Alexander1968 wrote:I received today a distributor update and he closed the listing saying that this is one of the very worst times for the Italian game market in 25 years       . Italy is hit by a sputtering economy, a terrifying decrease in disposable income and a lot of more problems.  Thaks God I have a decent sized Internet operation (via our friends of eBay   ) that keeps me afloat quite well, but I'm really worried about our industry and, if things don't change quickly, for our country as well    Sigh... Just a little rant with you friends  

Not a lot of disposable income anywhere these days.  Just got an email from someone we know today who are closing a successful business this weekend (they ran a Super Suppers for two years) because they looked ahead and realized they were close to going into debt later this year unless things picked up...so they made the decision to pull the plug now before they owed money.  So it's not just the gaming industry. A lot of mom and pops are suffereing, but also bigger corporations. Starbucks is closing 100 stores; they are doing perhaps the worst they have in their entire history, with their stock reaching record lows.

Typically though some niche businesses do well in times of recession or slowing economy....people can't afford, say, a new car, but they can afford $20 for a new game.  So hopefully the gaming industry will be able to survive the latest economic downturn.

Mike B.

Hi,

the games market does appear to be suffering.

Gencon in Chapter 11.

Games Workshop has shut the Black Library and Sabretooth, and is getting everything printed via Fantasy Flight.

Mongoose is shutting a lot of lines and making ppl redundant.

D20 is coming home to roost... ?

Cheers,
Malc

The game industry never recovered from the tech bubble. A lot of gamers made good salaries back in the day from working in tech companies; those jobs never returned, or went overseas to India and elsewhere. Today many of those who were living well on solid salaries are struggling to make ends meet with two crappy jobs (this is true everywhere here in the States, but especially for our demographic)...

Also, a lot of gamers (especially wargamers) are stuck in the Sandbox, or have gone through rotation over there, and their families have suffered financially thereby. Gamers on the other side of the world making a fraction of their normal salary do not order a lot of games...

Then you had the d20 glut followed by the 4E backhand, a double-whammy on retailers who are now stuck with a lot of unsalable product, even games they thought would sell after the d20 glut passed are now just sitting on shelves. Same for distributors.

Gas and oil prices are causing increasing prices across the board; wheat and commodities prices are causing increases in the cost of food. Many publishers who get their parts from overseas are feeling the pinch from the rising price of gas in the cost of delivery; those who use lots of plastic pieces in their games are doubly whammed by rising petroleum costs.

So prices are rising, just as gamers have less to spend...

Games that survive these times will be those that offer tremendous replay value. Role-playing games where a single book can last a lifetime of adventure; board games with near-infinite reusability and variety (like Settlers of Catan, Risk, BattleLore, etc); wargames with multiple applications (four or more battles or "create your own battle" variants, etc); and of course, trading-card games, in which a cheap booster pack can make all the difference in game play.

Games are not recession-proof, but they historically tended to do better than other markets in recessions, as people had plenty of time on their hands, being out of work. With less government assistance and the tendency to work two or three jobs to try to pay the bills, that recession leisure time is gone. But the idea of making the most with one's leisure time as cheaply as possible remains, so there is some hope there for the game industry... though that might mean people pull their old, dusty Magic: The Gathering cards and 10-year-old Risk boards out of the closet rather than buy new games, time will tell.

Of course, once things dip into a true depression, all bets are off...

guerret wrote:
Think positive. This is a very good occasion to learn how to make a decent coffee in the US.

Hey, I resent that remark . I started roasting my own coffee 5 years ago, and I'm an American... We moved away from a metropolitan area to Bumf&*k Egypt, so no good java to be had aside from green beans from the Internet. Starbucks ain't that hot anyway; the motto at our household is, "Friends don't let friends drink Starbucks."

But yeah, the economy is hurting us a little. Gas prices have seriously curtailed our weekend jaunts, cut into what little padding we had in our food and transportation budgets, etc. I certainly don't have the kind of extra scratch for gaming that I did a couple of years back.

Ah, sorry, guess I didn't read far enough back in the thread.