This week's Rolling for Initiative column looks at how the closure of Mayfair Games affects you. Short answer, it probably doesn't
Showing posts with label Mayfair Games. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mayfair Games. Show all posts
Monday, February 12, 2018
Friday, February 9, 2018
Mayfair Games Sells to Asmodee NA
Just got the following press release from Mayfair Games. What does it mean to customers? Nothing really. The games will still be available, just with the Asmodee brand on them. I have expected something like this ever since Catan separated from Mayfair a year or so ago, although from what I understand, Mayfair is still doing well financially:
As of today, the management team at Mayfair Games, Inc. announces we will wind down game publishing. After 36 years, this was not an easy decision or one we took lightly, but it was necessary. Once we had come to this conclusion, we knew we had to find a good home for our games which is when we reached out to Asmodee.
We are pleased to announce that we have sold our games to Asmodee North America, who have acquired all the assets of Mayfair Games, Inc. This acquisition includes the product line for both Mayfair Games, Inc and Lookout Games, GmbH.
Moving forward, Mayfair product will continue to be available through previously established distribution channels including Alliance Game Distributors for all sales in the USA to the hobby market and with Esdevium Games now Asmodee UK for the UK market.
Friday, October 20, 2017
Boardgame of the Week Saboteur
In the game, players lay cards down from the start, trying to reach the gold nuggets. Broken axes, cave-ins and busted lanterns can impede progress but all players are working more ore (see what I did there) less together, except for the secret saboteur dwarves who play block cards without appearing to play block cards and only win if the other players fail. This is a great game for anywhere from 3 to 10 players while the standalone Sabotuer 2 can handle up to 12 players.
Monday, January 11, 2016
More Thoughts on Catan
Scott's weekly column on ICV2, this week looking further at the creation of Catan Studios
Thursday, January 7, 2016
Mayfair Loses Catan
The Catan line of games, which has been licensed and produced by Mayfair Games since time immoral here in the states, or at least since the early 1990s, will move to the newly formed Catan Studios, part of Asmodee NA. What does this mean?
For customers, probably very little, though you might see more discounting of Catan products in the future. Mayfar Games has a pretty strong MAP program and enforced it pretty consistently, meaning you wouldn't find Catan discounted often below Mayfair's 20% allowed MAP. The games published by the companies making up Asmodee NA, Days of Wonder, Asmodee and Fantasy Flight, were much less concerned about the discounting of their products to the ultimate consumer. There is no indication yet as to whether this situation will continue under the newly formed Asmodee NA. Customers may see much deeper discount prices on Catan or a tightening up on discounting across all of the lines.
For retailers, it means easier access to the Catan line. For a number of years, Alliance Distribution had an exclusive agreement with Mayfair Games, meaning if a store wanted to carry Catan, it had to have an account with Alliance Distribution. Now, companies wanting to carry Catan will be able to purchase it from one of 5 distributors, meaning if one has run out of stock, a store can turn to another.
For the five distributors carrying the Asmodee NA lines, it is also good news as Catan is still a very strong game brand. It was out second best selling line in terms of number sold, only bested by Cards Against Humanity. Distributors having access to Catan, as well as the other Asmodee NA games, should see an increase in their bottom lines.
For customers, probably very little, though you might see more discounting of Catan products in the future. Mayfar Games has a pretty strong MAP program and enforced it pretty consistently, meaning you wouldn't find Catan discounted often below Mayfair's 20% allowed MAP. The games published by the companies making up Asmodee NA, Days of Wonder, Asmodee and Fantasy Flight, were much less concerned about the discounting of their products to the ultimate consumer. There is no indication yet as to whether this situation will continue under the newly formed Asmodee NA. Customers may see much deeper discount prices on Catan or a tightening up on discounting across all of the lines.
For retailers, it means easier access to the Catan line. For a number of years, Alliance Distribution had an exclusive agreement with Mayfair Games, meaning if a store wanted to carry Catan, it had to have an account with Alliance Distribution. Now, companies wanting to carry Catan will be able to purchase it from one of 5 distributors, meaning if one has run out of stock, a store can turn to another.
For the five distributors carrying the Asmodee NA lines, it is also good news as Catan is still a very strong game brand. It was out second best selling line in terms of number sold, only bested by Cards Against Humanity. Distributors having access to Catan, as well as the other Asmodee NA games, should see an increase in their bottom lines.
Monday, December 7, 2015
Top 5 Games for Christmas
Based on our sales for 2015, these are 5 most popular games, in terms of numbers sold, for 2015. The list includes both board and card game, but no collectible ones:
1. Cards Against Humanity--Cards Against Humanity LLC "A Party Game for Horrible People"
2. Catan (and expansions)--Mayfair Games The game of exploring and developing the land of Catan.
3. Munchkin (and expansions)--Steve Jackson Games "Kick down the door, kill the monster, steal its treasure."
4..Ticket to Ride--Days of Wonder Collect the cards to build the tracks you need to win.
4..Ticket to Ride--Days of Wonder Collect the cards to build the tracks you need to win.
5. The Resistance--Indie Boards and Cards Uncover the spies among you before they sabotage your mission.
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Mayfair Games, Industry Leader
I find it
interesting that, despite some complaints from retailers (Star Trek Catan and
the recent exclusivity arrangement with Alliance) Mayfair Games has taken quite
a leadership role within the gaming industry, first with their Minimum
Advertised Price policy and more recently with their co-sponsorship of both
this year’s Origins and GENCON, followed
by their announcement, at the Open House of a strong push with commercial
advertising in the Chicago market (third largest television market in the
nation, according to stationindex.com), including an extended appearance by
Mayfair Games newsrams Bob and Angus on the Chicago broadcast of the Today
show. This, coupled with their offering
of professionally produced commercials to qualified retailers, as far ahead of
anything any other manufacturer (with the exception of WOTC) has developed to
grow the market. WOTC’s relaunch/push of
Kaijudo Fantasy Flight Games and Pazio both do a good job within the industry
of supporting and growing their various games, FFG especially through the Media
Center and Organized Play and Pazio through the Pathfinder Society, but neither
is reaching outside the adventure/hobby/specialty game industry
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Mayfair Games
I would be remiss in not mentioning Mayfair Games, who have some pretty impressive plans for the next year, including an appearance by newsrams Bob and Angus on the Today Show (but only on the Chicago affiliate program) and an expansion of their demo placemat program, with placemats walking players through the game shipping with all new releases and downloadable from the Mayfair Games Website.
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Mayfair Games Goes Exclusive and What It Means to You
As the press release below indicates, the big news for the gaming industry coming out of the San Diego Comic Con was the announcement that Mayfair Games entered into an exclusive distribution agreement with Alliance Games and Diamond Comics Distribution (for those who don't know, Diamond Comics owns Alliance):
Mayfair Games is excited to announce their partnership with Alliance Game Distributors and Diamond Comic Distributors for the exclusive distribution of their games to the U.S. hobby retail network.
Management at Mayfair Games foresees a future bright with opportunities for national campaigns with coordinated outreach and events. With the advent of streamlined, focused distribution to the hobby trade, Mayfair anticipates continued direct support of the hobby retail channel through the MAR program and other means.
Dan Hirsch, President of Alliance notes: “Having worked with Mayfair from the early days of both companies, we at Alliance are excited to partner more closely with them. This partnership allows both of us to focus on the things we do best – Alliance coordinating and wholesaling, and Mayfair developing award winning titles, building brands and communities!”
What does this mean to you? If you are one of our customers, not much. We deal with both Alliance and Diamond so we won't have a problem having to open up a new account to keep stocking in Mayfair Games. If the agreement helps keep Settlers of Catan and its expansions in stock, it helps make certain we don't suffer out of stocks of Catan and other popular Mayfair products
It may hurt other retailers that don't have an account with either of the two distributors as it means they will either have to open an account with Alliance or drop the Mayfair line. Mayfair is the top selling board game line in many gaming specialty stores, so stores without an Allinace account will need to decide if it is worthwhile for them to create one. It also means that retailers won't have as large a selection of sources from which to procure Mayfair. Currently, if one supplier is out, stores can try another one and hope to find copies there. Now, if Alliance or Diamond are out, so are we until Mayfair ships a reorder.
The gaming entity hurt most will be other distributors. If they dealt in boardgames, Mayfair likely accounted for a significant portion of their sales. Poof, that vanishes as soon as they sell out of their remaining Mayfair stock, leaving stores one less reason to put orders in with them.
Summing it up, little change for the customer, not much change for stores already dealing with Alliance or Diamond, major changes for stores that don't and other distributors.
Mayfair Games is excited to announce their partnership with Alliance Game Distributors and Diamond Comic Distributors for the exclusive distribution of their games to the U.S. hobby retail network.
Management at Mayfair Games foresees a future bright with opportunities for national campaigns with coordinated outreach and events. With the advent of streamlined, focused distribution to the hobby trade, Mayfair anticipates continued direct support of the hobby retail channel through the MAR program and other means.
Dan Hirsch, President of Alliance notes: “Having worked with Mayfair from the early days of both companies, we at Alliance are excited to partner more closely with them. This partnership allows both of us to focus on the things we do best – Alliance coordinating and wholesaling, and Mayfair developing award winning titles, building brands and communities!”
What does this mean to you? If you are one of our customers, not much. We deal with both Alliance and Diamond so we won't have a problem having to open up a new account to keep stocking in Mayfair Games. If the agreement helps keep Settlers of Catan and its expansions in stock, it helps make certain we don't suffer out of stocks of Catan and other popular Mayfair products
It may hurt other retailers that don't have an account with either of the two distributors as it means they will either have to open an account with Alliance or drop the Mayfair line. Mayfair is the top selling board game line in many gaming specialty stores, so stores without an Allinace account will need to decide if it is worthwhile for them to create one. It also means that retailers won't have as large a selection of sources from which to procure Mayfair. Currently, if one supplier is out, stores can try another one and hope to find copies there. Now, if Alliance or Diamond are out, so are we until Mayfair ships a reorder.
The gaming entity hurt most will be other distributors. If they dealt in boardgames, Mayfair likely accounted for a significant portion of their sales. Poof, that vanishes as soon as they sell out of their remaining Mayfair stock, leaving stores one less reason to put orders in with them.
Summing it up, little change for the customer, not much change for stores already dealing with Alliance or Diamond, major changes for stores that don't and other distributors.
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Pre-orders
I've talked about the importance of pre-orders before but wanted to revisit the subject.
Pre-orders help us judge how many of a particular comic book, card set or game to bring in. We have records that we look at in order to judge how well an individual new release will sell but "past performance is no guarantee of future behavior". We have dozens of new games releasing every month and over a thousand new comics. We simple have neither the space, nor the funds to bring all of them into the store.
Generally with comics, we will bring in all the regular series of Marvel and DC, though if a title release several issues in a row that just sit on the shelve, we will likely drop it. Mini-series we really look askance at, unless they have a track record such as Kick Ass or Watchmen.
Since we have very little interest from customers on the various Image and Dark Horse line, as indicated by subscriptions, we generally skip lines from those publishers, as well as most of the smaller publishers. If there is a title you want, please fill out a subscription form so that we know there is interest. More often than not, when we gamble on a new title, it sits there so "once burnt, twice shy".
Same thing goes with games. Expansions for currently popular games, sure, we will bring in the next in the line. past experience shows it will probably sell. However a new release from Mayfair Games that isn't Catan or a train game may not make it to the shelf. We have a couple of dozen Mayfair Games that have never sold a single copy in the store. Same thing with Castles & Crusades from Troll Lord Games. I like this game but people don't purchase it so we will give a very hairy eyeball at new releases unless we get pre-orders for them.
Pre-orders help us help you find new games and help us buy from the game companies, which keeps them in business. The more pre-orders we get, the better is is for all three of us.
Pre-orders help us judge how many of a particular comic book, card set or game to bring in. We have records that we look at in order to judge how well an individual new release will sell but "past performance is no guarantee of future behavior". We have dozens of new games releasing every month and over a thousand new comics. We simple have neither the space, nor the funds to bring all of them into the store.
Generally with comics, we will bring in all the regular series of Marvel and DC, though if a title release several issues in a row that just sit on the shelve, we will likely drop it. Mini-series we really look askance at, unless they have a track record such as Kick Ass or Watchmen.
Since we have very little interest from customers on the various Image and Dark Horse line, as indicated by subscriptions, we generally skip lines from those publishers, as well as most of the smaller publishers. If there is a title you want, please fill out a subscription form so that we know there is interest. More often than not, when we gamble on a new title, it sits there so "once burnt, twice shy".
Same thing goes with games. Expansions for currently popular games, sure, we will bring in the next in the line. past experience shows it will probably sell. However a new release from Mayfair Games that isn't Catan or a train game may not make it to the shelf. We have a couple of dozen Mayfair Games that have never sold a single copy in the store. Same thing with Castles & Crusades from Troll Lord Games. I like this game but people don't purchase it so we will give a very hairy eyeball at new releases unless we get pre-orders for them.
Pre-orders help us help you find new games and help us buy from the game companies, which keeps them in business. The more pre-orders we get, the better is is for all three of us.
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