A New Console Part 2: Tabletop Success
Updated: May 7, 2019
Astonished. That’s how I felt when I finished my research for this part of our New Console series. If you like numbers this post is going to be for you! If not, I’ll give you the summary as quickly as I can right here. Board Games (the games used on the Tabletop Console) are absolutely exploding! Many people call today the Golden Age of Gaming, but I believe we aren’t even to the middle of that Golden Age yet. It without a doubt has begun, but the success of the Tabletop will most likely continue to grow over the next decade. I for one hope it continues to grow much longer than that! If you do decide to read this post in full you’ll see some insane numbers such as an estimated $120.25 million dollar lead that Tabletop games had over video games in 2017 on the Kickstarter platform! Not only are the stats for Tabletop games on Kickstarter continuing to improve at an alarming rate, but if you take a look at the social media presence of the Tabletop community it is exploding as well. Gaming conventions large and small are also continuing to grow. We saw GenCon set a new attendance record for the 9th straight year in 2017 with almost 208,000 visiting the convention, and odds are it is in the midst of breaking that record as I write this! This magnitude of attendance puts GenCon not simply as one of the largest gaming conventions in America, but one of the largest conventions of any kind! Do keep in mind as you check out some of the numbers below, our goal is not to bash video games, but only to use them for a comparison for the growth of tabletop games. We also realize many people now have distrust for video game campaigns pitched on crowdfunding because they have at times not come to fruition after funding so truthfully any crowdfunding numbers for video games aren’t a true reflection of the industry. If you’re wanting to dig even deeper into the success of the Tabletop be sure to take a look at the bottom of this post for a TON of really solid links touching on this same topic since we try to keep it short and sweet here!
Painting the Picture of Tabletop Success
By The Numbers
22 Million
The rough estimate of Catan copies sold since 1995…in 30 different languages.
1.2 Billion
Magazine ICv2’s estimated worth of the hobby games business in the US and Canada alone in 2015…a 30% growth compared to 2014! Do keep in mind video games had an estimated revenue of 36 Billion for 2017 in the US alone, but the growth of tabletop games is our focus.
4.93 Million
How many views the TableTop series on YouTube has…from less than 200 videos!
200
The amount of board game cafes that can be found in Beijing alone.
20%
The success rate of Kickstarter video game campaigns in the first half of 2017…compared to 62% for tabletop games.
12.5%
How many successful game projects on Kickstarter in 2017 were video games.
208,000
GenCon turnstile attendance in 2017
1.5 Million
The rough number of registered users on BoardGameGeek.com
120.25 Million
The lead that Tabletop games had over video games in 2017 on the Kickstarter platform
318 Million
How much revenue Fortnite generated in the month of May alone…board games are undoubtedly still a ways behind video games!
In the Industry
Wil Wheaton
“Multi-player video-gaming was fun…and then it just became this cesspool of toxic aggression & unpleasant behavior. I wonder if people who had enjoyed all that at first started looking for another way to play games where you could see the person you were playing with”
Scott Nicholson
“Catan made people aware that games could be about things other than moving along a track or destroying each other in combat,”
Matt Leacock
“You connect with people across the table… it’s a very human thing.”
Jeff McArthur
“The belief is that the lack of face-to-face communication causes a rift in human interaction, which in turn leads to a lack of empathy and other societal problems.”
Dave Mills
“You learn life strategies and principles—strategic thinking, social skills, learning to lose and win.”
Wil Wheaton
“A game is not a puzzle to be solved, but a narrative to be told.”
Dave Mills
“Board games are timeless and ageless”
Want More?
If you are interested in reading more about the budding success of the tabletop industry we'd highly suggest these great reads from others that have been engaged in the industry over the past few years!
New Statesman: How Board Games Became A Billion Dollar Business
The Guardian: The Rise and Rise of Tabletop Gaming
DocumentaryTube: The Board Game Boom
Stuff: Board Game Popularity on the Rise
BoardGameGeek: Statistics on Popularity of Gaming
Geek and Sundry: The Exciting Rise of Board Game Cafes
The Guardian: Board Games Golden Age
The Odyssey: Board Games - The Trendiest Surprise of 2016
Gamasutra: Kickstarter and Games in 2017
ICO Partners: Games Category Now Leading on Kickstarter
Tabletop Gaming: Tabletop Projects Rakes in 85% of the Money Made By Games on KS in 2017
Games Industry: Successful Video Game Projects on KS Flatline While Tabletop Spikes
Polygon: Tabletop Games Are Exploding on KS, Video Games Are Flat
Final Note
Don't miss Part 1 of this series linked below and be sure to check back next week as we wrap up the series by looking ahead at what we may see from the Tabletop in the next 10 years!
A New Console Part One: Why Tabletop?
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