Cool Games at ACD Games Day

Brandon and Aaron went to ACD Games Day and this is what they saw there.

Another Distributor Exclusive Ends

In case you missed the announcement earlier this week, Z-Man Games announced that, on March 15, it would end the exclusive distribution deal it has had in place for several years with Alliance Game Distribution, broadening its distribution channel to include not only Alliance but also Southern Hobby, ACD, GTS and Peachtree Distribution. Z-Man Games is probably best known for itsPandemic line of co-operative board games but the company also produces theCarcassonne, Agricola, Stone Age, Tragedy Looper as well as Camel Up and Dark Stories.

Z-man Games is part of the F2Z Entertainment publishing house, which also publishes the Plaid Hat, Pretzel and Filosofia lines of games and the success of Plaid Hat Games and Pretzel Games in using multiple distributors is what likely encouraged the company to end the exclusive arrangement with Alliance and move to a less exclusive arrangement with the other four distributors, which still leaves out smaller and regional distributors such as Aladdin’s and Mad Al.

By my calculations, this leaves about four publishers exclusive to one distributor or another. Alliance Game Distribution still maintains an exclusive relationship with WizKids Games, publisher of the HeroClix line of collectable superhero miniatures games; and Twilight Creations, best known as the publisher ofZombies! and its dozen or so expansions. ACD has an exclusive arrangement with Playroom, publisher of Geek Out and Killer Bunnies and the Quest for the Magic Carrot (if it ever gets back into print, copies are going for over $100 on eBay); andPersonally Incorrect, a card game similar to Cards Against Humanity, is distributed exclusively by Lion Rampant Imports.

In addition, Looney Labs reduced its number of distributors a couple of years ago to two, ACD and Alliance (see “Looney Labs Cuts Distributors”), and added a third, GTS, six months ago; while whoever publishes Kittens In A Blender had an exclusive arrangement with GTS, though I am not sure if that was a permanent arrangement or just for the first (and only) reprinting of the game.

So far, WizKids seems pretty happy with how Alliance has handled distribution of their lines and, especially with HeroClix's heavy reliance on distribution of Organized Play materials to drive participation in OP events and hence sales of HeroClix products, I see no reason to expect WizKids to end the exclusive relationship now and since, from what I understand, money is involved in the ACD/Playroom deal, it is doubtful that one will change any time soon.

However, I would not be particularly surprised to hear an announcement from Looney Labs that they will expand their distribution channels from ACD, Alliance, and GTS to encompass the other two distributors as well. It would give them greater access to retailers that do not have one of their current three distributors as one of their first choices and would make it much easier for stores to restock products like Fluxx and Just Desserts as they will not have to hold off putting in an order until time to place one with one of Looney Labs' current distributors.

The thing that concerns me most about the expansion of Z-Man to additional distributors is the company’s notorious out of stock problem. Though Pandemicand its expansions remained in stock through this holiday season, this has not been the case in past years and the need to bump up production to supply the needs of four additional distributors may prove problematic for the company. I am hoping we don’t see a return to the days of Z-Man’s popular games out of stock for weeks or months again.

Changes Coming to Asmodee, Days of Wonder and Fantasy Flight Games

The big news that hit the game industry last week was the announcement by Asmodee that the company will become Asmodee North America and will offer Asmodee, Days of Wonder and Fantasy Flight Games products under the new structure. The reason for the change as given by new CEO Christian Peterson:

“The marketplace has long been distorted by providing one-size-fits-all sales terms to every retail account, regardless of its channel of sale. The growth in demand for games over the last decade, in our view, has been fueled not only by fantastic product, but by the support of specialty retailers who incubate personal connections between players, facilitate tournaments and leagues, provide instant product availability, and increasingly provide a ‘third place’ that is instrumental for so many gamers to enjoy and discover our products. The retailer cost of providing such channel services is significant, and so we’re now making policy changes to ensure that the sales terms provided to those retailers, relative to other channels, are positively reflective of the value they add to our distribution chain.”

If everything goes according to Asmodee NA’s expectations , all of the changes planned by the “new” company  should go into effect by April 1^st and there are some fairly major ones, most of which will affect the channels of distribution. However, one will have significant impact on the consumer

Changes affecting the channel—The three companies will remain independent in terms of product, however distribution will consolidate, starting January 1^st .  This means that Alliance will no longer have exclusive distribution rights to the Days of Wonder line of products, which include Ticket to Ride and Small World. At the same time, Asmodee NA will reduce its distribution partners to 5:  Alliance Distribution, ACD, PHD, GTS and Southern Hobby. This means that distributors such as Aladdin, E-figures and Mad Al’s, among others, will no longer stock the Asmodee NA product lines and retailers wanting to carry them will have to have an account with one of the five authorized distributors.

A second major change affecting the channel is, instead of raising the price on the combined company’s products, discounts on products across the line will drop to 45%, reducing the margin of gross profit anywhere from 3 to 5 %. Much as with WOTC’s reduction in margin earlier this year, this reduction comes straight out of the gross margin of distributors and retailers. It remains to be seen what Asmodee NA does with the extra percentage.

Changes affecting the consumer—One major change in Asmodee NA’s operations that will directly affect the consumer is a new requirement that any retailer wanting to sell Asmodee NA’s products must sign an independent retailer agreement before the retailer can purchase any Asmodee NA products. There are several items in this agreement but the main one that appears to affect consumers is that retailers, unless they have a separate agreement with Asmodee NA, can no longer sell any Asmodee NA products online. Only retailers that have an agreement with Asmodee NA to sell online will be able to do so and I would imagine this agreement will have some restrictions on MAP (minimum advertised pricing). This means, for example, a lot fewer online sources selling FFG’s Star Wars Imperial Assault for $65, 35% off the MSRP.

These are the major changes planned by Asmodee NA. What actually happens we will know after April 1^st. 

Looney Labs Expands Distribution

It won't mean anything to the purchaser but Looney Labs, maker of Fluxx, Just Desserts, Chrononauts and other fine card games, announced this week they are adding another distributor:  GTS Distribution. Up to now, if a store wanted to carry any of the Fluxx games, it had to buy direct from Looney Labs or buy from one of the two distributors that LL allowed to carry its games:  Alliance Distribution or ACD. This meant, in order to stock LL products, a store had to have an account with one of those two distributors. Now, at least, stores have three places to get LL games from.

Why does this matter? Mainly to stores because this gives them more options from which to get LL products. If Alliance or ACD is out of Regular Show Fluxx, the store can check if GTS has it in stock, meaning, hopefully, fewer out of stocks.

Game Industry Trend #2 Licensing

The second trend I noticed at the ACD Open House was an increase in licenses, especially Cartoon Network ones but also Munchkin. The purchase of licenses for board and card games has been quite common in the mass market but not as much so in the specialty game market, save for trading card games and ones closely related to our market, such as Star Trek, Buffy and Star Wars, rather than the board and card game categories. At both the GAMA Trade show and the ACD Open House , several different publishers showed off games utilizing licenses from Cartoon Network properties such as Adventure Time, Bravest Warriors and Regular Show including Looney Labs (Regular Show) and Catalyst Game Lab (Bravest Warriors).

The licensing trend has expanded to publishers licensing the rights to other games, specifically Munchkin and Bang and producing their own variants.  Both Fireside Games and AEG licensed the rights to Munchkin, with  AEG producing Loot Letter, a Munchkin themed variant of their hugely popular Love Letter, and Fireside Game entering the Munchkin market with Munchkin Panic, skinning Munchkin on top of their Castle Panic game.

Meanwhile, USAopoly, well known for their licensed variants of Scrabble, Monopoly and Yahtzee,  announced the rights to an Adventure Time version of Munchkin and a Walking Dead version of Bang from Mayfair Games. What this means is that over the past 10+ years (almost 15) Munchkin itself has developed into such a strong brand that other companies are willing to pay Steve Jackson Games for the rights to use it, figuring that customers will see the Munchkin name and, if fans of the original Munchkin, at least look at their version of it.

It will prove interesting to see if this trend continues and other game lines prove strong enough that publishers will want to license them.

Queen Games Goes Exclusive

Queen Games got more press this week then they have so far this year, with their announcement of  agreement for exclusive distribution with ACD Distribution.  In the last few months, that makes two for ACD (Queen Games and Playroom), one for Alliance (Z-Man Games) and a split between the two (Looney Labs).  I find it interesting that all of these exclusives are happening in the boardgame industry.  No exclusives signed with RPG companies, none with miniatures companies, none with book publishers and certainly none with any TCG companies.

Looney Labs Changes Distributors

 Looney Labs, maker of Fluxx, Seven Dragons, Ice Dice and other well regarded small games, has signed an agreement with ACD Distribution, Diamond Comic Distributors and Alliance Games Distribution to exclusively distribute Looney Labs products in the US and Lion Rampant Distribution as the company’s Canadian distributor.  From the press release:

In the U.S. hobby game market, Looney Labs game titles will be available through ACD Distribution and Alliance/Diamond Game Distributors. In Canada, Lion Rampant will become Looney Lab's primary distributor, while Publisher Services, Inc. (PSI) will continue to supply Looney Labs games to international markets as well as the U.S. mass market and book trade.