Report To The Stakeholders

[al_kenobi]

Originally Posted by Rev. Pee Kitty

Annnnnnnnd the newest Stakeholder Report is up here, so I'm reopening the thread. What did y'all think?

I'm glad that it was a great year, but I was disappointed that Ogre 6e didn't ship. Hopefully it will hit the store shelves this year!

Al

[Turhan's Bey Company]

Originally Posted by Refplace

Really glad about the increasing Royalty reports. That means that people are making money which means there likely to keep producing.

Given that e23 is largely a GURPS outlet and GURPS is largely an e23 product at this point, it also suggests to me that GURPS is at least holding steady, with the long tail getting a bit longer and thicker as time goes by. If it seems to be deemphasized, it's because other product lines are growing, not because GURPS is fading away.

[robkelk]

Originally Posted by Refplace

Sad of course GURPS was barely mentioned but not surprised.

At least GURPS was mentioned. There's a distinct lack of the company's other four RPGs and Car Wars in the report... but I'm used to that now.

[Sarge]

Originally Posted by Rev. Pee Kitty

Annnnnnnnd the newest Stakeholder Report is up here, so I'm reopening the thread. What did y'all think?

As always, I'm happy that Mr. Jackson continues to do these stakeholder reports. It's nice to know some behind-the-scenes details about my favorite game company.

I'm very happy that SJ Games is doing so well financially.I'm sad to see that GURPS is dying a slow death. I don't blame SJ Games for this, it is what it is.

I do think it's time for Car Wars and Ogre video games though. Perhaps if SJ Games licensed them out to a video game company?

[Polydamas]

Originally Posted by Sarge

As always, I'm happy that Mr. Jackson continues to do these stakeholder reports. It's nice to know some behind-the-scenes details about my favorite game company.

I'm very happy that SJ Games is doing so well financially.I'm sad to see that GURPS is dying a slow death. I don't blame SJ Games for this, it is what it is.

I do think it's time for Car Wars and Ogre video games though. Perhaps if SJ Games licensed them out to a video game company?

I have a suspicion that GURPS material is being published faster than it ever has before. How could it be dying? Some old editions of Traveller and AD&D 1e are still popular despite no new official material for 30 years.

I count over 700 pages of GURPS material published in 2011: from December to June, 6 Pyramid issues, each 38 pages; Instant armour (21 pages), PU3 Talents (28 pages), Social Egineering (88 pages), ThS: Martial Arts 2100 (38 pages), IW: Worlds of Horror (29 pages), Reign of Steel: Will to Live (51 pages), Psi-Tech (43 pages), DF14: Psi (47 pages), MH 4: Sidekicks (23 pages), Starship Aldo (16 pages), DF13: Loadouts (43 pages), ThS: Transhuman Mysteries (38 pages), DF Monsters 1 (41 pages).

Then there is GURPS Horror, Tactical Shooting, the rest of the MH series, and three (!) low-tech companions. The format has changed from 128 page softcovers to 240 page hardcovers and 50 page PDF booklets, but I think GURPS will be around as long as there is a RPG industry, and it will be played indefinitely.

[Classic Uncle Sam]

Originally Posted by Sarge

I'm sad to see that GURPS is dying a slow death.

I wouldn't say GURPS is dying but...

It sounds like a board game or a card game needs to be made that also incorporates, on the periphery, game mechanics found in GURPS Lite and generally nods towards the RPG.

I like that Munchkin is meandering towards the console market.

Looking forward to Castellan!

[Turhan's Bey Company]

Originally Posted by Polydamas

How could it be dying?

Relevant passages seem to include:

Originally Posted by Stakeholder's Report

2011 was another really good year. That's five in a row. We were profitable in 2011, on the highest gross ever: just over $4.5 million, a million-dollar increase over 2010! Reasons:
[...]
We continued to offer RPG support, mostly in PDF form.

and

Originally Posted by Stakeholder's Report

Sales in our digital-product store, e23, went up again in 2011. We think we're the #2 or #3 seller of downloadable files for the gaming community – but this is a guess, as we have no figures for the competition.

We added a bit more content than we did last year: 33 brand-new PDFs (mostly for GURPS), 31 PDF editions of previously printed books, and 30 PDF editions of previously printed magazines.

So: they're publishing more content on e23, most of which is GURPS; e23, which a quick glance at publicly available sales figures will tell you is overwhelmingly GURPS products, is selling more; and their ongoing RPG support is listed as one of the four significant factors in the company's overall success (two are "Munchkin", the remaining one is "other new stuff").

[Rocket Man]

Originally Posted by robkelk

At least GURPS was mentioned. There's a distinct lack of the company's other four RPGs and Car Wars in the report... but I'm used to that now.

Except indirectly, in "clearing out the pipeline." A lot of that happened with a certain angels-and-demons game this last year, for example, with old material making the jump to e23.

The part that bothered me was the one about not yet accepting outside submissions until the pipeline clears a little more. Hopefully, that's not long; there's an idea or two I'd like to try. (But then, I'm probably misunderstanding the passage; if "submissions" refers to outright new games, rather than ideas for the existing lines, that looks a bit more hopeful.)

Overall, it seems to be a very positive report. I'm looking forward to seeing SJG take some more steps upward this year.

[Not another shrubbery]

Originally Posted by Sarge

As always, I'm happy that Mr. Jackson continues to do these stakeholder reports. It's nice to know some behind-the-scenes details about my favorite game company.

I'm very happy that SJ Games is doing so well financially.I'm sad to see that GURPS is dying a slow death. I don't blame SJ Games for this, it is what it is.

I was struck by the big increase in gross sales.

Dunno why the pessimism about GURPS. For now, it seems pretty healthy, with the full-time guys having a truckload of stuff to work on, and a large number of known projects down the line.

[Kromm]

Two quick answers:

1. GURPS has a reduced paper presence but an increased digital one. Adjusting for both effects, we're producing more pages of new GURPS content, publishing more individual GURPS products, and paying more dollars in GURPS royalties than we have in some time. I feel this very personally; my schedule seems busier and more pressed than ever. Which is why, you know, SJ Games hired me an assistant. Thus, "GURPS is dying" is strictly how some grognards with a rosy view of the old days of printed books perceive matters; objectively, it isn't true at all.

2. The profits grow the business. Note also that they give us things like paid vacations. Steve is a very generous boss and I can state without any uncertainty that he's sharing with his staff – those paid breaks are really, really nice, and not remotely common in the RPG publishing business – rather than jet-setting around in a $10,000 suit.