful and exciting games!
Discover also the other games in our catalog and contact us for any request or question!
