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In 2011, Castles of Burgundy, Trajan, Ora et Labora, and Kingdom Builder were released. With Agricola and La Havre released in previous years, we had eurogames stronger than ever.
Me? I did the opposite. I started a little blog called Board Games That Tell Stories and I started to work on Robinson Crusoe.
Luckily, it turned out, I was right.
***
Today every publisher releases a few games per month, one announcement is followed by another, games are printed, released, forgotten, replaced by the new ones. No one can catch up, neither the distributors, nor the game store owners, nor the gamers themselves.
We? We do the opposite. We released 51st State in the Spring, Crazy Karts in the Summer and we will release Cry Havoc in the Fall. We curate our releases.
And yet, 2016 was the best year in the company’s history. Luckily, it turned out, I was right.
***
These days all major publishers’ Facebook pages have thousands of likes and their Twitter accounts have thousands of followers. Like our page to win the game. RT and follow to enter the contest. The numbers go higher and higher.
Me? I do the opposite. I don’t go for number, I go for individual people. I know hundreds of my followers personally. I get cookies at cons, I get greetings for my wife when she kicks my ass in 51st State, I have some awesome deep relations with a small number of people. I chose to think deep instead of wide.
Every day I am reminded that I am right.
***
I have a pile of gold on my desk. It is called First Martians and is one of the most anticipated games of the year. Every publisher with at least a bit of sense would print it right now. Because of the Mars theme. Because of the legacy-style gameplay. Because of the Christmas season. Just push the Print button and collect the money.
Me? The opposite. Today, in the newest episode of the #askboardgames show, I announced we won’t publish the game. Even though we’ll miss the Mars-hype timing. Even though we’ll miss your peak of interest in legacy games. Even though we’ll miss the Christmas season.
I’ll release it when it’s done.
I hope I am right again.
