15 mei 2023 door Debra Trampe
Authors: Janneke Delisse, Bart Doorneweert, & Debra Trampe
The board game industry is booming! Thousands of new board games are released every year, mainly by small, independent game developers. Innovation in the board game industry is primarily reflected in product innovation, but much less so in the production process. This process is not very sustainable: the vast majority of newly developed board games are produced in China, which makes logistics burdensome. Moreover, the production process is characterized by inefficiency and a lot of waste.
Board game supplier Meeples wants to change this by offering small game developers a local, short, and sustainable alternative. This ambition aligns well with the approach of the Knowledge and Innovation Center for Business and Communication of the HAN University of Applied Sciences, as our goal is to contribute to broad prosperity through practice-oriented research. Broad prosperity goes beyond financial-economic well-being in the here and now. It also includes the quality and safety of the environment and living conditions (Manders, Thewissen & Timmer, 2022). More sustainable production and distribution processes contribute to this.
The importance of this practice-oriented research project was also recognized by SIA: we received an HBO Take-off grant for it. And of course, we worked on this project in the research-education-industry triangle. The industry was represented by Floris Toorenburg of Meeples. The involved students were Stijn Tijdink, Quin Peeters, and Fabian Pompen from the Commercial Economics program and Ole Bekker and Luuk Huijnen from the Business Administration program. Students from the Retail & Store Management minor also played a role in the project. The research team consisted of Janneke Delisse, Bart Doorneweert, Esther Comes, Thomas Lans, and Debra Trampe.
Exploratory research in the board game industry
To understand where opportunities exist for sustainability in the production and distribution process of board games published by small game developers, it is important to first gain insight into the current situation. Who are the small game developers? What types of people, motivations, and ways of operating are found in the industry? What problems do small game developers encounter when publishing their board game?
To answer these questions, we extensively interviewed 17 small game developers. During the interviews, they shared their ambitions and ways of working through the lens of a recently released game.
The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed by the research team (excluding Meeples). For data processing, the principles of the pop-up studio method, developed by renowned design ethnographer Jan Chipchase (2017), were used (in virtual form). The pop-up studio provides a space for the research team to immerse themselves in the data and keep track of everyone’s contributions. It is an excellent space for collaborative learning, exploring and developing ideas, and conducting experiments.
Based on the interviews, we were able to create a personal profile of the game makers and synthesize them into four personas. The data also provided insight into how game developers have structured their publishing chains and where they experience successes and pain points in their approach.
Who are the game developers?
The research yielded several clear profiles of small game developers:
- The Missionary: Has developed a sharp and unassailable game concept and wants to bring this specific vision to the world, with less focus on cost/benefit ratios.
- The Promoter: Offers to publish games for developers they have a personal connection with. Enthusiasm for the game often prevails in business decision-making.
- The Explorer: Is passionate about game-making and seeks a commercially viable approach to continue doing so.
- The Operator: Manages a portfolio of games according to a strict commercial product lifecycle with a recognizable brand policy.
The majority of respondents in the research fall into the category of The Explorer. This group is open to advice and guidance in their quest for a viable setup for their publishing company.
Results and invitation to the final event
We used the profiles, pain points, and successes to create a self-scan. The self-scan is intended for anyone with serious plans to release a game. The self-scan helps (future) game developers determine if they are ready to release their game, as well as what their risks are and what timeline they can follow to launch.
The hypothesis now is that based on the outcomes of the self-scan, a pre-selection of projects can be made that can benefit the most from the short, sustainable production chain operated by Meeples.
We will present what this chain looks like at the closing event of the research project on June 19. The final event is open to all interested parties, subject to registration and available places. The event will take place from 18:00 to 21:00 and is free of charge. We will provide pizzas and drinks. Location: Entrepreneurs Lab of HAN at Houtwerf 23 in Nijmegen. Register before June 9 HERE. We look forward to your ideas on a more sustainable board game industry for small game developers!
Want to know more about the self-scan? You can find it here.
In addition to research among game developers, we also focused on retailers. How do they experience the purchasing process of board games? We are currently analyzing the collected data. To be continued!
References:
Chipchase, J. (2017). The Field Study Handbook. Field Institute, San Francisco, United States.
Manders, T., Thewissen, S., & Timmer, M. (2022). Broad prosperity: the CPB beyond GDP. Retrieved from https://www.cpb.nl/sites/default/files/omnidownload/CPB-Notitie-Brede-welvaart-het-CPB-voorbij-het-bbp.pdf