Board games kickstarter 2021
The first six months of 2021 saw a surge in the number of tabletop gaming projects funded on Kickstarter and a significant increase in the amount of money raised for those campaigns. The growth of tabletop games on the platform is partly due to a series of successful sequels, expansions, and re-prints of proven titles. Steamforged’s Gloomhaven sequel Frosthaven raked in more than $13 million and ranked as the highest-funded game of the period.
Other popular titles included Everdell, Mythic Battles, Castles of Mad King Ludwig, and Root. However, many of the gains in tabletop gaming were driven by high-profile campaigns such as Magpie Games’ campaign for a reimagining of Avatar: The Last Airbender and Legend of Korra, which broke records for a TTRPG on Kickstarter. Other notable campaigns include a pair of highly-anticipated roleplaying games from Possum Creek Games and Tuesday Knight Games. Both Mothership and Cy_Borg raked in more than $1.4 million and $444,000 respectively.
Overall, the number of games that have hit their funding goals on Kickstarter this year sat just shy of 1,500 – a figure that is comparable to the previous year. Despite the strong start to 2021, some observers are cautious about the long-term sustainability of the growth in tabletop gaming on Kickstarter.
The nascent Polish platform Gamefound is also looking to take a slice of the market away from Kickstarter, and a recent controversy over white supremacy imagery in the assets for a game backed on the site further shook some confidence in the company’s moderation tools. Still, Combs says that the past trend suggests that the platform will continue to be a strong home for tabletop gaming and other games.