Early this month I talked about Hasbro, the megagoliath that has eaten the gaming world, sucking up an amazing 80% of the tabletop game trade. As I said in that article, they have the ability to do a lot of damage to our industry. But, for now at least, there’s room for the smaller guys to get into the biz.
This week I want to turn that around, and talk about some of the up-and-coming game companies. These guys aren’t necessarily small (though none are huge), and they aren’t necessarily new (though some are). Instead, they’re companies that are working on publishing new sorts of games — either because they’re just getting into the biz or because they’re dramatically changing their focus.
Together these companies offer an insight into trends at the opposite side of the gaming industry from Hasbro: the companies who may be on the list of notable publishers in our niche in a few years.