CPG is in Essen for Essen Spiel. It’s our first trip to this nerd mecca, so we have no real idea what to expect. We’ve been warned about the intensity and speed of the convention; we’ll do our best to keep up with everyone and showcase the new features in Far Away: Corporate Espionage. Swing by our booth, 5A700, to see us and other Washington State tabletop game companies.
Between Essen and the imminent release of FA:CE, we haven’t had the bandwidth to prognosticate our future paths. We know some loyal fans and current staff that want to understand where the company is going. Being a big Nate Silver fan, the best way for me to approach answering this is through a probabilistic forecast. I’ll lay out the possible scenarios, then give the odds we’ll go down each path. Feel free to take this action on Manifold.
Scenario 1: New Game in the Pipeline
In this universe, Cherry Picked Games finishes the marketing cycle for FA:CE and starts working on a new project. During this cycle, we may reprint older games, but our primary focus will be on something completely new and original.
Our design inspiration is always to find what makes a particular theme interesting. I’ve always wanted to make a cooking game that explores the pressure of working in a restaurant, particularly the animosity between front and back of house when they should ostensibly be allies. Finding the right blend of stress, challenge, and prideful satisfaction would make for a good gaming experience.
I don’t believe our operation would appear much different than the current version. We’d still pursue crowdfunding and follow the same order of operations to developer, manufacture, and fulfill the new game. Our new title would fit the vibe of CPG but not have similar gameplay to anything else. It’s not our style to reskin old ideas.
Scenario 2: Sell and Fade
Here, the pressures of continued output of the business grow to a point where it’s not fun to go through the production cycle again. Crowdfunding has grown more onerous, and the economy of board games doesn’t make any sense. CPG could choose to grow into more of a publisher role to scale up, but that detracts too much from the goal of creating the tailored board gaming experiences we like. Put another way, there’s little point in having a side-hustle that doesn’t bring any creative fulfillment or joy.
Perhaps this sounds bleak. Rather than framing this as the death of a dream, it’s more that we succeeded in what we set out to do – share our games with fans – and that we no longer need to keep inventing new goals. Here, CPG was a fun ride, and people can still experience the games that came out of it. All our infrastructure stays in place and we slowly sell out of the remaining stock. Despite the absolute deluge of new games, older games don’t really become obsolete. Far Away will deliver basically the same experience today and years from now.
Scenario 3: Corporate Merger
This timeline has us finding one or more partners that are interested in the games we’ve created. We agree to some terms and let Company X expand the Hair of the Dog universe. Perhaps we continue to design games to contribute in some way, but the era of Cherry Picked Games going to Essen as an independent brand is over.
Spoiler alert for the next section, but the odds of Scenario #3 are low. Mostly, it’s because I’m skeptical about interest in our games. Again, there is no shortage of games. Buyers would be looking for something with a bit of a track record, but not in the realms of Disney or some other nerd pop culture IP. It’s not impossible, but I don’t see the demand.
Odds
Scenario #1 – 40%
Scenario #2 – 50%
Scenario #3 – 5%
Despite Scenario #1 effectively being “keep doing what you’re doing”, it’s not the most likely for me. Each game has been harder and harder to bring to market, get traction with players, and pull off in a way that doesn’t lose money. The reward is making a game and getting it on someone else’s table. The cost is battling for everyone’s attention.
Part of me views the struggle for success as a challenge. The other part wonders what the goal really is. Could CPG be more successful if we followed mainstream trends and invested to scale out games faster? Absolutely, bring on Gloomcadia – the cozy dungeon crawler with a gilded bucket to carry all the minis and its ever-growing catalog of sequels and expansions. But all that implies the goal is to make a living from games, not make what I want to make. I already have a job I tolerate in exchange for money. Why make a different one?
All that pontificating aside, there’s still plenty of time to decide and no need to commit. Making another game could get more appealing if the market cools down and giant companies give smaller folks breathing room. Or maybe the need to bring an idea to life will burn bright once more. For now, we still have to show off Far Away: Corporate Espionage. I’m extremely proud of our first expansion and how it adds to the Far Away universe. We’ll give you a great experience of it at our Essen booth.