Author: murmak

COVID situation in Poland

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I still have a backlog of reports from our partners from last week. So without further ado, here is today’s dose of COVID stories around the board gaming world. This time from our partner Rebel.pl from Poland:

It is probably more or less similar to Czech. In essence, schools and shopping malls are closed for 3 weeks, a lot of our customers are not operating at all or operating 20-30% regular turnover. On the other hand, online stores are very, very active right now, and they have more audiences than ever. So overall our sales were quite similar to sales last year (however channels are different).
Of course, in shopping malls, our stock is not rotating, so we don’t expect any orders from them in the nearest future.
We change our marketing powers from events (obviously) to online, and this is something already with some effects.

For now, our situation is not bad. If it does not stay too long (ends in the nearest 4-8 weeks), we assume our sales will be similar to last year. If it will get worse, who knows? It can crush the whole economy of the country, and this is something challenging to plan.

Slovenia and France

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Slovenia, a small country in southern Europe, is not hit as hard as it’s neighbor Italy. But still, even there situation is not easy, as our partner Ponva wrote to us:

It has been almost a month, and now we are reaching 1200 infected (this is week old info, sorry for posting this a bit late). It may not seem much, but bear in mind, we have a population of 2 million. Shops are mostly closed, international shipments are complicated, and anyway, the warehouses are closed, domestic traffic is jammed (a lot of internet shopping), social gatherings and crossing of municipal borders are restricted, we are trying to keep as much to ourselves as we can… But we have slowly got used to the new ‘normal’ of days. And then the first death in the circle of friends comes, and everything is strange again.

France, on the contrary, is one of the worst-hit countries in Europe. So it is totally understandable what our partner Iello is doing:

On the IELLO side, it was decided to cut back at the beginning of the crisis, mainly to protect the employees.
We have decided to suspend the shipment of our games, not to penalize the shops forced to close.
Our teams are now teleworking, and the logistics service is, of course, very reduced.
Each department is permanently on duty to answer the most urgent questions and to continue the development of the games.
We, of course, continue the development of the games since the beginning of the crisis. We also continue to translate/distribute Print ‘n’ Play games, stand-alone where possible, and we publish guides to light content games: What’s… Deckbuilding? And Play with others… from home!
Activity continues despite all the constraints, the teams are teleworking, to be able to survive to the end of the crisis in the best possible way.

How to play Codenames over the internet

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Over the last several weeks, we were working on many things that might help people to survive social distancing more enjoyably. Most of them are still being worked on, but I am glad that we have the first one ready. Tony Gullotti, our PR manager for North America, prepared a video showing how to play Codenames with friends over the internet.

He is showing some neat set up with Skype and cool Codenames Gadget app (iOS, Android). Pieces of information in this video can be used for other board games as well. But he will not stop there, and he will prepare instructions for more of our games with another videoconferencing software.

Spain with a bit of music

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Spain is one of the worst-hit countries in Europe. But the board gaming market is not that bad, as our partner Devir wrote:

Things in the Spanish market were going extremely well. The sales were booming so much that even the lockout issued by the Spanish government on the 12th of March did not affect the growth of the turnover for that month. Then everything stopped, but online sales.

Curiously enough, Spanish game publishers were able to confine the online below the red line of a 25% market share. Nowadays, it’s 100%, and thanks to the gods of trade, almost doubled its sales. Family games are being continuously played all over the Spanish geography.

The consequences of the confination and the lockout of all the brick and mortar stores can be devastating for the distribution. In Devir, we are working on setting up the best conditions for our clients and friends to recover as fast as possible. This is going to be our priority, together with the planning of a safe OP System.

The situation in the country is very Spanish. A combination of heroic behavior of our medical and health professionals, unprepared politicians acting like apes handling a shotgun, military personnel addressing patriotic, overacted motivational coaching as spokesmen of the government (!), and the highest rate of deaths per capita in all the world.

People take this situation as the Spanish normally take this kind of situation: a combination of fatality acceptance, banalization through humor, and harmless revolutionary domestic rage.

It seems that the impact of the crisis is going to be enormous. Tourism is vital for the Spanish economy, and this will not be over for months, affecting income, unemployment, families, politics, and trade. Maybe someone will think it would be a good idea to produce something valuable instead of selling sun and sangria.

I do not see any purpose of amendment from the country ruling elite, and the EU is missing in action, as usual. The future looks dark, but somehow, the people will get over it, as it always did in the past with sacrifice and finding strange ways to justify its misfortune. Help!

The good part is, as always, our people. Just listen to these guys from my home town Barcelona! Stay home! And enjoy this confination!

Japan from a business and personal perspective

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When I launched this blog to inform about the COVID-19 situation, I did not expect that something like this would happen at all. Not only did we receive how it looks like from a business perspective, but one friend of ours also sent us his personal perspective. It’s fascinating to read and watch…

Let’s start with our partner, Hobby Japan:

Firstly, we thank all the carers in the medical frontier and ones who are struggling to support our daily life in this difficult time all over the world.

The number of infected cases was fewer in Japan compared with other countries at first. But the schools were closed from the beginning of March. No logistics issues and hobby shops were still open without change, so we had no impact affected by the coronavirus epidemic. Instead, the sales of games were increased by over 50% in March compared with the month of the previous year.

The needs for family games were increased during the schools’ temporary shutdown. The situation changed at the end of March. The number of infected cases is rising sharply in the big cities, and the government finally declared a State of Emergency on 7th April. Department stores, major retailers (GMS), and most of the game shops in the big cities will be closed for a month. Amazon and other major online shopping companies are also facing a difficulty to manage the high increase in delivery volume and might prioritize selling daily essentials for now.

Our company has also decided not to release any new titles for the next month. We hope things will improve soon and be able to bring a lot of new titles to people who are staying at home patiently now.

Lastly, stay healthy all!

And here is the promised personal view from a friend who wanted to remain anonymous:

This week, the PM Abe declared the “State of Emergency” effective as of yesterday until 6th May, and it can be extended with advance notice if necessary. It’s not strict compared with European countries or the US, and it applies only to the big cities such as Tokyo and its neighbor area, Osaka, Fukuoka.

We can come to the office as I am at the office right now. No permission is required to go outside, and no fine. But non-essential facilities like Karaoke and amusement center are strongly requested to shutdown. Shopping malls and department centers are listed in it. Some are already closed from today according to the declaration.

We are in short of masks and hand sanitizers the same as other countries and in danger of medical care overflow. We are getting realized that we have to take it seriously and do what we can do now, at least, “stay at home.”

Thanks to the declaration, the number of commuters are reduced this morning but still far from keeping “social distance” between people. When we shop for groceries, no social distancing is practiced yet in Japan. Time to change, we know.

Actually, I want to finish for the day right now. It’s already over 21:30 in Tokyo, and I skipped lunch. No time to break. I think the restaurants have already closed today. We are requested to go back home earlier, so do the shops and restaurants. Basically, I work from home but come to the office as necessary. I have to take care of so many paper works when I come to the office.

Okay, I am done. I will be taking off soon.

PS: The famous Japanese comedian delivers his message “Stay at home” on YouTube. He influences young people, and young people listen to him.

Differences in Nordics countries

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Our friends from Asmodee Nordics (formerly Bergsala Enigma) sent us how they are affected:

In the Nordics, 3 of the 4 countries have enforced quarantine rules at different levels. Sweden being the outlier with schools still open (except universities and gymnasiums), and stores, restaurants, and gyms are still allowed to function so long they take appropriate measures to minimize any spread of the disease. It does seem that restrictions will be eased in the other countries soon, so hopefully, we can get back to sort of more normal life. We will see in time which country chose the correct route to minimize the damages of the pandemic.

As for us as a business, we try to keep everything as normal as possible, but of course, with appropriate security measures. As we are based in Denmark, a lot of our employees have to stay at home to take care of their children as schools are closed, but we still come to work, and our warehouse is functioning. We are receiving and shipping products to our customers but at reduced levels. We have seen an uptick in board games sales that are geared to families as people have found bard games to be a good pass time while quarantined, and probably gamers, in general, are playing more games with their families instead of with their normal gaming groups.

We hope this will be over soon and that the summer will allow us to go back to some kind of normalcy. Stay safe and take care!

Situation in South Korea

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Our Korean partner Boardpia sent us:

The government of Korea has been doing well. Because we are located very close to China, it has been started two months earlier than in Europe or the US. But the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(KCDC) could handle it because they simulated such a situation last year. They have tracked every single person in Korea from Wuhan province, including places they visited and people they met.

Everything has been under control before the 31st patient. She kept lying and hiding her moving records in order to protect her church. She believes in a kind of heresy Christianity. Their strange way of worship made the virus spread. After 31st patient, a number of confirmed cases increased crazy pace. Now in Korea, we have 8,600 confirmed cases, and 80% of people believe the same religion or have been infected by the believers of that religion.

We trust the government and KCDC, nobody stock up food or daily necessities. Schools are closed, and the streets are quiet but no panic. Our office and the warehouse is working as usual. Most citizens try to do the best thing – wear the masks, washing hands, donate for people who need help, reduce the monthly rental fee for the small closed shops, retired nurses and doctors go back to hospitals voluntarily and etc.

I hope all this awful nightmare will pass soon. We can get over it as always. Before then, take care and stay away from crowded places.

Situation in South Korea

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Our Korean partner Boardpia sent us:

The government of Korea has been doing well.
Because we are located very close to China, it has been started two months earlier than in Europe or the US.
But the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(KCDC) could handle it because they simulated such a situation last year.
They have tracked every single person in Korea from Wuhan province, including places they visited and people they met.
Everything has been under control before the 31st patient.
She kept lying and hiding her moving records in order to protect her church.
She believes in a kind of heresy Christianity. Their strange way of worship made the virus spread.
After 31st patient, a number of confirmed cases increased crazy pace.
Now in Korea, we have 8,600 confirmed cases, and 80% of people believe the same religion or have been infected by the believers of that religion.
We trust the government and KCDC, nobody stock up food or daily necessities.
Schools are closed, and the streets are quiet but no panic. Our office and the warehouse is working as usual.
Most citizens try to do the best thing – wear the masks, washing hands, donate for people who need help, reduce the monthly rental fee for the small closed shops, retired nurses and doctors go back to hospitals voluntarily and etc.
I hope all this awful nightmare will pass soon.
We can get over it as always. Before then, take care and stay away from crowded places.

Why CGE blog now?

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In CGE, we were toying with an idea to write a blog for many years. After careful considerations, we always came to a conclusion not to do it. There were several reasons, like the fact that we like to make games more than write about it, or that it would require us to quite a big commitment, to name a few.

But the current situation in the world and our unique position convinced us that it is the right time to start one. Thanks to the success of Codenames, which are now translated into 41 languages, we have partners all over the world. At least in those countries, where modern board games are played.

Since the Coronavirus outbreak started, our partners began informing us about their situation in their country and how it affects the board game industry. Our colleagues who are communicating with them pasted that information to our company Slack, where everyone in our company was reading it. It was fascinating to read unfiltered details on how it looks like in different countries and with a bit of board gaming flavor.

After over two dozens of those, we finally realized that it would be the shame if nobody else would have access to these. So we tried to contact a few first of our partners to see if they will be OK to share those stories on our blog. And the response was overwhelmingly positive.

So here we are. For now, it will contain posts connected to the current situation in the board gaming world and what lies ahead of us. Since nobody knows how it will unveil, or how much our world will change in the following months, it is hard to say now how this blog will evolve. So we will have to explore it together.

On behalf of the whole CGE team, I wish you, your family, and your friends good luck and strong health. Let’s hope that our hobby, which we all love so much, will thrive even in these troubled times.

Petr Murmak
CEO of Czech Games Edition