What did I miss? I self-published one of my games, but none of the publishers I've talked to [or who have talked to me] seem to be interested in taking it on for themselves.
The game, EXPRESS LINE, is a dice & card game that uses railroad logos. It took me a year-and-a-half to get all the licensing agreements from the various railroad companies. More than a few people told I would never be able to get all the companies 'on board' for the project, but I did. And now, everybody that I talk to [publishing company owners, anyway], are all shocked that I was able to do it [they all want to know how I pulled it off], but none of them want to to follow up on the opportunity - even though I've done all the licensing groundwork for them. It all seems like 'doublethink' to me, and I don't get it.
If a publisher has an opportunity to put out an extremely hard to get licensed product, but then turns down that opportunity... what exactly does that mean? I obviously don't get the whole licensing concept thing. Most of the licensed games that get into boxes are pretty lame. Once the licensing agreement has been reached, it seems many publishers just slap the first game system they can find on it and on the shelf it goes.
For those of you unfamiliar with railroad logos, you are probably familiar with train games - look closely at them. You'll note virtually none of them sport actual logos from real train companies. For the past 15 years, the train companies have been very protective of those logos and hardly anybody has been able to license them [hence the shock factor by those in the know]. Now that I was able to cross that line, I find it curious that nobody seems eager to take advantage of the breakthrough... what am I missing?
The audience this game is pitched to is just about everybody. It has something for just about everybody:
MASS MARKET - the game only lasts three hours if you have the full 10 players possible. At that point it becomes a party game and 3 hours is fine [especially when you know it going in]. For 3-4 players, a session only runs 1 - 1.5 hours [less for experienced players].
HARD-CORE TRAIN GAMERS - the feedback I've gotten from the afficianados says the flavor/theme comes through in spades. Randomness in the game system has never been called into question. In fact, the randomness generated in the game drives the play.
SMALL PUBLISHERS - for small publishers here in the States that don't have access to to the Big Box Stores or European Distributors, you are probably right. But this is the sort of game that could GET a smaller publisher INTO those markets BECAUSE it has the licensed logos.
LARGE PUBLISHERS - mass market penetration is what it's all about - if I understand how the market works. I'm a game designer, NOT a businessman. But one thing I have picked up on is that licensed material sells bigger at the larger retailers [and in Europe] because the recognition factor spurs impulse buying.
The fact that you have a functional game with some depth to it should only give it legs... nobody else has anything out there on the shelf that can display these highly recognizable logos in a family boardgame format. This game could be at WallyWorld, ToysRUs or Target and sit on the shelf with no competition. My contacts [and the few Europeans who have bought copies] all inform me that Europeans are nuts for this type of thing [of course, they could all be shining me on - how would I know?].
So, yes... I've pitched it to a couple large guys and a couple small guys to no avail. The guy I really WANTED to pitch to - LIONEL TRAINS - are the folks I can't seem to get ahold of. They have an insane market penetration because they can get product into the train hobby store/Big Box/any place else they want through distribution - but the person I was in contact with for 6 months disappeared.... *sigh*
So - I'm thinking I'm going about my presentation all wrong [I call and talk to the people in charge]. Or it might be more than that, and I'm just clueless. Which is why I'm here.
Hopefully it's the 'more than that' and not just 'I'm clueless'. :)