December 19, 1998 - Company Update
Publisher Pulls Out of US Distributor Channel
Publisher Pulls Out of US Distributor Channel
|
December 19, 1998 - Company Update
Publisher Pulls Out of US Distributor Channel |
as reported by Clash of Arms on 16 December 1998
Clash of Arms has announced that they will no longer be making their historical boardgames available for general distribution in the US. The following message was faxed to all of Clash of Arms' US Distributors on 16 December 1998, as the fallout of a detoriating distribution channel continues.
Dear US Distributor:
It is no secret that the last several years have been tough on the historical boardgame industry. We at Clash of Arms Games have had to revise our expectations of sales downwards with each game we have released since 1993. In fact, our latest game, Summer Storm (9804-76) had initial US distribution sales of under 250 units. This is 25% of what you would have ordered in 1990. Advance sales of less than 250 copies make it impossible for us to cover printing costs, not to mention the other costs associated with production. We've trimmed our print runs accordingly, but it has gotten to the point where they would have to be cut to where we would no longer achieve the economy of scale that makes it possible to price the games for distribution. By trying to keep abreast of this downward trend, our games have virtually doubled in price, which of course, means that even fewer titles are sold. Simply put, there doesn't seem to be any way out of this vicious cycle if we keep doing business in the same old way.
Therefore: In order to stay in business our stockholders have demanded that we radically change the way we do business in the future. We will continue to make available for general distribution the titles we import from our affiliate in France, Tilsit Editions. We will also continue to make available our role-playing products for the game EMPIRE OF THE PETAL THRONE (stock number prefix TEK). However, starting January 1st, 1999 we will no longer make our historical boardgames available for general distribution in the United States. This will effect the availability of our game LA BATAILLE DE LUTZEN (9803-75) which will be released the third week of January.
We look forward to doing business with you under this new policy and we have a wonderful series of imports on our plate for next year (starting in February) which should more than compensate for the lack of product flow the withdrawal of our wargames from your market may engender. We also wish to express our regret that we must implement such a drastic measure and to assure you that if there had been another alternative that did not also jeopardize our survival as a company, we would have gladly chosen that course instead of this one.
Sincerely,
Ed Wimble - President Charlie Spiegel - Treasurer
The Numbers Tell the Story
The action take by COA was taken as no great surprise, as similar action has been taken by other publishers in recent months. Clash of Arms recently responded on the ConsimWorld Discussion Board as to why the above action with distributors was deemed necessary. The following response shows the numbers that tell the story:Clash of Arms sold 1,500 copies of HOME BEFORE THE LEAVES FALL, at between $90 and $110. That was 18 months ago. An expansion game, WAVRE ($30) sold 1,200 in the first three months in the summer of 1994. CLOSE ACTION sold 900 its first three months. WAR WITHOUT MERCY, a game that has gotton, overall, excellent press by those who played it, has not yet hit 900 after ix months.
It seems that the sales of a game have little to do with the price. SUMMER STORM is on a popular subject, has excellent graphics, is as playable as any other Gettysburg game of the same scale, has some very interesting concepts in the rules, yet languishes in domestic sales (unconfirmed reports indicate only 250 units sold through US distributors). Our Spanish distributor took as many as some US distributors, and the Esdevium Games, in the UK, took more than all but three of them.
clashofarm@aol.com
Clash of Arms Games
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Copyright © 1999, 2000 ConsimWorld.COM. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited. Web Masters are encouraged to link directly to this page, this URL is not subject to change. For general site information: kranz@consimworld.com
