Recent History of US board game pricing in the US
Recent History of US board game pricing in the US
So the major aspect affecting pricing in the last 4 years are paper costs, COVID, and possibly tariffs with China (the latter I have heard the least of from vendors).
Here is a rundown of pricing changes I have seen over the years:
Special notes: Isle of Cats never increased in price, always at $50, and even more notable because you get a lot of weight and bits for $50, where I would have seen any other company likely charge $60 for it. Gloomhaven Jaws of the Lion is also at a staggering $50 SRP the whole time!! (How much money did Target give Isaac?)
Asmodee: two major price hikes, one in 2019 and another around 2021-2022. Dice Forge went from $39.99 to a whopping $54.99. Most of their other games went up from $40 to $45 and their $50 to $60. Production hasn't changed but sales wise I feel like those games have dipped a little on sales, especially with more affordable $40 games like Cascadia, Decorum, etc.
StoneMeier: Wingspan being around $50-$55 on its first print run now at $65. Scythe went from $80-90.
Pokemon: You think the Pokemon Company would have jacked up their costs during the Logan Paul inflation scam, but only Jan 2023 did Pokemon increase their SRPs.
HABA Games, Renegade, Arcane Tinmen, Red Raven Games, Rio Grande, etc: Most of these companies increased products by around $5, this seems to be the norm. These mainly occured around early 2021
Play monster Games: I got an email saying US Freight costs increased 300% for them, however they sell cheaper products like Five Crowns so I haven't noticed how their SRPs increased, maybe a dollar or two.
Games Workshop: so many price changes it was hard to keep track, as I imagine you have to add whatever was happening with the EU might have also affected costs among everything else in the US, or just GW being GW as usual.
Grandpa Beck Games: the usual $1-$2 price hikes for small card games, but I just want to point them out because it was the only email that felt like an actual human being typed it all up instead of using some template like everyone else.
**Wizards of the Coast. There were a tiny bit later in increasing prices around 2022, but I imagine they make so much profit margin selling a piece of cardboard it likely didn't matter. New D&D books however will start increasing in price next month.
Even though I don't think I've paid MSRP for a board game in ten years, this is really interesting information.
Would you consider the BGA price hikes to fall into the same category as Asmodee? Different reasoning, but still went up and now going up again.
Unfortunately I am only aware of MSRP prices, not secondary market prices. But eBay seems to do something clever where final purchases are hidden so it appears you don't really know what the value of something is unless you personally have your offer accepted from the seller.
To me that sounds like a great way to ensure prices are high but hide their true (likely much lower) value
MSRP still directly affects the price you pay. Especially when Asmode owns half the industry and has a strict MAP policy.
Very true, is this part of the idea behind the 'add to cart to see price'?
Luckily the hobby is broad and tastes vary so much there's a fruitful second hand market.
I'm not familiar with the Board Game Arena price model - is it on a per games basis? I only found information for a premium subscription.
I'd guess that the prices increased either due to general inflation or that they're trying to match the price to the value of the physical products.
BGA has a premium subscription that lets you host any game on the website. There is only a single price point for everything, you do not need to pay for any particular game.
What's the best way to find the MSRP for games? I've come across pricing catalogs form individual publishers but wondering if there is a better way. Like a community sourced database or at least a collection of publisher price catalog URLs.
Direct from the publisher may be best (like shop.asmodee.com).
Otherwise acdd.com, you don't need an account to see SRPs there
I think it's more general inflation than any particular tariff or manuafacturing cost.