Another GENCON has come and gone, come see what retailers and industry insiders are saying about the state of gaming!
The BIG winner seems to be Fantasy Flight Games who is posting record numbers in a time before one of their main properties (Star Wars) hits theaters this December. Industry leaders are looking for FFG to move into the leader position for the gaming industry soon, as everyone seems to already be emulating their product mix, and release strategies.
The biggest loser from Gencon looks to be surprisingly be Games Workshop who’s booths were buried in the nosebleed sections, and whose con strategy looks to be phoned in. Couple that with the Forge World convention team getting deported back to England over a visa snafu, and that’s two big black eyes for GW this year. Regardless overall Age of Sigmar seems to be a shaky success at this point, and Forge World seems poised to up their revenues this year as well.
I wonder what the next five years will look like for these very different companies that as of right now do a lot of business together via licensing. Will Star Wars mania give FFG the leverage it needs to dominate Games Workshop, or will the status quo continue uninterrupted.
Only time, and perhaps Star Wars, will tell….
From our Friends at BoLS
1) The Industry is surging. This seems to be a “rising tide raises all boats” year. GENCON was absolutely packed, and the gamers just kept on coming day after day after day. Most booths reported record traffic.
2) Boardgames are HOT. While it looked like no segments lost marketshare, 2015 looks like the year of the Boardgames. EVERYONE from Mantic, to FFG, to Privateer, and tons more are kicking out boardgames set in thier universes. And the customers are snapping them up. We didn’t talk to a single manufacturer who didn’t report much higher than expected sales from boardgames products. Look to see ever more elaborate boardgame offerings with nice mini-playing pieces all over the place.
3) Casual Gamers are setting the direction. Yes the hardcore gamers are out there, and there are games to cater to them, but something (societal, fads, or something else) is pushing casual gamers into the market in very high numbers. The real game for manufacturers is how to get these new gamers to settle on them to spend their hard earned money.
4) Age of Sigmar seems to be starting off life well. There was scattered talk from a variety of sources saying Age of Sigmar is moving in solid quantities and retailers are moving AoS product in numbers Warhammer Fantasy hasn’t seen in years. It’s still too early to say what’s happening, but Age of Sigmar didn’t sink like a stone like Dreadfleet did.
5) Star Wars is just insane. The movies aren’t even out yet and FFG is looking like the king of the show – again. They again rolled out a long laundry list of Star Wars licensed products hitting all segments of the market including, card games, RPGs, boardgames, miniatures games. I can’t even imagine what Star Wars will look like at GENCON 2016 with Episode VII behind it.
6) Quality is getting higher by leaps and bounds. The days of any one company owning the mantle of the best minis is probably gone. There are now multiple companies producing top shelf miniatures from FFG’s impressive prepaints, to GW’s technical mastery of cutting process, to Wyrd’s highly expressive vignette-based minis, to Privateer, to CMON’s ever growing Dark Age line. Then you get into the up and comers with folks like Kingdom Death’s beautiful and technically sophisticated minis. Prodos’ AVP, Hawk Wargames’ upcoming space miniatures and Spartan Games Halo minis are certain to turn heads as well.
It was a fantastic show and look for weeks of coverage and reviews as we slowly dig our way out from the mountain of games and interviews we have in the can.
What do you think is most responsible for a surge in interest in tabletop gaming?
About the Author: Rob Baer
Rob Baer
Job Title: Managing Editor
Founded Spikey Bits in 2009
Socials: Rob Baer on Facebook and @catdaddymbg on X
About Rob Baer: Founder, Publisher, & Managing Editor of Spikey Bits, the leading tabletop gaming news website focused on the hobby side of wargaming and miniatures.
Rob also co-founded and currently hosts the Long War Podcast, which has over 350 episodes and focuses on tabletop miniatures gaming, specializing in Warhammer 40k. and spent six years writing for Bell of Lost Souls.
Every year, along with his co-hosts, he helps host the Long War 40k Doubles Tournament at Adepticon and the Long War 40k Doubles at the Las Vegas Open, each of which attracts thousands of players from around the world.
Rob has won many Warhammer 40k Tournaments over the years, including multiple first-place finishes in Warhammer 40k Grand Tournaments over the years and even winning 1st place at the 2011 Adepticon 40k Team Tournament. He was even featured for his painting in issue #304 of Games Workshop’s White Dwarf Magazine.
With over 30 years of experience in retail and distribution, Rob knows all the products and exactly which ones are the best. As a member of GAMA (Game Manufacturers Association), he advocates for gaming stores and manufacturers in these difficult times, always looking for the next big thing to feature for the miniatures hobby, helping everyone to provide the value consumers want.
While he’s played every edition of Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Fantasy (since 5th Edition) and has been hobbying on miniatures since the 1980s, Titans of all sizes will always be his favorite! It’s even rumored that his hobby vault rivals the Solemnance Galleries, containing rulebooks filled with lore from editions long past, ancient packs of black-bordered Magic Cards, and models made of both pewter and resin.
