Entertainment has been replaced by board games – Kommersant FM
[ad_1]
In Russia, the demand for desktop games is growing rapidly. Manufacturers call them one of the main anti-crisis products. In 2022, key foreign players left the domestic market. The industry itself remained import-dependent, and materials for making, for example, plastic figures and cards became more expensive. However, demand for products still grew, as did sales volumes. Against this background, game publishers have planned to expand production, and theme stores have planned to open new outlets. How has the market fared in the last year and a half? Ivan Khorushevsky sorted it out.
In 2022, Russians, as the authorities noted, turned on “saving mode.” Costs have fallen even on food, grocery retailers complained. But board game stores at this moment, on the contrary, recorded record demand. For some networks it increased by 70% compared to 2021, Kommersant FM’s interlocutors told. And this situation in the market, according to them, is repeated in every crisis period.
Industry participants explain the trend this way: no matter what, consumers are not ready to completely give up entertainment. And among the available options, they choose cheaper options – board games are quite suitable for this request, notes the general director of the game publishing house Hobby World, Mikhail Akulov:
“You bought a board game, even if you played it for a month and put it on the shelf, you got tired of it, then you will definitely return to it later. A good game can be purchased for the price of going to the cinema or to a restaurant, but it will last a very long time. Plus you have a huge assortment. Our publishing house alone releases about 150 new products a year, so this check is a big winner among other entertainments.”
In 2023, the demand for games was no longer growing so rapidly, but this did not reduce optimism in the market. Some retailers, as Kommersant FM found out, have planned expansion. They expect to increase production and publishing houses.
Hobby World, for example, will invest 500 million rubles in the construction of a plant near Tver. Some game stores are also gradually launching their own brands and facilities. These costs should pay off, believes Konstantin Komarov, director of game development at the Zvezda factory:
“Having a plant that produces tabletops completely from scratch is much cheaper, and you end up making a more marginal product. You can increase your turnover, work for different markets, for the premium segment, make board games for Chizhik for three kopecks.”
The situation on the market could have been even more positive if not for inflation, Kommersant FM’s interlocutors note. High prices, be that as it may, scare off some buyers. And over the past year, the cost of production has increased by 10% and even 30%. And it doesn’t matter whether the goods are Russian-made or foreign, complains the general director of the Igroved chain of stores, Alexander Peshkov:
“Importing is becoming more and more difficult. First of all, this is the course. Secondly, all sorts of organizational and logistical difficulties. Thirdly, Russian customs began to reclassify any games that contain cards, retroactively, including the last three years, into playing cards and charge additional VAT and duties. A rise in price is inevitable.
The fact is that even if this game is produced in Russia, they don’t make any thin cardboards and specialized papers here at all. They inevitably need to be imported, and this is a significant part of the cost of the physical materials used in the game. All kinds of plastic and wooden components also most often come from China. Royalties may be denominated in a fixed currency. Such games will also become more expensive.”
Only producers of illegal copies of foreign games remain consistently low prices. After the departure of foreign brands, this segment is flourishing; sales of counterfeit goods have grown to a record 1.5 billion rubles, Vedomosti reported. Legal publishers, trying to win market share, are constantly filing lawsuits against illegal ones, but it is not yet clear who is thinking ahead.
Everything is clear with us – Telegram channel “Kommersant FM”.
[ad_2]
Source link
