Touching Base

Game face on!

Major players in the Games and Puzzles sector tell Toy World how they category is gearing up for Q4, whether pricing has been affected by cost-of-living challenges and predict their bestsellers for this year.

Mary Wood - Managing director, Tomy

We are fortunate to distribute Articulate and Logo, brands from the Drumond Park, and these two games have consistently been No.1 and no.2 within the Adult Games sector. Every year, in November and December, we make very high investments in media which is critical to the success of these brands in the all-important last weeks before Christmas. Pop Up Pirate has been No.1 in the Children’s Games market for years and continues to perform at a high level, and Pop Up Mario has performed well all year, appealing to both children and Mario fans, so that could well be a hot game this Christmas. We introduce and significantly invest in a number of new games each year, and this year Word Poppers and Pillow Bash will be released in Children’s Games alongside our already very successful Greedy Granny, Beat the Camera and Screwball Scramble. As social games are becoming more popular, we will be introducing a top seller from the Japanese market, The Game of Saying ‘Huh?!’.  This is likely to be a slow build, as is normal for this type of game, but already the reviews indicate that consumers love the game play so we will watch with interest to see how it evolves.

Whilst the economic background is going to make the season tough overall, a positive is that if families are not able to afford to go out as much, then they will look for entertainment at home and this is where games can win through. At Tomy, we focus on great game play before price, and we invest in building awareness of both new and perennial best-sellers though strong investment. We also support our retail partners with price promotions at the appropriate times, as part of the mix required in making any game successful. For 2024, we will be launching an under-£10 game called 5UP which has received very positive feedback through previews and already has excellent listings.

Last year was a tough year for games. I personally think there was a bit of games fatigue after everyone bought into them and played them so much through the Covid years. However, we know that everything with the toy industry goes in cycles and there is no reason why games should not improve category performance in autumn/winter 2023.

Emma Weber - Marketing and Licensing director, Vivid Goliath

Our global team continues to do a fantastic job in developing new and innovative games, which this year are spread across multiple games categories from Pre-school, Kids, Family, Party and Strategy. We’re particularly excited to be launching The Traitors Official Board Game which offers a fully immersive experience that matches the show. Having all played the game, we can tell you that it’s enjoyably surprising as you start to second guess those who you thought were Faithfuls turn Traitors. We have fantastic retailer support for the game and plans for a celebrity press event and exciting social campaigns are being worked on, to be revealed later in season. Another stand out new launch is Pop Off – a quick play party game which is both simple yet skilful involving Popping Cups and balls with skill cards. A departure from our classic games, Beat Blast, supported by a 360 media campaign, challenges you to swing the beat stick to the rhythm of the music and has great retail support. Already trending in the US, Lunar Dial, a celestial strategy game based on Morbid, a top-ranking podcast, has made a promising start early in season and we are expecting the stars to align for it in the UK.

We are constantly reviewing the market and consumer sentiment, ensuring we offer the best value. With this in mind, we have started to reimagine some of our nostalgic brand,s and a new Gooey Louie will hit shelves in autumn/winter with all the key surprise and delight game play but at an everyday lower price point. Other classics will be coming in the following months. Our pick-up price points for party games have also been developed for stocking filler purchases nearer to Christmas with gameplay that all the family can enjoy.

With constant innovation, new content and licensing partnerships, we’d expect the category to perform strongly this Christmas. The pandemic reignited a love of games experiences shared between family and friends, as borne out by the growth in categories such as Party and Strategy Games. We’ve acutely tuned in to how to reach consumers and find compelling ways to market the right games to the right people - and more importantly at the right time - which we know gets later and nearer to Christmas each year.

Omer Dekel - Chief operating officer, PMI

We expect our award-winning Matchify games to be our best-sellers this year, especially with the new IPs we’re incorporating, which should introduce entirely new fanbases to the memory game fun. We know kids are already drawn to these popular licences, and the parents with the buying power are drawn to Matchify’s educational benefits, including cognitive growth.

Engaging in innovative product development has always been at the core of PMI’s development, and we’re always striving to create top quality toys at an accessible price point. Understanding consumer trends and appetites for products helps us manage SKUs, retail placement and inventory.

Games and Puzzles will always be a staple of family time, and Christmas is a leading holiday when it comes to bringing people together. It's during this time, more than ever, that people are seeking entertainment options which allow everyone to participate easily and foster human connection.

Steve Asbey - National account manager, Cheatwell Games

We have re-designed Spot The Intro and we already know it will be a sell-out, whilst early orders for our brand-new Quiz Cubes suggest the same thing. Tension sales have held up again this year, and our new Top Trivia lines have been incredible. Trivia has always been popular and since lockdown it’s maintained a really strong performance. As we refresh the questions every print run, there are stacks of new ones that are based on events from this year.

This has been kept under wraps for a few months but at Autumn Fair, we will be launching a brand-new range of board games. They are made in the US and are exclusive to Cheatwell in the UK. Stock will be available from mid-October.

We haven’t seen a drop in sales this year and we put that down to our mantra: when you open a Cheatwell boxed game you see a great deal of content and very little fresh air. The value is already there and customers can see that. Plus, we have a substantial range of £5 card games that are already capturing that lower price purchase.

We have already seen this year that our category has bucked the trend, with the Games and Puzzles super category flat whilst the overall decline is in double digits. Games are notoriously a safe bet and as consumers look for ways to entertain themselves at home rather than going out, this is a trend that is set to continue.

Alex Murty - International growth manager, Explosm

Joking Hazard continues to show dominance in the games category, and we expect to continue to do so in Q3 and Q4. We are predicting an uptick in sales of our Master Dater product as friends and family look for new party game options during the holiday season. We also expect our newest games SOSIG and HODDOG to be a big hit as stocking fillers and impulse buys in Q3 and Q4.

We’re not worried about consumer confidence for evergreen games or games with strong branding, but more niche and high price points might have issues as consumers become more selective. We have a wide range of smaller games that we made because we loved them, not over worries of consumer spending – it was coincidental that this appears to the industry trend.

We do not predict a downward turn for games in the low to mid-price point. These have evergreen qualities as people will always look for ways to spend quality time with friends and family, and tend to do so even more during challenging times.

Craig NixonNew business manager, Warlord Games

We’ll be launching our new Bolt Action starter Armies in September – including a £65 British Commando set. I’m excited for this as a key part of our offering is lowering the barrier to entries. Not only is it quite a cool kit, but the RRP of £65 makes it a lot more affordable. This is something I’m really quite keen on for players; a new hobby is always expensive at the outset, so Warlord’s focus on affordability and lowering the barrier to entry is something I will always shout about. I think the set will sell well alongside our existing low-cost Starter Armies. With uncertainty around customer spending, we’re looking to make sure people have a chance to get around the table with their friends, so developing lower priced options is a must. We give support to brick & mortar stores with campaigns, demonstration sets and prizes for competitions. We ran a worldwide in-store campaign where players recreated battles within WWII. This played into both local and worldwide leaderboards and allowed us to really support stores in attracting people to visit and play games. This helps pick up new players as well. We’re keen to do more things like this so keep an eye out. I think Christmas will be strong for the Games & Puzzles category this year. Although higher price point options may feel a squeeze, those who concentrate on affordability and ease of access will do well.

We’re looking forward to Christmas, as stores start stocking up in September and October, we can help within the new business offering for Warlord. We can supply a freestanding display unit and a point-of-sale pack. This contains posters, signs and window stickers to let people know Warlord Games are stocked in the store. These are offered free with orders and can help stores really start to dial in on the offering. We’re excited to see photos of them; I love to share these with our social media team and I’m keen to get out on the road and visit new customer stores.

Simon Newbery - Managing director, Orchard Toys

Dinosaur and unicorn themed products continue to be popular with consumers, so it is perhaps no surprise that our new Dinosaur Dig and Unicorn Fun have started strongly this year, and we expect the strong sales of these lines to continue in Q3/4.

Dinosaur Dig, with a brilliant build a 3D dinosaur element, is bound to be a winner with dinosaur fans, while Unicorn Fun offers shoppers fantastic added value, with three exciting games in one box.

We also predict that our new limited edition festive products will be Q4 best-sellers. Elf Lotto, a new mini game for this Christmas, makes a perfect stocking filler gift and offers consumers a great price point. Our new Countdown to Christmas Activity Book comes at a great price point. Featuring 25 pages of festive fun, lots of stickers, an advent scene, plus a letter to Santa activity with a guaranteed personalised reply, it really is special.

We are proud that our product portfolio offers shoppers fantastic value for money, and therefore we will not be adjusting the RRP of our Q3/4 offerings. We continue to support retailers to maximise sales opportunities, whilst offering them a good margin and our consumers a great price point.

Traditionally Christmas is a really strong period for the category, and we’re expecting that to be the case again this year.  We acknowledge that consumers will be very conscious of where they spend their money in Q4 this year, but we believe our blend of education, fun and price point makes Orchard Toys an attractive proposition within the category.

David LublinerHead of customer marketing, Europe, Melissa & Doug

We expect our ever-popular wooden sound puzzles and chunky puzzles will have another strong festive season, especially as we start to roll out the refreshed look over the next year. Melissa & Doug puzzle themes, such as farm animals, pets and safari, continue to be popular and remain on our best-seller list. Alongside these, we anticipate significant demand for our innovative Gears and Round the Tracks puzzles, which are part of the line-up of new items for 2023. The new Gears puzzles boast interlocking, moving pieces which animate the puzzle, bringing it to life in a mesmerising way. In contrast, Round the Tracks puzzles add a new dimension of play with wind-up vehicles that manoeuvre within the completed puzzle tracks.

We pride ourselves on offering a broad spectrum of preschool-focused puzzles at accessible prices. Our range starts from as low as £7.99, with the entire range priced below £25. This wide offering ensures that our wooden and cardboard puzzles cater to all budgets without compromising on the quality and educational value the brand is known for.

We’re optimistic about the potential for great sales of puzzles this Christmas. Consumers will be on the lookout for products at a lower price point that encourage family time while nurturing developmental skills – a niche which Melissa & Doug puzzles are ideally positioned to fill.

Philip Kaye - Managing director, Kayes of Cardiff

We at Kayes feel the highlight of the last quarter will be the long-awaited high-profile launch of Lorcana from Ravensburger. Strict allocations and vast demand will ensure the new launch will be highly sought after. The seasonal launches of Christmas items from Orchard Toys are also proving popular, as early orders are indicating.

The majority of products which Kayes offers are very competitively priced and offer great value for money to the consumer. Manufacturers are well aware of the priorities that consumer spending is taking so price increases are few, and with our split carton pick and pack policy, we offer the retailer the option of selecting a large range whilst keeping control of their outlay.

We feel sure that the toy sector, and especially the Games and Puzzle category, will not suffer to the extent that the media would have us believe. The retail price spectrum in the sector covers a wide range of affordable products that should ensure the success of games and puzzles, for children and adults of all ages, once again this year.

Will Stewart - UK managing director, Imagination Games

Within the family games range, we predict that our Disney Game Night will be our best seller this Q4; based on the reaction and sell-through we have had in Australia we knew we had something special. This game offers great value entertainment for all the family, featuring favourite Disney characters and five great games as well five additional digital games to play.

We haven’t adjusted any RRPs for Q4 but what we have focused on is presenting great value for money and offering a more memorable gaming experience. We also offer something unique with our Social Games on Demand Platform with Gamestar+ and our other digital games included within our physical games. We want to ensure the customer feels they are getting value for money and that their spend is worthwhile to enable them to create special memories with family and friends.

I think the Games & Puzzles category this Christmas will do OK, considering the current economic climate. As we have seen in times gone by, when there is uncertainty in the market, the games category tends to remain strong. Games bring family and friends together, they create memories and bring joy to those playing and that is why I think the category will remain strong. Consumers will be looking to forget their worries over the festive period and just have some fun with their loved ones –and what better way than with a game?

Lynette Leet - Marketing manager, John Adams

At John Adams we’re proud to offer a portfolio of games that really does offer something for everyone. In the Kids Action Games category, Don’t be a Scaredy Bear and Windy Knickers continue to perform really well, so we’re confident that our new releases Diggy the Dog and Flip Frog are going to be on lots of wish-lists for 4-6 year olds.

We also have some great new licensed games. Based on the success of the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, we’re predicting that our Sewer Battle and Pizza Time games are going to be in high demand. We’re also excited to bring two new Squishmallows games to market, which will be coming into stock shortly.

Bringing the whole family together is one of our core objectives, which we achieve with fun favourites such as Think Words, Silly Sausage and Pencil Nose. This year we’re predicting that our new family party games This Side Up and Smash Down are going to be hugely popular and create some great competitive moments.

Our heritage brands such as Rummikub are going from strength to strength too, so we’re expecting strong sales across both the Classic and the new variations; City, XXL and 6-Player.

During tough economic times we see consumers turning to brands that they know and trust so our reputation for developing great games puts us in a strong position. Our range offers something at all key price points from £7.99 up to £30.

All of our games are carefully developed within our UK headquarters, ensuring high quality whilst also offering great value for money. Games & Puzzles are a key part of Christmas get togethers so we’re expecting the category to fare well this festive period. As always, we’ll be continuing to support all our key brands and games with heavyweight media, digital, social and PR campaigns. We have robust marketing plans in place throughout Q4, so our retail partners can be reassured that we’re behind them all the way, driving awareness and sales throughout the all-important run-up to Christmas.

Kerrie Corrigan - General manager, Coiledspring Games

Several of our games have seen immense sales growth this year and the lead up to Q3 and Q4 will be no different. Our top five predicted bestsellers include: The Mind Card Game, Qwirkle, Next Station London and the newest in the popular Sushi Go! Series, Spin Sum for Dim Sum. This particular title successfully previewed at UK Games Expo in June resulting in a 70% sell through as pre-orders. Another runaway success for Coiledspring this year has been the bluffing card game Cockroach Poker. We have increased our forecasts to cover the anticipated demand of these titles.

Like any business in the industry, we are not immune to the falling customer confidence. To counter this, we have been working even harder with supply partners to ensure key titles have great value RRPs. With price-rises across the board, we do our utmost to keep our pricing competitive, so our games are accessible to the widest audience possible.

In terms of lower priced items, we have been selling Qwirkle for five years now and every year we see an increase in demand for the travel version during Q2 and Q3. This increase is even more marked this year and it is currently outselling the standard version which is fantastic to see. Back in January, we took on the sub-distribution of a selection of Professor Puzzle games to offer in the hobby retail channel. The driver behind this was the immense value in the product, RRP’s start at just £5.99 and the games offer great themes with outstanding replayability.

We are beginning to see an increase in orders coming through for jigsaws. The category took a dip post-Covid as many consumers had a pile left to complete when the world re-opened.

I think Christmas will be, overall, very positive. There is certainly still demand to fulfil with the great family products we represent in the UK, although it’s important to be agile and able to adjust the offering quickly. For my family, one of our traditions is a new board game and a jigsaw at Christmas time and I think this is typical of a lot of families. We look forward to seeing the successes that Christmas 2023 brings.

Emma Holmes - Head of Brand, Ridley’s Games (Abrams and Chronicle)

Our focus has always been on bringing affordable, design-led games to the market. Despite the current cost of living crisis, we are confident that our customers will continue to be surprised and delighted by the detail and creativity we incorporate into our games and puzzles.

Our new game, Roarsome! features double-sided play pattern and comes packaged in a unique dinosaur egg-shaped case made from corn starch. Additionally, the cards are printed on FSC paper using soy inks, making it a completely virgin plasticfree product.

In addition to Roarsome!, we are thrilled to be launching the first in a series of Escape Room games called Saving Shakespeare. What sets the game apart is its reusability and ability to be gifted to others without any damage to the content, provided you use a pencil. This feature is unique in the market of single-use escape room games, making it a real USP.

As consumers prioritise family time away from screens, especially during the Christmas holidays, the toy and game industry offers that outlet to spend quality time, laughing and having fun together. Since the Covid pandemic, we have observed a consistent trend in both games and puzzles due to stay-at-home becoming the new going out. We do anticipate sales of both categories to be challenging, like any area of gifting, due to the cost of living crisis. However, we believe consumers are looking for products that offer affordability, sustainability and above all, raise a smile, and we work hard on ticking all those boxes.

Stephan BrissaudSenior director, Funko Games

Based on our sales data, it is evident that Star Wars Rivals is proving to be an incredible success in both the USA and Europe. In fact, we’re delighted to report that our sales figures have already surpassed our initial projections. Additionally, our Scream Game, which was recently awarded the prestigious Play Creators Award in the category of Game Designer of the Year (Licensed/IPDriven Product), is also expected to perform exceptionally well. We are incredibly proud of both games and look forward to seeing their continued success.

We designed Star Wars Rivals at a highly attractive retail price, and the packaging is sure to catch the attention of customers. Funko Games is renowned for its competitive pricing in the market, which adds to the overall appeal of our exciting catalogue.

It is widely recognised that the board game sector tends to fare well during periods of economic downturn. Funko has exhibited above-average performance over the previous six months. Based on these factors, it is my expectation that the upcoming Christmas season will be advantageous for our business.

Roy Greenwood - Director, Kidicraft

Our Airfix 1,000-piece Jigsaw puzzle range continues to perform well, with the iconic images of the Spitfire and Lancaster bomber proving consumer favourites. New designs are being released for Q4 via AB Gee.   Our ranges have always been extremely competitively priced, giving retailers good margins, and we don’t expect to see much of a change in RRPs in these challenging times. We think that Games and Puzzles could be quite a strong category as consumers pull back on going out and spend more time at home with the family. The excess product in the market appears to have reduced and consumers are now looking for new games and puzzles as they have become fatigued by the ones they bought in mass during lockdown.

John Styring - CEO, Curious Universe

I predict our best-seller for Q3/4 to be our new Curious Universe Games range. This product range has exciting 3D elements, interactive puzzles and tons of imaginative play. The games and puzzles market is competitive, but we are strong in the belief that the unique properties of the games will spark curiosity, appeal to children and bring families together. Our Mindbogglers and Puzzlebilities puzzle brands have become staples in our puzzle offerings and have also continued to be successful ranges.      Our goal with all our offerings is to create great product at amazing value. We want our consumers to enjoy quality products but at affordable pricing. This will continue to be our strategy in our Q3/4 offerings.

The popularity of specific games and puzzles will always vary from year to year, depending on trends and new releases. But overall, we see this category continuing in its heightened engagement during the festive season. Sitting down with friends and family with a board game or puzzle is a source of fun, and we are confident that our new Curious Universe Games have brought fresh and exciting concepts to the market that will pique interest in the build-up, and over the Christmas festivities.

Sally Mason - Sales manager, Ginger Fox

Early sales figures indicate that our new card game from the BBC’s BAFTA award winning TV Show The Traitors is set to be huge. The show gained a massive following on screens in late 2022 and has continued to draw audiences on iPlayer through the introduction of the USA and Australian series. The retail orders we have received for our new card game have already been remarkable. In addition, September sees another big board game launch for us with Ant and Dec’s Limitless Win Board Game based on the hit ITV show. In terms of non-licensed games, our other predicted new best-seller this year is We’re All Gonna Die which was our stand-out success with audiences at the recent UK Games Expo.

Customers often comment that our games are high quality and reflect good value in the market. We already offer a wide range of affordable price points from £5-£25 and therefore have not adjusted our RRPs, with the exception of our larger format board games. The huge spike in shipping rates back in 2021 resulted in an increase in the RRPs of our board game formats. We spent a good amount of time and energy redeveloping our box formats to economise shipping costs and with the welcomed current drop in shipping rates, we are pleased to be able to reduce these back to our preferred RRPs. We are feeling confident that the consumer will continue to see value in both our licensed and non-licensed product.       Early indicators from Circana suggest Games and Puzzles category growth and we are hopeful that this will continue for the rest of the year. That said, we are getting used to facing Q3/Q4 curve balls, and last year was no different with driver shortages, stock stuck in customs and postal strikes impacting ourselves and a lot of our retailers. Without wanting to jinx the entire industry, we are feeling quietly confident that things will go smoothly for the coming season. Whilst households face challenges with the cost of living crisis, games and puzzles are relatively inexpensive options for households to make the most of in-home entertaining and many games offer value that other forms of entertainment struggle to capture. We’re excited to see what the season has in store.

Matt Shaw - Marketing manager – Epoch

Shaky Tower and Racing Kart Deluxe continue to be the most successful lines in our Super Mario range as they capture the imagination of both young and adult audiences of the franchise. New for 2023 is Rally Tennis which launched in time for Wimbledon but offers the old school simplistic arcade game functions. Also new for 2023 is Route ‘n Go which is a vehicle-led puzzle game for children where they have to find a route for Mario and Luigi before their opponents do.

We always strive to make sure pricing is within reach of all pockets and something we continue to focus on. We are committed to ensuring that fans of our products have an accessible entry point to our ranges and with this in mind, we have some exciting developments coming for 2024 which really puts Epoch Games into that bracket. Overall, we predict the games category will do well over the festive period. Games and puzzles provide a popular form of entertainment for bringing friends and family together at Christmas as well as making great family gifts.

From our perspective, Epoch Games was one of two manufacturers that grew in the Children’s Games subcategory in Circana last year, which is an excellent result considering we only entered this category in 2020. With exciting new releases for Super Mario in 2023 as well as our already popular Games titles on shelf and robust retailer plans and ATL media starting in Q4, we have plans to continue to grow in this category and with new development for 2024, Epoch will become a mainstay in the Childrens Games category.

Rory Kelly - Senior sales director, Hachette Boardgames

In addition to our new titles Stomp The Plank, Crack List and After Us, our bestsellers this autumn/winter all have a cosy games theme. In our Wooden Abstract Games portfolio, in addition to longstanding champion titles Quoridor and Katamino, we have been delighted to launch Qawale as a brand-new title this year. The game fits perfectly into the range and allows for a fast, competitive, two player head-tohead as players move the wooden pebbles around the board, competing to be the first to score four of their coloured pieces in a row.

In additional to Qawale, other top sellers to look out for include In the Footsteps of Darwin, a visually stunning game where players set sail on the adventures of Charles Darwin and race to complete the Origins of Species manuscripts. This game promises cosy autumn nights in and has been a huge convention and boardgame café hit already this year.

Whilst we are having a very confident year, performance wise, we appreciate that the current trading environment is challenging for both retailers and consumers this year. Although we have not had to adjust our RRPs, we have been working hard to ensure that our commercial offer for our retail partners remains competitive. We decided at the beginning of the year that we would not increase costs - and kept our minimum order value competitive - to allow retail of all levels to partner with us confidently and try out new titles as they have come along. We have worked closely within our global group to continue to improve supply and logistics to ensure stock arrives right on time, and feedback from the market has been positive in response.

We are really excited for the autumn/winter season. We have worked hard to build a range that we believe suits every type of retail partner and are ensuring that we continue to drive marketing activities to support retail partner efforts with in-store theatre, live demonstrations and takeover events across the UK & Ireland. We have been working closely as a group to ensure that we have the right type of product available when retailers need it, and our sell through rate shows that the interest and demand for games & puzzles in the UK continues to grow. We are confident that we can recommend the right titles to retail to provide a range of products that will help gift buyers this autumn find the perfect new game at a price point to suit all budgets.