So I did a post around this time last year that was quite popular about the behind the scenes financial stuff when it comes to me writing reviews. It also contained some high level reflections on my gaming year. This is basically the same but for 2024.
For those that don’t know me, I usually don’t even ask for review copies because I prefer buying/selling my games instead. Rationally speaking, I really should reach out to publishers more and see if I can get games early, but I never quite liked the idea of feeling indebted to write about a game just because I got the review copy. And that’s independent of whether I’d like a game or not. Simply being forced to write about a game because I made a promise to do so sounds horrible in my head. So instead it’s mostly a lot of dealing on the second hand market and some crowd funding I do on my own.
Gaming Purchases
I would say 2024 was an okay year for gaming and not as strong as previous years. At least fewer releases really stuck with me or made it on my “must have” list while at the same time I discovered some amazing games from the past (in some cases 20 year old past!). Maybe previous years were stronger due to the pandemic and people having more time for development/playtesting? According to my bookkeeping:
- I bought 53 games or expansions in 2024 (down from 61 in 2023) though I sold almost equally as much and as a result my collection just grew by 4 games! I still hope to actually get this number down by the end of the year and end up net negative.
- Of those 53, I wrote reviews about only 13, giving me the same 1 in 4 ratio I had last year. A lot of games out there are just plain unremarkable, mediocre, broken, or otherwise not worth the substantial amount of time I need to write about a game in my style. So if there isn’t a story to tell or I wouldn’t be adding anything new to the reviews that are already out there, I just sell them and be done with them.
- Roughly half were bought second hand. I actually would have thought the percentage would be higher but I bought more games than usual for me at Essen this year (though at least 50% of those have already been sold again)
- My net spent on games was just 142.87€ in 2024, so about 13€/month! Part of this is that I sold some bigger Kickstarter boxes I had purchased in previous years and bought a number of smaller (=not as expensive) games this year. I’m also not counting 610€ in games that have not fulfilled yet (because I might or might not be selling them when I receive them). In absolute numbers, this relates to expenses of 2957.87€ (down from ~3500€ in 2024) and sales of 2205€.
- The by far biggest expense for me was my visit of SPIEL Essen 2024 but I’ve already written about that here. Total cost was 1750.97€ for hotel, travel, food, games, etc.
- Top 3 purchases for me personally this year: Indonesia, Antiquity, and Kingdom Legacy: Feudal Kingdom. Top fulfilled crowd funding project: Rise & Fall.
- Saddest to see it go: Redwood: Big Box. I loved the theme, the box looked amazing in my shelf. But in the end it was just too light for my gaming groups and I rather have the space than the giant box not being played.
- I actually re-bought two games this year that I had previously sold: one was my 2nd edition copy of Indonesia I sold while pre-ordering 3rd edition and then ended up missing too much. The other being Food Chain Magnate. I’ve recently played and enjoyed so many Splotter games, I wanted to give FCM another chance and revisit it, see if I like it more now.
Crowdfunding
Not sure if I’m the only one, but I see a decline in crowdfunding. There were less projects that really got me excited this year and those I was able to play were often leaving me disappointed. I also in recent years had just too many “looks great but plays so so” kind of games for my taste. As a result, I rarely now follow what campaigns are going on and only back bigger titles like Steam Power, World Order, Galactic Cruise, and whatever Lacerda is going on of course 😀
- Of the games I bought either directly or second hand, only 9 were crowd funding games. I wouldn’t have thought that this number is so low, but it makes sense. I’ve more and more enjoyed picking up amazing games from years past (e.g. Antiquity, Indonesia, Age of Steam) and have lost interest in what likely will turn out as yet another overproduced and underdeveloped Kickstarter project.
- If I back a project, I usually go for metal coins if available but skip on playmats. Whether or not I’ll add minis really depends on the game but seems to become less frequent. For example, for the currently running World Order campaign, I didn’t get them but added the coins because I know how nice the ones for Hegemony: Lead Your Class to Victory are.
- As a follow up to last year: good news, the only crowd funding project I ever had in KS limbo actually made it. It’s Tranquility: The Ascent and I’ve already gotten 3 more retail copies and gifted them to friends. So I still haven’t had any projects fail on me, knock on wood.
- I’m still waiting for Tidal Blades 2: Rise of the Unfolders, this is now my longest running project that hasn’t fulfilled.
- A recent trend I find annoying is that solo modes a) seem to become optional add-ons more and more (like with Tokyo Highway: Rainbow City, Rise & Fall), b) add-ons only being added during updates (thus easy to miss), or c) getting lost between pledging and filling out the pledge manager. E.g. Rise & Fall had an issue where I added the solo mode on Kickstarter but when everything was transferred to their fulfilment platform, the solo mode add-on got lost.
Gear
I don’t remember anything major having changed in my setup. I have been toying with video recordings again to do playthroughs or short video reviews, so I’m looking into upgrading to a Canon R8 if I ever find a used one for a good price. Mirrorless cameras are still very expensive though and I don’t feel like spending that much money on it if my old camera does an okay-ish job.
- Images: Canon 80D with a 24mm/f1.4 L lens, an Aputure 200x for lighting
- Audio: Two Sennheiser MKH 416 plus a Zoom PodTrak P4 for recording interviews
2024 In Summary
So there you have it, my gaming year in numbers. The two bigger trends were seeking out more of the older classics (e.g. Splotter games, Iwari, Age of Steam, Pandemic Rise & Tide) and doing more interviews. I really enjoy the latter, even if it is a lot of work, but it’s amazing to be able to talk to so many interesting people in the hobby. I do notice though how that time spent on interviews cuts into my gaming time.
Looking at the list of my gaming purchases, I wonder why there aren’t more new releases that knock my socks off so to say. Of course it’s hard for any new game what with all the games I already curated over the years. But on my main shelf that contains my “heavy hitters”, I only see Rise & Fall, Inventions, Landmarks, and Tranquility the Ascent as 2024 titles … and I’m not even sure Inventions & Landmarks will stay there.
So let me know in the comments: how was your gaming 2024? What have been some of your heavy hitters for 2024? Any new release that stood out to you and has become an absolute favourite?