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Summary of our market study
The French board game market is estimated at between €550 and €600 million.
The global board game market is expected to grow at a rate of around 13% per year, reaching between $25 and $35 billion.
The market structure is dominated by large multinationals such as Hasbro and Mattel, while independent publishers rely on crowdfunding platforms such as Kickstarter to launch their products.
Specialized online platforms are gaining market share.
The strong appeal of board games in French leisure culture
With a rich gaming tradition that ranges from classic games like Scrabble, Trivial Pursuit, Go and Monopoly to role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons, and new games like Jungle Speed and Time's Up, the French have made board games a key part of their leisure activities.
Board games represent 18% of the toy market. Over 85% of the French population play board games. France is one of the most dynamic countries in the world for this type of entertainment.
The Covid-19 pandemic period brought an unexpected surge in the popularity of board games, with sales soaring by around 11%.
Puzzles are very popular
Annual spending on games is estimated at between €200 and €250 per person.
Around 58% of game spending takes place during the festive season.
Players in the board game market
- Hasbro, a big name in the industry, continues to defend the board game market with timeless classics such as Monopoly, Cluedo and The Game of Life.
- Mattel delights gamers with equally iconic games such as Uno and Scrabble.
- Smart Gamesstands out for its contribution to the educational aspect of games. Their puzzles and puzzle games offer mental training, inviting players of all ages to engage in critical thinking and problem-solving.
- Simba Dickie Group, while not focusing solely on board games, contributes to the sector with its wide range of toys and games?
- Groupe Asmodée represents the crème de la crème of French board game publishers with Catan and Les Aventuriers du Rail.
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Summary and extracts
1 Market overview
1.1 Definition and scope of the study
Tabletop games, that include board games, have distinguished themselves by their ability to survive through the ages and, even today, they are still at the heart of the leisure consumption habits of the French. Indeed, from Go to Monopoly or 1000 terminals, board games have gained a special place in the leisure habits of French households. like Dungeons and Dragons or Diplomacy, some games create and gather entire communities and a myriad of derivative products.
Difficult to define in absolute terms, board games are generally characterized by
- A more or less complex game rule;
- A minimum of 2 participants
- The need for one or more material supports (game board, counters, pen, dice, cards)
The main strength of the board game market is the attraction of French players for board games. Indeed, as mentioned above, more than 85% of French people play board games regularly, which makes them one of the most fond of this type of entertainment in the world. The board game sector in France has a multitude of players, more and more numerous, and it is becoming difficult for independent publishers to stand out. This diversity gives consumers more purchasing power and they can afford to be more demanding.
Despite the revolution it represents, the advent of digital technology has not disrupted the board game market, which still finds takers, representing about 18% of the toy market .
The containment and the crisis of the COVID-19 confirmed the good health of the sector. According to an article published by Le Point, about one board game was sold per second during the containment period. More globally, board game sales exploded by 11% over 2020 compared to 2019.
1.2 A fast-growing global market
Market momentum confirmed:
The board game market is expected to grow at a significant rate of **% per year between **** and **** to reach a value of $** billion. This development benefits from a favorable context with a great popularity among the youth and the development of gaming habits, despite the important competition of ...
1.3 Overview of a robust French market
In ****, the French board game/puzzle market generated revenues of €*** million, with **.* million boxes sold over the year. It has thus been growing at a rate of +**% per year for the past * years.
The French board game market is the largest in Europe, with the fastest growth in recent years, just ...
1.4 The impact of Covid-19 on this growing market
During the Covid-** crisis, we have seen an unprecedented evolution of the market, even though it was in a period of very favorable growth for * years.
The confinement has first of all brought a serious blow to the sector, by obliging the totality of the physical points of sale to remain ...
1.5 Interview with Alexandre Ackerman, founder of Gameflix
Marine: Welcome to the Niche, the podcast that analyzes the niche market with the entrepreneurs who are moving the lines. I'm Marine and I work at Businesscoot, the startup that dusts off market research before it starts. Subscribe to our podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcast. And now, let's move on ...
2 Analysis of the demand
2.1 French spending on board games
Household purchasing power is one of the determining factors in the market's good health: if purchasing power falls, French families have fewer resources to devote to leisure activities and board game consumption falls accordingly.Total quantities purchased of games and toys are estimated at **M new units in ****, or *.* games per ...
2.3 What are the favorite games of the French?
The favorite games of the French
According to a **** study [***], **% of French people like to play games, including **-** year olds (***).
Favorite games of the French (***) France, ****, % Source: ****
This statistic shows the results of a survey on the most popular board games in France in ****, formulated with the question, "Among the ...
2.4 Board games are growing in popularity
It can be noted that if role-playing games have been out of fashion for a while, they have nowadays the wind in their sails: the current trend is towards communication and atmosphere games leaving an increasing place to narration
Board games are enjoying growing popularity with the public and are becoming ...
2.4 Notoriété des principales marques de jeux de société en France
Le label Marque préférée des Français conduit des enquêtes afin de collecter des données sur l'appétence des Français avec les principales marques de jeux de société. Ainsi, on peut voir que le Monopoly est le jeu préféré des Français, ...
2.6 Awareness of the main board game brands in France according to French people's favorite brand
The label "Marque Préférée des Français" (***) conducts surveys to collect data on French people's appetite for the main board game brands.
Answer to the question: Among these brands, which ones do you like? France, ****, in % Source: ****
Monopoly is the game most appreciated by the French according to ...
3 Market structure
3.1 A market dominated by historical players
The board game market is dominated in France by the American multinationals Hasbro and Mattel. Hasbro is indeed famous for its classic games such as Monopoly, Cluedo or La Bonne Paye which are constantly in the top ** of the best sellers. Thus, the multinational Hasbro occupies the first place on the ...
3.2 Business strategies of market players
The commercial strategy for a board game publisher is complex, because beyond an objective quality or at least one that is recognized by different observers, the success of a game and its propagation among players depends significantly on a luck factor. From the elements discussed in this study, we have nevertheless ...
3.3 The different distribution channels
There are * main types of distribution channels for board games, and it is the same for the whole toy sector[***].
Supermarkets: Auchan, Carrefour, Leclerc... These brands focus on games with the widest possible target : games aimed at children, games with simple rules that can be set up quickly, often already renowned. ...
3.4 Participatory funding enhances independent publishers
The emergence of participatory funding platforms targets a segment of expert gamers, who willingly participate in the funding of board games offering a richer experience, with more material, often of high quality. These games, which offer a real immersion in a theme that must be strong, can see their prices exceed ...
3.5 The rise of board games bars
As a direct consequence of the growing number of games offered by publishers, board games bars are booming, serving as a catalyst for consumers who often have trouble making up their minds when faced with the diversity of the offer. There has been an upsurge in the number of game bars ...
4 Analysis of the offer
4.1 Overview of the different product categories and prices
The reason that no official study provides the average age of board game players is that it is difficult to know the end user of the game purchased, as the age range is both suggested and estimated.this is because it is difficult to know who the end user of the ...
4.2 Industry trends
Digitalization of the sector
The video game industry, the first cultural industry, has largely contributed to the removal of guilt from leisure activities with the arrival of a generation of adults for whom games are a culture in itself and who are now also turning to board games. The bridges between ...
5 Regulation
5.1 Highest standards for child protection
Board games are mainly composed of material elements that are likely to represent a danger for a young public and are therefore subject to strict regulations both on prevention and on the composition of the elements:
"Beware of pawns, elements, dice, etc., that might be lying around: a young child ...
6 Positioning of the actors
6.1 Segmentation
This market is made of a multitude of players: more than *,*** new board games are created each year. However, the market is centralized and dominated by a handful of big players. Indeed, as shown in the table of best sellers in the first part, the biggest successes are Hasbro or Mattel ...
- Mattel
- Simba Dickie Group
- Tactic Games
- Blue Orange
- Blackrock Games
- Bombyx
- Cocktail Games Interlude
- Libellud
- Sentosphère
- Joué Club
- King Jouet
- Ravensburger
- Asmodee Group
- Hasbro
- Philibert
- WDK Groupe Partner - Jouets Sajou
- Hachette Jeunesse
- Hachette Livre Groupe
- Cartonnage de Vaucanson (Sentosphère Groupe)
- Quiz Room
- Cultura
- Ludendo La Grande Récré
- Jouet E Leclerc
- Bayard Presse Groupe
- Idkids Groupe
- 150 le marché des jeux de société en France
- Altered
- Iello
- Lui-Même
- Blue Frog Robotics – Buddy le Robot
- Blue Frog Robotics
List of charts presented in this market study
- Nombre de jeux de société créés par an
- Projection de la taille du marché mondial du jeu de société
- Size of the board game market in France
- Buying behaviors of French customers
- Decline in cultural and leisure spending
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Latest news
Bayard Jeunesse modernizes its digital platform - 01/07/2024
- - Bayard Jeunesse: France's leading publisher of children's magazines, with a total monthly readership of 7 million, including "Pomme d'Api" and "J'aime lire".
- - BayaM platform content: 3,000 items of content, mainly from the Bayard Jeunesse catalog and Milan, another of the group's publishing houses.
- - 26% of content is video, algorithm-free and ad-free, curated entirely by an editorial team.
- - Subscriber target: 100,000 subscribers within a year, compared with 40,000 for the previous application.
- - Digital revenues: Target of 20 million euros on an annual basis, compared with 12 million euros in 2022-23.
- - Other Bayard Jeunesse digital offerings: "La Maternelle Montessori" educational app, News-O-Matic, digital news media for North American 7-12 year-olds.
Jean-Sébastien Decaux buys Terre Sauvage and Alpes Magazine from Bayard - 20/06/2024
- Date the magazines were founded - "Terre Sauvage": 1986 - "Alpes Magazine": 1990
- - 9 permanent employees
- - Around 50 contributors
- - Cumulative net circulation around 30,000 newsstand copies
- - Less than 20,000 subscriptions
Corinne Derudder (Asmodee): "Pokémon cards are far from being our only asset" - 11/04/2024
- - Takeover of Asmodee by the Embracer group at the end of 2021 for 2.75 billion euros.
- - Position of Asmodee as number 3 in games and toys in France in 2023.
- - Annual sales in France: 8 million games.
- - Workforce in France: 700 employees.
- - Worldwide workforce: 2,600 employees.
- - Number of design studios: 25.
Altered, an innovative trading card game, raises record participatory funding - 28/03/2024
- - Equinox Altered, New project for Regis Bonnessée founder of Dixit game sold to Asmodée
- - Amount raised for Altered: 6.21 million euros in one month.
- - Number of contributors: Nearly 15,000, mainly French and American.
- - Average basket: Over 400 euros.
- - Dixit sales: Over 10 million boxes sold worldwide.
- - Size of Equinox company in 2023: Around 30 employees.
- - Sales target for the year: 10 million euros.
- - Altered distribution languages: French, English, Italian, German and Spanish.
Hachette: tension mounts at Fayard - 02/03/2024
- Hachette is the French market leader in publishing.
- It belongs to the Vivendi group, which is controlled by the Bolloré family.
- Fayard is one of Hachette's two most prestigious general literature houses, the other being Grasset.
- A publishing house, Mazarine, has been created within Hachette.
- In 2023, Fayard achieved historic sales of 34 million euros.
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the board game market | France
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