Last week on the Stonemaier Games monthly e-newsletter (subscribe here), I shared a demographic survey with our subscribers. I’ve done this a few years in a row now, with the intent being to learn more about our followers. I try to focus on questions with actionable results.
As usual, I’ll focus on data where a significant change happened compared to previous years, as well as new/revised questions. First, two quick notes:
- You can see my analysis of previous years’ data here (2020), here (2019), here (2018), and here (2017).
- The motivator for filling out the survey this year was a $100 gift card to our webstore, randomly given to 5 respondents. We received over 4200 responses.
- Keep in mind that this data is specifically from those who choose to follow Stonemaier Games, so it is not necessarily representative of the greater gaming community. I welcome the sharing of any other survey results in the comments.
I’ve asked this question over the last few years, and it was interesting to see that the number of people who primarily buy from local game stores increased from 21% to 23.8% this year.
One related element that’s been on my mind is about how we package expansions, specifically in relation to eco-friendliness. Granted, for an expansion like Tapestry: Arts & Architecture, which contains 8 large miniatures, a decent-sized box is necessary. Plus, the packaging protects the components. And most notably for this topic, a box allows for the product to be displayed at local game shops.
However, for expansions that only include printed components, the packaging will most likely be recycled immediately, with the gamer placing the components inside the original game box. So in the name of eco-friendliness, why not package eligible expansions in thick cardstock envelopes? Retailers could surely find a way to display them, and for the 72% of products purchased online, the fulfillment center can slap a label directly on the envelope and drop it in the mail, no further packaging needed? This is something we might explore in the future whenever it works for an expansion.
These results are pretty close to the 2020 survey, except that one category losing gamers to each of the other categories. Last year, 44.7% of people said they primarily played games “with multiple adults in person.” This year that number dropped to 35.9%. I’m really surprised by this, as this is the year of vaccinations–I’ve played games with multiple friends far more this year than last year (thankfully, all of my friends are vaccinated).
As a publisher, I’m not sure what to do with this change. If that trend continues, it might mean that we should place less emphasis on higher player counts, which has been part of Stonemaier Games’ core philosophy since the beginning.
It may look like I’ve doctored these results, but I’ve really just added labels where the Google Form results weren’t visible. It would appear that there are some significant differences between these tiers, with Steam being first tier, followed Board Game Arena and iOS, then Tabletop Simulator and Android. There’s a significant drop after Yucata, including a slight surprise to me (after seeing how excited people were for Wingspan to come to this format): Nintendo Switch only had 45 people (out of 4200+).
As I discussed in this article, digital developers are almost completely independent of Stonemaier Games (they license the digital rights from us), but I would say that these results affirm a common strategy of starting with a Steam launch and then adding iOS and Android. Board Game Arena uses a different programming language, so we’ve learned to keep those rights separate and simply ask BGA if they’re interested in any of our upcoming games (currently Viticulture and Tapestry are available there).
This is a new question, as I wanted to learn more about purchasing behavior (gifts aren’t my love language, so I don’t think about them much). As it turns out, a lot of people buy games (or game-related products) as gifts!
I really need to do a better job of reminding people that our products make for great gifts for the gamers in their life. Have you seen companies do this well? So far we have our personality-driven gift guide, and I occasionally mention it in our enewsletter, but that’s it.
I’ve asked this question a few times, and it’s always interesting to see how people respond. I’m not surprised that people are always the most excited or intrigued by a brand new game. Though looking at other markets, maybe I should be. Like, when Brandon Sanderson announced that he’s working on a book, I’m more excited if it’s in the Stormlight Archive than a completely new series. But “spinoff games” just 3% here. Though maybe “expansion” is the better corollary.
Also interesting to me is I’ve heard from a major tabletop media creator that their audience just doesn’t seem all that interested in expansions. While there are exceptions to that, I can see what they’re talking about: new games generally tend to create more buzz than expansions. But the data here would indicate that a significant number of people do indeed care about expansions.
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What do you think about these results (and how creators could act on them)?
Also read: The Future of Campaign Games
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23 Comments on “5 Insights from Our 2021 Demographic Survey”
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[…] can see my analysis of previous years’ data here (2022), here (2021), here (2020), here (2019), here (2018), and here […]
[…] can see my analysis of previous years’ data here (2021), here (2020), here (2019), here (2018), and here […]
[…] Also read: Insights from Our 2021 Demographic Survey […]
just a thought for retailers and expansions. i like the idea of packing expansions in envelopes, i have all the expansion boxes from a couple hundred of my games, because i can’t bring myself to getting rid of something that took so much resource…inks, cardboard, man hours in graphic art development, etc….i now use them to cut into custom inserts for the main boxes they are expansions to. my inserts have printed artwork on them that matches the game, it’s pretty cool. if you produced a single 10”x12” card with the artwork for the expansion that the retailer could display on the wall or in a shop window, they could keep all the expansions in the back, saving shelf space for core games only. shipping costs would be less, you could get way more envelopes into a single box, a retailer may be inclined to purchase more, overall production costs would be reduced without having to manufacture multiple expansion boxes and end of the line waste would be reduced as the customer would only have an envelope to recycle. if it was possible to send all components pre-punched and in separate small paper envelopes instead of baggies you could further reduce the shipping weight and the plastics footprint. just a thought, may not be entirely feasible, but even if part of it is, it could reduce our footprint on the planet.
Thanks for sharing this, Jonathan! I think retailers like to hang this sort of thing on metal racks–all they need is a hole at the top of the expansion packaging. Prepunched is an option, but I feel bad asking the great workers at Panda to do that (it’s manual labor, not automated).
I mean, the 2020 survey included almost three whole months before COVID. I bet a LOT of people who said they game in person with friends had that in mind. Especially campaign games (I know I rushed to get a bunch in in March 200).
Be interesting to break down these results by geography. For instance, many people outside the US may still experience lockdowns and so they’re less inclined to play with others in person.
Maybe I’m in the minority, but I love new games and also expansions. It depends on the game and what the expansion adds to the game though. If someone is just trying to make a buck and puts out an expansion that doesn’t add something to the game, that’s a no. But if it adds something I’m all for it. Your first expansion for Tapestry I really liked. I haven’t gotten the newer one yet for Arts & Architecture so can’t speak to that one.
I absolutely love Terraforming Mars and I’ve recently bought three of the expansions. I love 2 of them a lot, and the 3rd one haven’t had a chance to use yet (The Colonies one), but it seems pretty cool.
I love Champions of Midgard and have two expansions for it. I like both of them. I have the expansion to Lords of Waterdeep and like that a lot too.
I have one expansion for Everdell and it’s not bad. So it really depends.
My newest game I got for Christmas is Lost Ruins of Arnak and it’s fantastic. I love it! I’ve already played a 2 player game, a 4 player game and 2 solo plays and love it.
Interesting numbers.
A questions I had after receiving Arts & Architecture.
You talk about eco-friendliness and how to package boardgames and expansions better in some of your blogs lately, so I wondered why you packaged all the cubes separately in their own bag instead of just putting them all in one bag. Wouldn’t that be more eco friendly as the bags they came in are immediately discarded?
Or are the bags the came in bio degradable?
I would much prefer to pack the cubes in 1 bag instead of 5, but when you have components of a different color, this is how they’re machine sorted and packed to ensure the correct number of each color is included in the game. I’m not sure if those bags in Tapestry A&A were biodegradable–it was right around the time that we were making that switch.
Ok, I didn’t know that, thanks for the insight!
> Like, when Brandon Sanderson announced that he’s working on a book, I’m more excited if it’s in the Stormlight Archive than a completely new series
I am excited by that too, but I think the world of books and movies vs. games is very different in this respect due to the presence or absence of linear narratives. Like, I’m more likely to see what my favorite game creator John Doe is creating next than to want to buy yet another Pandemic or Carcasonne expansion or installation (how many do I need?). Even expansions that I like a lot, like Fire and Ice for Terra Mystica or the Scythe expansions often leave me feeling a bit like “Wow, there are all these options and combinations of features. Which should I incorporate into our next game vs. leave in the box? Which are true to the game’s balance, or improve it, and which were fun ideas that just screw things up?” For that reason, I’d typically prefer a number of independent, excellent standalone games than expansions upon expansions. The main exception probably being games with narrative arcs, where I’ve “finished” the story of the game and want to know what happens to the characters or world next, as in Gloomhaven or Mice & Mystics. Which is also why I can’t wait for Stormlight volume 5–the narrative.
Cool data. I know for me, it’s interesting to see how little people have purchased from Big Box stores. I know Target especially has made big pushes into the board game market in recent years, so seeing it be such a small percentage of the total makes me scratch my chin a bit. Granted, this is Stonemaier subscribers, meaning a more hardcore fanbase than usual, but still.
I don’t know if you’re planning to release the demographic data from that survey, but I’d be very curious about how diverse the Stonemaier games audience is, and what insights you have on that, Jamey!
What about the Geocache question!? :)
It appears that very few people in our audience frequently geocache. :)
I just started Geocaching on a camping trip this year. Does this question on the survey hint that there may be caches out there that you, Jamey, have hidden?
Thanks for your curiosity, Terri! We were just seeing if there were enough geocachers out there for us to try something like that, but as it turns out, it’s just a small number of our followers who appear to geocache (or know what it is). Have fun with it, though! :)
Fascinating stuff.
I’ll just say, fewer people playing games in person, does not mean the groups are smaller. I play with my children and their partners, so 6 player games rule.
That’s true, that would fall into the “family” category on the question, and families can be of varying sizes.
wow! conventions are a way smaller percentage than I thought! maybe it’s due to COVID and the lockdowns. i checked your previous posts but it seems you didn’t track conventions so its hard to gauge, haha
I can say that 2021 has been a year of lockdowns and circuit breakers in my region. A few times we were able to meet for a game night but that was between waves. Yes I’m double vaccinated and waiting for booster shot. I’m in Canada by the way. This might be different in the USA hence your perception that 2021 was a year of vaccines. Here’s hoping 2023 will be better. Thanks for compiling this and sharing.
Small note: The last featured question about Stonemaier announcements is about how exciting the announcement itself is, not how exciting/desired the product is. Without specific information about the product, I am more excited by an announcement of a new game, but may not be more likely to buy it over a new expansion depending on the details.
Totally agree. I’m most excited about Wingspan big box and there is no additional content.