Board Game Arena boost has helped Splendor games surge to three million sales
Plus: Dice Tower production manager Roy Cannaday leaves after success of Last Light design “opens up new opportunities”
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Board game sales tend to be talked about in thousands, or tens of thousands of copies - passing the 100,000 mark tends to be seen as a standout success, especially given the huge levels of competition in the modern hobby games industry. So how does a game reach a million copies, or more? Our headline article in this weeks newsletter examines Splendor’s acceleration to three million sales across its various incarnations - and how its digital implementation on BoardGameArena was key to those numbers soaring.
We also have news of Roy Cannaday, the production manager for board game review behemoth The Dice Tower, leaving the company following the success of his tabletop game design Last Light. Cannaday told BoardGameWire Last Light’s performance – the game has raised about $1m across a pair of crowdfunding campaigns since late 2022 – had “opened up new opportunities” for his future in the industry.
In Europe, Dutch board game publisher 999 Games is in with a chance of success in all three categories at this year's Nederlandse Spellenprijs - the Dutch game of the year awards. No publisher has scored a clean sweep of the awards since the contest went from a single category to being split into ‘family’ and ‘expert’ sections in 2013.
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Mike Didymus-True - Editor
Board Game Arena boost has helped Splendor games surge to three million sales
Splendor, the gem collecting engine builder celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, has soared to three million sales across its various versions thanks to a hefty boost from its digital counterparts. The Marc André-designed title was an instant hit on its release a decade ago, picking up a horde of nominations for awards including the Spiel des Jahres and As d’Or, and triumphing as Golden Geek board game of the year for 2014.
Those plaudits translated into 100,000 sales within the first year, data provided to BoardGameWire by publisher Asmodee and Lab4Games shows, and sales of the base game had grown to one million units by 2020.
Dice Tower production manager Roy Cannaday leaves after success of Last Light design “opens up new opportunities”
Roy Cannaday, the production manager for board game review behemoth The Dice Tower, has left the company following the success of his tabletop game design Last Light. Cannaday, pictured above left, has spent more than five years editing and producing YouTube content and live streams for The Dice Tower, and was already a familiar face with viewers prior to that after several years as a contributor via his Epic Gaming Night YouTube channel.
Speaking to BoardGameWire, Cannaday said the success of Last Light – which has raised about $1m across a pair of crowdfunding campaigns since late 2022 – had “opened up new opportunities” for his future in the industry.
Invincible: The Card Game is coming to Kickstarter as Indie Boards & Cards signs multi-year licensing deal with Skybound Tabletop
Coup and The Resistance publisher Indie Boards & Cards has picked up the rights to make a series of co-op deckbuilding games based on the Invincible superhero franchise, after signing a multi-year licensing deal with Skybound Tabletop. IBC will base the games on its Aeon’s End and Astro Knights game systems, with the first in the series – Invincible: The Card Game – due to launch onto Kickstarter on October 8.
IBC previously raised just over $673,000 for its largest Kickstarter project to date, with over 5,800 people backing Aeon’s End: Legacy of Gravehold in 2021.
999 Games eyes unprecedented clean sweep of categories in Dutch game of the year awards
Dutch board game publisher 999 Games is in with a chance of success in all three categories at this year's Nederlandse Spellenprijs - the Dutch game of the year awards. More than 100 board games were considered for this year’s awards, which were eligible for games published in the Dutch language for the first time in the 12 months to June 30, 2024.
No publisher has scored a clean sweep of the awards since the contest went from a single category to being split into ‘family’ and ‘expert’ sections in 2013. The intermediate ‘connoisseur’ award was added to the contest in 2020.
New board game publisher Wharf Rat Games launches, aims to speed up publication process for designers
A new board game publisher hoping to cut down the time it takes for a designer’s game to go from contract signing to publication has been launched. Wharf Rat Games has been created by Charles S Roberts Award winner Ryan Heilman, whose designs have been published by Hollandspiel and Blue Panther, and designer and developer Wes Crawford, his co-creator on forthcoming assassin-hunting game The Pursuit of John Wilkes Booth.
Heilman told BoardGameWire the company hopes to stand out by initially only focusing on one game at a time, in the hope of accelerating how quickly it can get a designer’s game to market.
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Other news:
Derek Funkhouser is joining Lucky Duck Games as the partner manager for its Global Publishing Network. He was previously director of development and production at Wise Wizard Games
Beth Erikson has been hired as Lead Marketing Alchemist by Restoration Games. She has previously led marketing at Pegasus Spiele North America, Z-Man Games and Friendly Skeleton
SPIEL Essen is dedicating an entire day to questions of sustainability in the board games industry as part of its SPIEL.talks program at this year’s fair
Netflix's 'Magic: The Gathering' Series Is Officially Dead - Collider
Kazakhstan has launched its traditional national board game into space - The Astana Times
A new YouTube channel has launched dedicated to helping players learn how to teach games, starting with Seers Catalog and Potion Explosion
Mox Boarding House, which runs a trio of board game stores in the Pacific North West, has expanded to Arizona with its latest store opening
Design Zone
Game designer Grégory Grard on the inspirations behind In the Footsteps of Darwin - Mojo Nation
Designer Diary: Undaunted 2200: Callisto by David Thompson - BoardGameGeek
The Game Crafter has a new design challenge to make a game that first inside a VHS video tape case
Seppy Yoon from Fight In A Box’s board game design tip of the day
Designer Diary: From My Trolley Town to Minecart Town by Shun and AYA - BoardGameGeek
Job Watch
US - Product Line Manager, Fantasy Flight Games
US - Quality Assurance Coordinator, Fantasy Flight Games
US - Social Media Coordinator, Asmodee North America
US - International Marketing Manager, Ravensburger North America
US - Tabletop Game Commerce Writer, TheGamer
UK - Sales Forecast Manager, Asmodee UK
All these jobs are from the very excellent Tabletop Game Jobs Facebook Group - head there to take a look at all the latest listings
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