If you've spent some time in the hobby, you know by now that we're in the middle of a renaissance that started well before Covid. In large part, this resurgence reflects a cultural shift toward analog entertainment, with players seeking tactile, social experiences in an increasingly digital world. This has been the opportunity to rediscover old classics but most importantly, it fostered a boom in new game publications. Yet, the boardgame industry still functions like a hobby, with a focus on limited print runs that is hardly scaling-friendly. This rapid growth and constant churn has created challenges, such as distribution bottlenecks (retail typically has volume requirements), rising production costs, and fierce competition for shelf space that used to be only occupied by precious few sure-hit classics (evergreens like Monopoly, Trivial pursuit or even Catan, to name a few).
This leads us to the conundrum the boardgame industry currently lives in:
- Publishers prioritize new releases over keeping older titles in circulation, recognizing the market is driven by hype and innovation
- Evergreens are increasingly rare and most titles are going out of print within 2–3 years at best, with the surging demand causing faster sellouts
- The secondary market has become essential for players and collectors, but also feeds a speculative economy where scarcity drives value and resale prices sometimes top the original retail value
The situation has sparked some reactions like Portal Games' Ignacy Trzewiczek stating that the hobby is "no longer an industry with possible reprints. Games come and die fast… a few months later it is considered old", and a response from Stonemaier's Jamie Stegmaier acknowledging the symptoms but suggesting designers and publishers have more agency in the process. Most interestingly though, is a glimpse into a possible (likely?) future, revolving around print on demand (POD), where singular cards or even entire games (via 3D print) would both preserve access to older games and cut through the speculation, while traditional mass production would still be relevant for premium editions / collectors. POD already exists but is hardly a solution at scale; the technology still has some ways to go to bring costs down and become a viable alternative, but it's already mature enough for prototyping, and the democratization of 3D printers is a pretty good sign that things are trending in that direction.
Cheers,
Ady
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