The Board Game Industry Is Burning – and It's Their Own Fault
a year ago
- #business-failure
- #board-games
- #tariffs
- Final Frontier Games shuts down, leaving backers of Merchants Cove: Master Craft and The Sixth Realm without their games despite raising $1.1 million.
- Cephalofair, creators of Gloomhaven, blames tariffs and distributors for their financial troubles, claiming $4 million in tariff costs, but the actual tariff rate for board games is around 20%, not the claimed 245%.
- The board game industry is facing a crisis due to mismanagement, lack of understanding of tariff codes (HTS), and reliance on unreliable freight forwarders who misclassify shipments.
- Final Frontier's collapse is attributed to poor business decisions, including trusting CMON without upfront payment and greenlighting production based on non-binding distributor promises.
- Cephalofair overproduced Gloomhaven: Second Edition, banking on retail sales, and now faces issues importing excess inventory, despite backers funding the entire production.
- The industry's panic over tariffs is largely due to ignorance and misinformation, with many publishers not verifying their HTS codes and accepting incorrect tariff rates from freight forwarders.
- The article criticizes the industry for lacking business acumen, relying on hobbyist enthusiasm rather than professional logistics and financial planning.
- Final Frontier and Cephalofair are accused of playing the victim instead of taking accountability for their poor business decisions.
- The real tariff rates for board games are manageable (around 20%), but publishers are overpaying due to incorrect classification and lack of due diligence.
- The article concludes with a call for better business practices, urging publishers to understand tariff codes and manage their operations more professionally to avoid similar crises.