ICv2 Hobby Games White Paper April 2023

©2023 GCO, LLC. Do not reprint without permission.
April 2023
Hobby Games – State of the Industry
ICv2 WHITE PAPER

ICv2 covers the categories that drive geek culture
• Hobby games—TCGs, RPGs, miniatures, board and card games
• Comics, graphic novels, and manga
• Showbiz and merch tied to geek culture properties

In print: Internal Correspondence

ICv2 Pro: For Serious Users and Supporters

Hobby Games Market Analysis
• Where do we get information?
– Interviews – Publishers, distributors, retailers, others
– Publicly traded company information
– Circana (f/k/a NPD) reports
– Kickstarter data
• Estimates built up by category
• This presentation is of preliminary numbers

2022 – A Return to Normalcy
• Supply chains cheaper, faster, but some shortages
persist
• Demand reverting to pre-Covid trends
– Collectibles cooling
– At-home activities shrinking
– Consumer spending on games less overheated
• Trade working through inventory issues

A Return to Normalcy
• In-store shopping strong
• Organized play slowly growing
• Conventions return, smaller

Other 2022 Trends
• Other 2022 Trends
– Mass consumers more affected by inflation, return to
normal activities
– Ongoing pressure on discovery
– Financial stresses on mid-size game companies

What Is the Hobby Games Market?
• Games produced for a “gamer” market
• Usually but not always sold in the hobby games
channel
• The market for those games, regardless of which
channel
• Preliminary estimates for U.S. and Canada

Total Hobby Games Market –
2017-2022

14th Year of Hobby Channel Growth
• Hobby channel up
roughly 10%
• 14th year of growth!
• Store count flat to up
• Dilletantes dropping
off
YEAR
Hobby Channel
Growth Rate
2022 10%
2021 30%
2020 15%
2019 5%
2018 10%
2017 5%

2022 by Channel
• Hobby channel continues to grow
• Mass and Specialty Retail – Circana Games and
Puzzles Flat YoY
• Hasbro non-WotC/Digital games down 28%
• Crowdfunding down

Hobby Games Market by Category
• Collectible games
now over 50% of
hobby
• Collectibles, minis,
RPGs over 75%
• Hardcore hobby
categories held up
better in 2022

Collectible Games

2022 Collectibles Demand Down, Sales Up
• Turbulent year, with reduced frenzy, adjustments
• Improved production relative to demand
• Product surges hurt sales on individual products
• Lower margins for hobby retailers

2022 Collectibles by Line
• Pokemon up over 20% on improved supply
• A tough year for Magic
– Tons of products, formats
– Over-buying on some products
– Overpriced on Anniversary product
• Yu-Gi-Oh up

2022 Collectibles by Line
• Bandai’s One Piece the most successful launch
• Expanding distribution on My Hero Academia
• Flesh and Blood hanging in, good year for Weiss
Schwarz
• Continuing flow of new indie TCGs, following
MetaZoo

Top Collectible Games – Hobby Channel
Fall 2022
Rank Title Publisher
1 Pokemon TCG TPCI
2 Magic: The Gathering Wizards of the Coast
3 Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG Konami
4 Flesh and Blood Legend Story
5 Digimon Card Game Bandai
6 One Piece Card Game Bandai
7 Weiss Schwarz Bushiroad
8 Cardfight!! Vanguard Bushiroad
9 My Hero Academia Jasco
10 SolForge Fusion Stone Blade Entertainment

Top Collectible Games – Mass Channel
Fall 2022
1 Pokemon TCG TPCI
3 Yu-GI-Oh! TCG Konami

Top Collectible Games – Overall
Fall 2022
1 Pokemon TCG TPCI
3 Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG Konami

Non-Collectible Miniature Games

Games Workshop Flat
• According to financials, flat in North America
• Supply on new releases improved
• Still struggling on backlist supply
• Still struggling on paint supply
• Still allocating wholesalers

2022 Minis Trends
• WizKids struggling to supply backlist
• Battletech fastest growth
• Tertiary lines softening
• Painting still strong

Non-Collectible Miniature Games

Top Miniatures Lines – Fall 2022
1 Warhammer 40,000 Games Workshop
2 Age of Sigmar Games Workshop
3 Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures WizKids
4 Marvel Crisis Protocol Atomic Mass Games
5 Star Wars Legion Atomic Mass Games
6 Battletech Catalyst Game Labs
7 Pathfinder Deep Cuts WizKids
8 Bones Reaper
9 Song of Ice and Fire CMON
10 Star Wars Armada Atomic Mass Games

Hobby Board Games

Tough Year for Board Games at Mass
• Target moms stopped buying
• Inventory overhang at beginning of year
• Reduced ordering throughout the year
• Barnes & Noble stronger than mass

Board Games in Hobby Still Growing
• Evergreens still selling
• New consumers continue trend
• Shortage of new hits, old hits (Wingspan) aging
• Challenging times for B games – discovery,
inventory strategies

Top Hobby Channel Board Games –
Fall 2022
1 Wingspan Stonemaier
2 Gloomhaven Cephalofair
3 Catan Catan Studios
4 Ark Nova Capstone
5 Azul Plan B
6 Ticket to Ride Days of Wonder
7 Cascadia AEG
8 Betrayal at House on the Hill Avalon Hill
9 Heroquest Avalon Hill
10 Vagrantsong Wyrd

Hobby Card and Dice Games

2022 Card Games
• Adult party game leaders solid at mass
• A hobbier list in hobby channel
• Mixed bag produces near-flat sales

Top Hobby Channel Card, Dice Games –
Fall 2022
1 Codenames Czech Games, The Op
2 Smash Up AEG
3 CLANK! Dire Wolf Digital
4 Marvel Champions Fantasy Flight Games
5 Lord of the Rings Fantasy Flight Games
6 Uno Mattel
7 Dominion Rio Grande Games
8 Unstable Unicorns TeeTurtle
9 Arkham Horror Fantasy Flight Games
10 Marvel Legendary Upper Deck

Roleplaying Games

RPG Continue Strong Growth
• Stranger Things boosts D&D (again)
• Growth in core brand continues to feed other lines
• Indie RPGs bigger all the time

Top Roleplaying Games –
Fall 2022
1 Dungeons and Dragons Wizards of the Coast
2 Pathfinder Paizo
3 5E OGL Kobold, Darrington, et. al.
4 Vampire: The Masquerade Renegade Game Studios
5 Transformers RPG Renegade Game Studios
6 Cyberpunk RPG R. Talsorian
7 Root Magpie Games
8 One Ring RPG Free League
9 Call of Cthulhu Chaosium
10 Blade Runner Free League

2023 Uncertainty
• Will inflation hurt consumer?
• Will there be a recession?
• Disruptive events for Wizards of the Coast brands
– Magic (SKU proliferation, pricing)
– D&D (movie, OGL)

2023 Uncertain Optimism
• Range of expectations around zero growth, but
optimism dominant
• Inflation, possible recession weighing on
publishers, distributors
• Consumer holding up well through beginning
of 2023

Questions and Comments
• For deck: business card with “deck” on the back

ICv2 Hobby Games White Paper April 2023

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