Steve Jackson Games made money in 2020, although slightly less than in 2019 and managed to keep all staff employed despite the devastating effect global lockdowns have had on the tabletop gaming scene.
COO, Phil Reed, shared the company’s Report to the Stakeholders, revealed the company made $4m in gross income, talked about Car Wars and the genuine consideration of not releasing any new games this year.
Instead, the company will look after their current games and release new supplements for them and content to remain strong.
Steve Jackson Games’ best sellers
So, what’s selling? Well, it’s
- Munchkin
- The Fantasy Trip
- GURPS
The success of these games contrasts with new releases. Thanks to the lockdown, some of the 2020 games still haven’t reached stores.
On top of this, Kickstarter makes it hard for new games to sink in. People buy them, but then there’s a new shiny, and the crowd moves on to that. That’s not Phil Reeds’ terminology, you understand. That’s mine. Reed actually says;
The industry was already struggling to adapt to a periodicals model, and things got a lot more challenging for new games in 2020.
Car Wars
The report also tackles the struggles they’ve had with Car Wars. Yes, the game made more than $1,000,000 in revenue on Kickstarter, but it is behind schedule. It was officially delayed in August.
There’s no official ETA on the game, but the company does expect to deliver it this year – and that would mark the 40th anniversary of Car Wars.
Plans for 2021
Phil makes it clear what the company needs to do. It needs to survive. He writes;
Our top priority is simply survival. No one is out of the woods yet. Due to the pandemic, shipping from Asia has become slow, unreliable, and expensive.
But brand new games will not get such a lofty position. Reed notes;
Brand-new games are a fourth priority. We have been busy, and we have some to show you . . . but depending on the pandemic and the needs of the higher priorities, we may release them in 2021, or we may stick with the evergreens for now.
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