It’s a difficult time for the board game industry. In a digital landscape it finds itself in the shadow of sharper technology, but less-than-favourable economic conditions such as Donald Trump’s tariffs have also hit it particularly hard.
Despite these challenges, and in part because of them, recent board game news reveals a push from non-profit organisation the Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA), who announced its plans to increase its influence across the world over the course of the next 10 years.
This plan comes with a change in name to reflect these ambitions: from The Game Manufacturers Association to GAMA: The Tabletop Game Association (while still being legally named the former).
GAMA Board Game News
Currently, GAMA hosts an annual expo which helps them to receive more memberships, and as a result a lot of their strategy revolves around these events. Because of the impact of tariffs on the board game industry, the short-term plan for the organisation is to place greater emphasis on lobbying – encouraging lawsuits against the tariffs and increasing awareness of their impact.
Additionally, with production companies struggling across the board, GAMA is hoping to represent more designers, manufacturers and retailers, this supporting the industry on all fronts as well as being an organisation that considers hobbyists.
GAMA president, Nicole Brady, emphasised her hopes to become a global force. She said” “Ultimately in 10 years we would like to be seen as the epicenter for tabletop gaming, on both a hobby level and a mass level. And we want to be a global organization.”
How Will GAMA Increase Global Influence?
The question of how they plan to go from being an organisation rooted in the US – 90% of members are in the country, while 5% come from Canada and 5% from elsewhere in the world – is one that GAMA are all too aware of.
Balancing these percentages seems to be the first port of call, allowing GAMA to achieve stronger representation worldwide. this is included under the “second phase” of the organisation’s 10 year plan, said to take place between 2028 and 2030.
Other plans include an anti-counterfeit initiative, as well as trying to represent topics important to the industry to the media. This might also mean helping people to find work within the tabletop industry. At the moment, however, GAMA is still financially dependent on those expos, meaning that if they are to try and expand their outreach, an integral part of their plan is finding other forms of revenue.
