Counterfeit Games

[MadWombat]

Originally Posted by lachimba

Interesting.

I don't believe reporting "one guy" as a personal anecdote is at all the same sort of scale that is being claimed though.

There is a lot of it going on. Various channels I monitored as a store owner and still keep an eye on have a steady stream of recasters (and a slowly growing group of 3d Printer users) duplicating GW products, historical miniatures, and other miniature games. It has impacted some smaller production houses and is a headache for store owners who want to balance participation and other sales with keeping illicit material that benefits no one in the industry.

Counterfeits are also a problem in CCGs, with a range from crude forgeries to fairly solid printing machines. A customer had collected examples from Magic to use as an educational tool, and it was scary how good some were. It is a reason that WotC (and others) started adding hologram markers to cards.

The board game element is a bit newer, but with games getting so expensive it is seen as the new frontier for malefactors.