Board game sales in Germany grow again despite sharp fall in wider toy and puzzle industry, “structural crisis” in economy

Board game sales in Germany, one of the world’s biggest tabletop markets, continue to grow despite a “structural crisis” in the country’s economy which has seen the wider toy market slump, new research shows.

Trade association DVSI said board game sales in the German market grew 0.9% in the 12 months to the end of August, against an almost 5% fall for the toy market.

Spieleverlage, a group within DVSI of 19 game publishers from Germany, Switzerland and Austria, said trading cards and collectible cards drove the strong figures once again, but added that the adult games segment of party and knowledge games also provided “decisive impetus”, with growth of more than 50%.

The group said brick and mortar specialist retailers remained the most important sales channel for board games, adding that the price of games was often not the deciding factor in purchases – with players instead more focused on whether the game is a good fit for them.

It said the online share of sales for board games was “at a high level” at more than 40%, but significantly below that of the wider toy industry.

Spieleverlage also praised crowdfunding projects for contributing to further market penetration, aiding the rise in novel game ideas through smaller creations, and the increased availability of international board and card games in German language editions.

Hermann Hutter, chairman of Spieleverlage and managing director of game publisher Huch Verlag, said, “Crowdfunding gives small and less financially strong publishers the opportunity to minimize risks while at the same time bringing more games onto the market, which in turn benefits the entire games industry.”

Spieleverlage highlighted a recent online survey from GfK in Germany, which said 13% of respondents play board or card games at least once per week – up from 8% a decade ago.

That figure was as high as 24% for families, underlining the steep rise in demand – and supply – in recent years of family-weight games from small and large publishers alike.

More than half of respondents said they wanted to play board and card games more often.

Hutter added, “Despite improved income prospects, the consumer climate is a rollercoaster of emotions. The forecasts for Germany by leading economists, which have been revised downwards again, are also unlikely to contribute to a noticeable recovery in the propensity to consume.”

But despite Germany having the lowest share of retail in consumer spending in Europe, at 28%, and the backdrop of ongoing weakness in the country’s economy, Spieleverlag said board game publishers rated the past year as “extremely positive”.

It added that publishers were, perhaps unsurprisingly, pinning some hopes on increased demand in the run-up to the Christmas period.

BoardGameWire reported at the start of this year that the German board game market had returned to growth in 2023, shaking off a difficult 2022 rocked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the global energy crisis.

Sales jumped 9% last year, DVSI said at the time, reversing the 5% decline recorded the previous year thanks to strong across the board performance – with TCGs such as Pokemon, Magic and Lorcana doing especially well and helping hobby games “uncouple” from the wider toy market, which saw a 5% decline in 2023.