Why is no-one buying this game?

[Tersia]

Hi all

A couple of days ago I noticed someone posting about a game we have developed. In all honesty we are not doing so great with the game and I would like to know your opinion on why we are not able to sell this game we have developed. You might be more electronic game players but I would still like to know your honest assesment.

We have recently developed a Christian board game. We have gone to a lot of trouble and expenses to get it designed and produced. We have also set up a website to promote the game. In my opinion we now have a very high quality Christian board game. I have contacted loads of Christian sites and people to ask them to help us promote the game. Out intention is to re-invest the money we make to develop ever more exciting Christian games.

The problem we have is that we have sold only one game in two months. This really puzzles me. I would like to know why. Would you mind having a look at the website and give me an honest opinion why you think people are not buying? Your help would be hugely appreciated.

Tersia

 

[Saved_from_flames]

Drop me some info; I'll take a look. I was raised on board games, so I might be able to help out!

 

[rocklife]

Where can we find out about your game? I'd be happy to check it out. Pm or e-mail me.

 

[Tersia]

I am so sorry, I am not allowed to post full URLs. Here is the URL

All the http stuff and then

inthebeginninggame and then .com

 

[emotion]

i'll check it out

 

[Kokopelli]

This is the first post that I have seen any mention of it. But I will check it out.

 

[Western Deity]

There isn't a terribly big market for board games? Board games became big a long while ago, and I don't think anybody really has a chance of establishing themselves with a small scale enterprise (sp?) or similar. There really isn't much any Christian can complain about in games like Scrabble or Twister, but how can you compete with that? Besides, there's probably a Christian version of Monopoly by now...

Also, the game looks to be very detailed and focused on the bible. Around 1/3 of the world's population is said to be Christian, but in reality, don't you think a lot of those could be "Sunday Christians" who go to church, fill "christian" in on the census (or whatever) and that's it? Although there may be a lot of Christians out there, I'd be willing to wager that the number of Christians who know the Bible extensively (sp?) enough to play the game is far less.

The game isn't a mainstream thing (you're not going to walk into a store, see a Christian board game and say "wow I need that", and I doubt many people would go looking for one of their own accord), so you need to push the marketing. Perhaps this is unrealistic, but honestly, not many people will buy this game unless you tell them to.

Lastly, it's $55. If that's Australian *fingers crossed* maybe that's bearable, but if that's in US dollars that is a massive amount of money.

All in all, you want people to come looking for your game, with limited market appeal, for no reason, and to buy it for a monstrous amount of money. Basically, I instead of you making a decent product and expecting people to buy it, you have to get it in our faces, and go out of your way to impress us.

 

[Remy12]

Have you tried selling it to Christian book stores???? This might be hard if you're located outside of the US, but here in the Bible belt their are Christian book stores in every town......it would seem like a good bet that they would want to carry it......the price is a little steep though.

 

[Tersia]

I think you are correct on the price issue. The problem is we run off 500 units which makes the unit cost per game very expensive. Add to that shipping a box like that from the UK and it all adds up.

I take the point on the amount of Christians out there with good Bible knowledge but I just want to sell 500 for now.

I also think the idea of asking outlets to take it on and sell it for a cut is a good idea. I will follow that one up and see what I can do about the price.

(It is USD - ouch)

Tersia

 

[Remy12]

Usd????

 

[Dust and Ashes]

Frankly, I've never heard of it but after checking out the site it looks great. My wife and her family love board games and I think I could get into a good Bible based board game. I'll probably be getting a couple of them soon. Glad you posted this. Thanks

 

[monkey_emperor]

ok so this, after reading some stuff on the site, BOARD game is supposed to be a substitute for today's VIDEO games?

i think you may have shot yourself in the foot.

call me crazy but i'd rather sit down and play a video game over a board game.

and me being a video gamer.... it's a hard sell to say play this board game over here that costs just as much as a brand spanking new video game..... and requires me to have an indepth knowledge of probably some obscure bible trivia.

the idea may be good and all ...... but not all games are filled with violence, sex, and "dark philosophy". Oo like for instance... super monkey ball, super mario series , legend of zelda series, practically any game by nintendo, ape escape, racing games, sports games. .......... i mean you can't really "christianize" a sports game or a racing game. it's racing...... i don't think there is such a thing as "christian racing" ................ at least i hope not.

in the lil blurb on the site about the gaming community and stuff.... i think you may have missed your boat on who your more likely audience is gonna be.......

i see middle aged moms buying this.. and not myself. Oo

don't be offended by this just being honest

 

[Western Deity]

^ I don't know, I enjoy good board games (Although WOW... I love Super Monkey Ball as well). But if you have to sell a game for US$50+ just to break even or make a small profit, maybe you have to sit down and think "Well, maybe the game is just too expensive to go into production, even on a small scale".

I still think the market is the biggest problem though. Out of all the people who could potentially pass your website, how many are going to have an extensive knowledge of the Bible, will want to sit down to play a board game instead of watch a DVD, and spend $50+ when they could go to the cinemas a few times instead? You're pandering (sp?) to a very small group of people.

That said, maybe you could go to games conventions, Christian conventions, Christian bookstores etc., and spread the word. Maybe give a sample or cut down version of the game to a few Churchs or youth-groups or Christian-clubs or whatever, and let them know where they can get the full version, how much it costs etc. I just think that accomodating such a small market is OK, but instead of hoping somebody comes to get your product, you need to take it to them. Get a few free copies circulating through Churches or Bible-study groups in lots of places.

But these are just the ramblings of some random 14-year old .

 

[Flare Amatzikahni]

If you make 500 copies and there are about 300 million people, that's more rare than Dragonball GT, which there were only 10,000 made in English (which is why you see a DB GT game priced at $100+ for used and not the best condition). Nonetheless you can translate the game and sell it to other non-English speaking Christians. I think you should try to stock up on the game, also in an attempt to reduce the unit price enabling a higher profit per unit, then make mass-marketing ideas come into play. I'd be pretty killer if I owned 1/500 of the stocks of one company, so owning 1/500 of the games made would, too, be a monopoly. (That's a rough estimate of 1 copy per 750,000 people. I'm sure there are more than that many Christians willing to boy the game.)

Now onto the contents of the game:

If they say that on the site, 5-year-olds could play the game, I think that the game could easily be altered to make better questions for a more majority of people to know the questions. They can also edit "decks" for beginners (young or inexperienced with the Bible), intermediates, advanced, and Bible Scholars (sp?), to answer the question of "Won't the questions be too hard for me?"

That's all I have to say. If the price were lower, I'd get it.

 

[Saved_from_flames]

Looks good.

How have you promoted the game? I'm sure some Christian sites (especially UK ones) would be happy to help. We must all be sick of Trivial Pursuit and Scrabble by now!

Also...maybe find another way to pay. Not everybody has PayPal.

 

[CHR15T05]

Looks good.

How have you promoted the game? I'm sure some Christian sites (especially UK ones) would be happy to help. We must all be sick of Trivial Pursuit and Scrabble by now!

Also...maybe find another way to pay. Not everybody has PayPal.

Yes I have to ask the same question. How are you promoting the game?

The fact is you could create the best ever product in the entire history of the universe.... but not one single person will buy it if they dont know about it.

I am from the UK originally so I am in the loop as it were. Get on to Christian Book shops for sure. Also try approuching some of the Christian Magazines (My wife worked for one called Renewal but I think it;s changed names now) and ask about advertising or preferably an editorial (article about your game and your vision).

Also having a website is good (and it looks good too) but you need to promote this also. Do not rely on people "finding" your site on a search becasue as we all know, the web is a big place. You are literally a needle in a hay stack.

Hope all that helps. Oh also try Premier Christian Radio.

 

[Tersia]

Thanks for the comments so far, everyone. I really appreciate it and we are working at addressing them

Tersia

 

[Dracil]

Board games are good. German board games are even better (Puerto Rico, San Juan, Carcassonne, etc.)

Personally, I don't generally like trivia games. Does this one include stuff from the Deuterocanonicals?

And this probably would have a better response at http://www.christianforums.com/f281

Have you listed it at Boardgamegeek.com? (nm, I'll do it for you for the geek points )

Have you tried online retailers like funagain.com?

I will agree though that it's quite a bit on the pricey side.