August has not been a good month for Tabletop Gaming companies with the further closures of Tor Gaming and On The Lamb Games.
As everyone was buzzing over Spartan Games closing and cancelling what would have been a successful Kickstarter, Tor Gaming had issued a Statement of Closure. Earlier in the week, the lesser known yet long-running On The Lamb Games also had announced that they would be closing. Let’s see what each had to say.
Tor Gaming:
Tor Gaming was started back in 2010 with the intention to product the tabletop wargame Relics and with it, bring some originality to your gaming table. We tried to create a world that was distinctly different to what was already being presented from several fronts, and I like to think we managed in this task.
Unfortunately, the last few years have been a difficult trading time for Tor Gaming. Running a business in a niche market is never easy but the gaming industry has become very crowded in the last few years for a number of reasons. As such, I have made the difficult decision to close Tor Gaming and sell off the Relics IP and product range.
The reasons for Tor Gaming closing are many faceted but as I mention above the gaming market is a much more crowded than it was when I started out. The arrival of crowdfunding platforms certainly shook up the industry and made it even easier for new companies to appear and vie for the limited funds our customers have to spend in this hobby of ours. I have made use of them a number of times for Relics and whilst they are good for raising funds I have found each time I ran a project I had a nasty taste in my mouth afterwards.
Coupled with the fact that the traditional ‘distribution model’ of selling product to end users through retailers is a difficult task in this industry as retailers have only so much shelf space and as such are less inclined try out every range that comes along makes continuing to trade in this industry as a producer is difficult.
Over the last couple of years we have seen a steady decline in sales and as such Tor Gaming no longer has the resources to spend on the marketing and advertising required to make our voice heard over all the other voices in this industry. This has ramifications on our ability to develop and produce new products to support the Relics line. We could continue by making use of more crowdfunding projects and moving away from the more traditional ‘distribution model’ for selling but I feel that would be the wrong decision as I am not happy putting the financial risk on to the shoulders of our customers.
It’s been a fun journey but as with all journeys, there has to be an end. For Tor Gaming, that end is here. The journey has been fun and exciting, even frustrating at times. But along the way we have met some great people in this hobby and I am proud to call many of them friends now!
If you wish to contact us about this closure, or you are interested in purchasing the Relics product package and Intellectual property, we invite you to contact us on [email protected]
Tor Gaming and Spartan Games share the opinion that the current tabletop gaming market is flooded with companies competing for those precious hobby dollars. What some have come to speculate is that we will be seeing more closures in the near future as sales for Games Workshop continue to rise and see the return of many players due to 8th Edition 40k and Age of Sigmar. It has been a great 7 years of miniatures from Tor Gaming and we are saddened to see them close.
For those that don’t know about On The Lamb Games, they produced three games and over 100 miniatures. They are known for Endless: Fantasy Tactics, a grid based miniatures game that pays homage to RPGs from the 90s. Their Geomancer Terrain was also a hit as well and provided players with many options for customization. Here is what On The Lamb Games had to say about their closure:
Ten years ago we started On The Lamb. It was an excuse to make the games we wanted to play, and share them with the world. In those ten years we released three games, multiple books, and over a hundred miniatures. We’re proud of our games and we’re thankful for our family, friends, and fans for supporting us for the last decade. Unfortunately, this is our goodbye. On The Lamb is closing down, the webstore will be shut off at the end of the year.
It’s a combination of health and financial issues. We mostly only made sales during conventions, with a bit of online sales for a couple of weeks afterwards. We’ve had 2-3 distribution orders in the decade of operation and very little retailer interest.
Brushfire was a good seller for awhile, but we ended up spending a few grand on sculpts that did not sell at all. Literally zero sales. If it wasn’t for Endless and changing to casting in house, we would have closed years ago. The majority of Endless’ sales were through Kickstarter, which while ‘good’ is also an extraordinary pain. Its an emotional & mental strain, and I honestly could not do another one for the sake of my health.
Sales for Endless at Gen Con were way down last year. We only had a handful of sales between Gen Con and our move, and then at Adepticon sales were again way down. Between Adepticon and today we have have sold 4 minis. Since we cast in house and don’t really have much overhead we could have kept going for awhile longer to keep trying. Maybe kickstart something new… but I have a number of health issues that are preventing me from being able to help Matt with casting. We’re both generally working full time hours, so this leaves very little time for casting and doing anything else.
We may return to table top gaming, we may not, I can’t say for sure what the future holds. There is also always the chance someone will want to buy us and/or the lines.
On The Lamb Games will keep their web store open until the end of the year. If you wish to find out more out Endless: Fantasy Tactics, stop by their site and check it out. We hope that On The Lamb Games is able to return to table topping when they are able. Until then, good luck and you will be missed.
With these closures announced, what company do fear may shutter its doors next? Are hoping for any companies to make a comeback? Let us know in the comments below!
