Essen Spiel suffers AI art backlash, German board games booming after 2022 slump
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The world’s biggest board game fair, Essen Spiel, was always going to dominate the tabletop industry news this week as an expected 180,000-plus publishers, artists and members of the public descend on the event across the next few days. Rather than just excited social media posts about the newest releases, however, this year’s fair has been overshadowed by BoardGameWire’s revelation that Essen Spiel chose to use AI art across its app, tickets and posters, a decision which has been met with fury from across the board gaming spectrum - especially artists, who fear the technology frequently trained on art without the consent of its owners will ultimately put them out of work. Merz Verlag says it will review its use of the technology after this year’s event is over - my bet is we won’t see a repeat at Essen Spiel in 2024.
The world’s biggest board game fair is using AI art on its tickets, posters and app
Essen Spiel, the world’s biggest board game fair, has admitted using controversial AI-generated art on its tickets, posters and app for this year’s event, which kicks off in three days. More than 180,000 people are expected to descend on the Messe Essen exhibition centre for the four-day game fair, which is marking its 40th year – and its first under the leadership of new managing director Carol Rapp. The decision has seen a huge backlash online since being reported by BoardGameWire, with ire stemming from the way generative AI creates its images, with the most successful software relying on being fed huge quantities of publicly-available artwork – usually without the consent of the artists, or with any attempt to compensate them for using their work.
A spokesperson for Merz Verlag, which runs Essen Spiel, told BoardGameWire it was experimenting with AI “to comprehend its benefits but also its limits”, adding that “the protection of artists rights has priority for us”.
Essen Spiel’s new head on how the world’s biggest board game fair is reinventing itself for its 40th year and beyond
Prior to the AI art furore, BoardGameWire interviewed new Essen Spiel managing director Carol Rapp about her vision for the fair. This year’s event is the first in its 40-year history without legendary organiser Dominique Metzler, who had been involved in running the fair since it was held in a school in 1983. Rapp revealed that among the litany of questions from publishers keen to understand how the new ownership and management would affect Essen Spiel, many wishes revolved around the fair providing more play space alongside its retailer booths, to bring it into line with Gen Con and UKGE.
German board game market back to growth after 2022 slump, Pokemon helps TCGs boom
Continuing a very German start to this newsletter, German trade association DVSI has revealed that board game sales in the country grew 6% in the year to August as the industry bounced back from a slump in 2022. Sales for board games and puzzles in the country fell 5% last year amid ongoing fallout from the Covid-19 crisis, such as supply chain issues and elevated raw materials prices, as well as high inflation and interest rates weighing on consumer purchasing power.
Trading card games were far and away the standout segment this year, surging more than 45% compared to the previous year, driven by what DVSI described as the “ongoing Pokemon trend”. Germany, traditionally a strong market for toy and board games, has seen sales of games and puzzles almost double since 2014 amid a huge expansion in the range of products on offer and a surge in the online market.
More than 650 HABA staff to lose jobs in wake of company’s self-administration
Last German one this week, I promise. Haba, the 85-year-old Germany toymaker famous for its family-weight board games, is planning to shed about 40% of its workforce after entering self-administration. The company, which currently employs 1,677 people, plans to bring that total down to about 1,000 as part of a “comprehensive restructuring” which will see the business restore its focus on high-quality toys and games that promote child development. BoardGameWire reported last month that Haba had gone into self-administration in an attempt to save the business.
Company spokesperson Ilka Kunzelmann told BoardGameWire at the time that “some decisions made in recent years have been found to be incorrect in hindsight”, adding that disruptions in supply chains had also had a negative impact on the business.
Planet Unknown beats Dorfromantik, Heat to win Germany’s biggest board game prize
OK, ok, there’s also this Germany one, all right? That’s IT though. Planet Unknown, the tile-laying planetary development and colonisation game from Ryan Lambert and Adam Rehberg, has triumphed in this year’s Deutscher Spiele Preis – Germany’s biggest board gaming award. Dorfromantik: The Board Game, which pipped Planet Unknown to the Spiel des Jahres award just over two months ago, came in second place, while hugely popular vintage motor racing game Heat: Pedal to the Metal finished third. Mysterium Kids took first place in the children’s games category, doubling down on its Kinderspiel des Jahres win against the same competitors in Gigamon and Carla Caramel.
The other nominees for the main Deutscher Spiele Preis were Earth, Marrakesh, Next Station London, Tiletum, Woodcraft, Challengers! and Hitster. The Deutscher Spiele Preis has been awarded to Germany’s best board game since 1990, and unlike the Spiel des Jahres is voted on by the general public across Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Veteran tabletop retailer CoolStuffInc to stop selling board games, RPGs
Online tabletop retail major CoolStuffInc is quitting the board game and RPG markets in favour of more profitable CCGs such as Magic, Pokemon and Lorcana. US-based CSI has been a stalwart of the modern board games industry since it was founded in 2002, making a name for itself as a price competitor to Amazon in online board game selling. But customers have been questioning the company’s commitment to board game sales since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, with many items frequently out of stock on its website.
Speculation had been rising over the past two years that CSI was shifting its business model towards collectible card games such as Magic and the Pokemon TCG, which offer better profit margins than board games or RPGs. I’ve managed to interview CEO Jerry Sunkin about the whole situation - full story next week.
BackerKit bans AI-generated content from its platform, including art for board games
Polygon’s Charlie Hall reports that Kickstarter rival BackerKit has banned content on its platform that is solely AI generated - a stance in stark opposition to Kickstarter, which started requiring projects to note if AI has been used in August, but with no threat of removal. While not a complete ban, BackerKit’s new rules will review, suspend and outright remove projects that lack “a minimum requirement of human input” - a slightly nebulous term, but definitely one inspired by protection of artists and designers. BackerKit said, “Due to concerns about AI tools using content without proper compensation or permission, we’ll continue to limit their use on our platform until there is a system that can guarantee fairness in sourcing, permission, and compensation.”
Worms board game still on schedule despite Team17 restructuring, Mantic Games CEO says
The board game adaptation of classic video game Worms remains on track for its delivery to Kickstarter backers next year despite the announced restructuring of development partner Team17. Mantic Games raised more than £530,000 last month in the crowdfunding campaign for Worms: The Board Game, which looks to bring weapon-toting worms made famous in the video game series to the tabletop. More than 5,800 backers are expecting delivery of the project in August next year – a target which has not shifted following Team17 entering a period of consultation over expected job losses.
Mantic Games CEO Ronnie Renton told BoardGameWire, “The Kickstarter campaign outperformed our expectations. Mantic is now getting on with making the tabletop game, ahead of shipping to the backers. Delivery of the board game is still in line with the original schedule, and we can see no reasons, at this time, to make us think otherwise.” Eurogamer reported that about 50 roles were under threat at UK-based Team17, largely in the company’s QA department.
Other news:
New Heroscape publisher Renegade reignites GTS Distribution partnership
Lucky Duck Games to launch visually redesigned Food Chain Magnate special edition on Gamefound
International Gamers Awards picks Revive, Oranienburger Kanal as 2023 winners
Sky Team, Nucleum lead most-wished for games in August | BGG Stats
And finally - fresh news from Essen Spiel that table-hogging space-fest Twilight Imperium is coming to Board Game Arena. Cue a flood of jokes on Twitter about games taking six months - but actually this is far and away the most likely shot I’ll get to play this monster any time soon, so bring it on I say. Props to Twitter user @jeroen3huis for the spot.
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