Peter Suciu

Board Games Continue To Innovate In The Digital Age
March 14, 2008

In this day and age of video games and interactive entertainment, board games might seem quaint or even an anachronistic form of entertainment. But in fact, board games have made a big comeback in recent years, and a wave of releases from overseas has given new life to the tabletop activity.

Earlier this month I wrote a story for Playthings, the toy industry trade magazine and sister publication of TWICE, on how board games were selling at retail. To my surprise retailers across the country reported that the Euro Game trend was still going very strong, a fact that was reinforced at the recent Toy Fair trade show in New York.

The key to the success of the Euro Games is that they offer a type of innovation that has been lacking in the American board game market for a very long time. These titles arrived from Europe, notably Germany, but throughout the continent, in recent years and took the board game audience by storm — almost to the point of reviving what many retailers had seen as a market in a downward spiral.

These games focused on simple rules, stylish artwork and, most importantly of all, quick game play. Among the more successful of the first releases was a title called Settlers of Cataan, where players competed to colonize a new land. Instead of being focused solely on conflict and battles, these games offered a variety of victory conditions that included an economic means to an end. More importantly these games could be played in an hour or so, opening the possibility for multiple games in a single evening.

These Euro Games still pale in comparison in terms of sales to brands such as Monopoly or Scene It, yet the games have been innovative enough to make retailers stand up and take notice. In turn (no pun intended), many American board game makers revised old rules, dusted off old brands and released a variety of Euro-inspired games.

So the question for video game makers is: Why we haven’t seen anything resembling the Euro Games in digital form? The biggest brands still tend to be shooters and action games. Titles such as Rock Band, Sony’s Buzz games — the interactive game show style titles — and of course the Nintendo Wii have all proven that video games can make for good social interaction, but yet there has been no movement to digital Euro Games.

One problem could be that while board games from Europe do translate to American gamers, the video games haven’t been as successful. One example is the Settlers series — not to be confused with the Settlers of Cataan. This Settlers game, which has players building a fictional Middle Ages kingdom, has been a huge hit in Germany for years, yet only established a small cult following in the United States. The style of play is just different enough from the traditional military-themed, real-time strategy games that it never caught on en mass. Likewise, the cartoon-y graphics took it in a different direction from American brands including Age of Empires and Rise of Nations.

There have been numerous success stories as well on the military strategy front, with developers including CDV establishing a rather successful niche with World War II-based titles. And though few of these have become mainstream commercial hits, CDV’s war games have garnered a strong following. Over the years other developers from Eastern Europe have had success as well, but most of these games mirror the same type of games coming from America. And very few of these games have been innovative in the way of the Euro Games movement with board games.

Perhaps the most obvious answer to the problem is that gamers remain a fickle lot. Gamers demand innovation and want something different, but most of the time it is more of the same that is most successful at retail. The real losers unfortunately are those of us who truly want to play something different. There is nothing wrong with another Age of Empires or Halo, but to play something as innovative as Settlers of Cataan in digital form, would be truly welcome.

Posted by Peter Suciu on March 14, 2008 | Comments (1)