If it seems like more and more people are getting into tabletop games (board, card, dice, rpgs), it's only because they are. A newly released study on hobby games has shown that the market is huge- and only getting bigger. Is a billion dollar industry in sights?
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That's what self-proclaimed pop culture experts ICv2 think. Their study on hobby games that has shown that the market is huge- and only getting bigger. The North American market totaled $700 million at retail for 2013. Collectible Games were the largest success at $450 million, followed up by miniature games at $125 million. Board games followed up with $75 million, card and dice games came in at $35 million and RPGs came in last at $15 million.
"A $700 million market is a significant geek culture market segment," noted ICv2 CEO Milton Griepp. "With the growth it's been experiencing, a billion dollar market is within reach in the next few years, and hopefully this kind of industry analysis will help us get there. I cannot thank enough the industry insiders who helped us compile these estimates. Without their willingness to speak frankly with us about their own estimates of market size and the reasoning behind them, we would have been unable to complete this project."
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ICv2 noted that WizKid's Dice Masters was the hardest to find item thanks to high demand, although Magic: The Gathering was still the top seller of them all, even though it weren't as strong as previous years. Board games have surged in popularity with an influx of video gamers, and miniatures games have exploded thanks to huge properties like Star Wars and Star Trek getting into the mix.
Whatever the case, now's as good a time as ever to get into the market. There are tons of exciting tabletop games being created and it's clearly a place where gamers have been able to find some of the creativity and excitement that's been missing from the video game industry.