Making board games as a business

Previously, board games were considered mainly entertainment for children, although there were also "adults", but less common options (such as monopoly). Today, this activity has moved to a new level and has become not only popular, but also a fashionable pastime among young people.

The range of games has become much wider, and they themselves are brighter, more interesting, more complex and often more dynamic. Currently, the gaming industry has a serious scale both in our country and in the rest of the world, and the sale of such goods has become an attractive and quite profitable business.

A board game is a specific product, and therefore you need to work with it according to certain rules in order to become a truly successful distributor (and possibly a publisher). How to open your own business in this direction, we will tell you in this article.

Why is it worth doing business with games?

In the conditions of universal employment and computerization of many processes, it becomes more and more difficult to communicate. Live interaction is lacking for many people, which is observed even within families. A board game is a great opportunity to get together (relatives, friends), have fun and interesting time. And often it's also useful.

Modern games can not only bring pleasure, but also develop a wide variety of abilities and important skills. For children, this is fine motor skills, attention and memory, for adults - the ability to think logically, act quickly or strategically. Young people can show creativity, psychological techniques, dexterity and intelligence during the game. And all this happens easily, cheerfully, the lack of real communication is compensated for.

The tradition of board games has appeared abroad for a long time and exists to this day, in our country they are not yet used to such entertainment. This market in Russia is quite small, although in recent years it has been developing at a rapid pace. This is the perfect time for young entrepreneurs to start their own gaming business with the support of more experienced colleagues. In order to help you navigate the necessary actions, we will analyze the main steps for opening your "game business".

Plan: stages of business organization

The specific actions depend on what you want to organize. Will it be just a sale, or are you also planning to organize the production of board games? If you are just starting your journey in this business, then it is better to stop at the implementation of the finished product, and as you develop and become more thoroughly familiar with the world of games, you can think about publishing them. In order to open your own store, you need to think about the following points:

• assortment of goods;
• search for suppliers;
• promotion and sale;
• sellers;
• development.

According to statistics, Russians annually spend several million dollars on computer games. Both adults and children spend hours in front of the monitor. The gaming industry is becoming more and more popular every year.

This trend makes many entrepreneurs think about how to make money on games. There are many options for such entrepreneurial activity. We will consider one of the most profitable, but difficult ones - the production of computer games.

A bit of history

Alexey Pazhitnov, an employee of the computing center, became the pioneer of the computer games industry. It all started with the fact that to test new equipment he had to come up with a variety of programs. He made them in the form of games. In 1985 he invented the well-known and popular "Tetris".

In 1990, another interesting game was born - Perestroika. Nikita Skripkin became its founder. According to him, no one earned money on it, but thanks to this toy all of Europe learned about them.

Around the same years, they begin to release game consoles, which turned the head of all young people. Starting from the 2021s, more and more computers began to appear in the homes of Russians, followed by PC games. So, many people began to almost live in the virtual world.

How to make money on games: business difficulties

Every business has its own nuances. So, for example, in order for your business of computer games not to go under water immediately after launching the project, it is necessary that it be competitive. And this factor largely depends on the quality of the games and on how much they can interest users.

Competitiveness is growing every day. Over a day, more than a hundred new games are born all over the world, on each of which someone wants to get rich. But only a few of them are gaining real popularity and, accordingly, bring good profits to their creators.

The second problem that those who do not yet know how to make money from creating games may face is the variability of fashion. It takes about a year or two to develop one toy. And during this time, the interests of users can change in any direction. Many creators admit that sometimes it is easier to stop a project than to continue funding it, because while the next game is ready for release, it may no longer be relevant.

Issue price

Before you understand how to make money on computer games, you need to find out how much it costs to start a similar business. In this matter, a lot depends on the scale of the project that you are going to promote. On average, a not very difficult game may require approximately $ 500,000. This is if we talk about Russia. In the west, such projects will cost more - $ 4-5 million.

Almost 60% of this money will be spent on the salaries of hired specialists. Everything else will go to utility bills, taxes, premises rent and other expenses.

It may sound surprising, but the board game business is a very promising line of work in the entertainment industry. The fashion of spending time at the classic "Monopoly" or the more modern "Munchkin" captivated children and adults. This pastime allows you to combine leisure time with the development of analytical thinking and creativity. Selling ready-made and producing your own board games can be a source of stable profit, provided that the organizer approaches it wisely.

How board games are designed

Making board games is a very creative and analytical process. Each classic game has its own story of creation. For example, the classic "Monopoly" was invented by one man, Charles Darrow, in the United States during the Great Depression. He personally made and sold 5,000 sets for a new entertainment, the goal of which is to build his own business empire and the survival of other players from the market.

Another legendary game with a more intricate plot and more probabilities is Dungeons & Dragons or "Dungeons of Dragons". It was created in the 1970s by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The authors took inspiration from another board game, complementing it with fantastic creatures and magic. A younger, but no less famous detective story with quests and battles with monsters "Arkham Horror" was created by Richard Launis, based on the worlds from the stories of the mystical Howard Lovecraft.

These examples suggest that plot development can be inspired by reality, fiction, and even another game. The author creates a virtual world with his own laws, sets the rules and invites others to dive into it. Of course, this is a creative process, but you can still distinguish characteristic stages in it:

• development of the plot and rules;
• creation of a material base (cards, cards, schemes, cubes, tokens);
• testing; <
• revision;
• mass circulation.

Game development as a business

It's safe to say that the production of board games is far from being for everyone. But if you feel the potential to perform such a complex of works, proceed with confidence - there will be connoisseurs and demand. When designing a script and a set of cards, don't expect to get rich instantly. The creators did not become very rich people in a short time, even if their work met with a massive response (as was the case with "Monopoly").

Building a complex game will take several months or even several years. The author needs not only to come up with a plot, but also to work out the maximum number of possible scenarios so that the action does not come to a standstill. Creative thought alone is not enough. It is necessary to predict in what ways events may develop, how players can act, how the plot ends, is there a winner, etc.

What could be the source of board game development:

• Existing board game. For example, the classic "Monopoly" is transferred to new countries, cities, even into a new reality, or the rules are completely reversed ("Antimonopoly"). This option is attractive because the most difficult part of the work has already been done by the creators, and the developer only has to change the design, entourage and material base.
• Popular books and movies. Simple "adventure games" and quests in the worlds of famous universes will meet with a response from their fans.
• Simulation of phenomena and situations from real life. Quests for survival in extreme conditions, solving practical problems can perform both cognitive and entertaining functions.

If you are planning to make money, it is better to create a board game on a computer by contacting an artist or designer. With its help, it will turn out to create beautiful cards, tokens and other inventory. The author's memorable design will become a component of success, because it will give players aesthetic pleasure.

Home Game Development

Economic strategy, management and deep career development are great genres of business video games on the pc that can improve your leadership qualities. Such projects are able to teach a person to analyze and make difficult decisions at a very critical time. Therefore, we offer you a selection of the most popular business games for personal computers.

Business PC Games

Many business games presented in this top have already hit other tops of the site, for example, they were included in construction games, economic simulators on a pc. But there are also those projects that you might not have seen before. Therefore, we advise you to watch each game, perhaps you will like something.

Capitalism,

A well-thought-out economic simulator, where the main character is an aspiring businessman. Your task is to use all your opportunities to develop your own business, and to organize a high financial income, with a stable position in the market.

The gameplay itself is focused on professional activities, so you will need to work a lot with numbers, calculations and in-depth analysis of actions. You can build your own farms, industrial factories, and other companies that can bring good revenue. If all goes well, you will be able to fully manage the market by setting prices for your products, buying up new shares, and working with world-class, successful organizations.

Truck Simulator Franchise

One of the most successful and popular video game series, dedicated to the difficult and harsh work of a trucker. Players will have to travel around the countries of Europe and America, delivering important and very valuable cargo.

The gameplay here is built not only on cargo transportation, but also on our own business development. Initially, you will only fulfill the orders of the supplier, but over time you will be able to buy cars and open your own company. Player possibilities are almost endless:

• Purchase of trucks;
• Rent or purchase of a garage;
• Official employment of drivers;
• Cooperation with other companies ;
• Signing important professional contracts;

The role of a trucker will not leave you indifferent either, because the gameplay here is very realistic and exciting. Players will need to move strictly according to traffic rules, otherwise the police can stop you and issue a fine.

Offworld Trading Company

You are assigned an important and insanely responsible task - the colonization of Mars, capable of giving a huge impetus to the development of all mankind. In completely non-standard and unique conditions, you can lay the foundation for a civilization that will give people new opportunities in the development of the solar system.

Starting a business for the production of educational games for children

Mostly educational games for children are aimed at children, whose age varies within 3-7 years. These games include board games that introduce children to counting, teach them to think logically.

In general, this segment of the market is developing quite rapidly, while it is dominated by high-quality products from Western manufacturers, which are adapted for Russian consumers: for example, games are translated into Russian, adjusting to the requirements of Russian training programs. The cost of such a high-quality game, the components of which are produced abroad, is about 15-20 USD. ...

In addition, a large assortment of products from domestic manufacturers is presented on the market, publishing interesting author's products, which are produced by large book publishers, including AST and Drofa Media, as well as Eksmo-Press and Egmont.

The price of such author's educational games starts from 4-5 USD. ... Such games are developed by experienced teachers and qualified methodologists who know firsthand how to interest a child and attract his attention.

Often the authors of such games collaborate with certain publishers, although sometimes they publish and sell their creations themselves.

I must say that it is the segment of games called "copyright" that is developing most actively today, which is primarily due to the large and stable demand for both developing and educational games and methods among parents preschoolers. If you want to try yourself in the role of the author of any educational game, you need to weigh the pros and cons and get acquainted with the stages of developing educational games.

Stages of Game Development

Development of any board game for children, without exception, includes several stages.

The first stage, which is the most important and laborious, is to create a concept for the future game, that is, to develop game principles, rules, plot and goal of the game.

The second stage is the construction of the game, during which the prototype of the game is created and tested. The main task of this stage is to improve the identified shortcomings. It is important that the rules of the game are as short as possible and, of course, understandable. Special attention should be paid to recommendations for parents, as well as teachers, who, if necessary, explain to children the rules of the game.

Stage three - development of the design of the playing field, cards and other components of the game, including packaging. This is done by the artist, who is also responsible for preparing the layout for printing.