MVP150: The Biggest Lie in the Tabletop Games Industry

The Manaverse Podcast: Magic: the Gathering Business / Game Store Entrepreneurship / LGS Professionals

Today’s episode is called "The Biggest Lie in the Tabletop Games Business." And that lie is some variation of this thought: "You can't be really successful or make a substantial amount of money running a game store."

Now, if you've been in this industry for any amount of time, you've probably heard some version of this. Maybe you've even thought it yourself. I’ve been putting together this podcast for over 10 years now, and I can recall several guests more or less saying the same thing.

The idea that running a game store or launching a tabletop game is a passion project at best.

But here's the truth: that belief is not only false, it's holding back countless game store owners, creators, and entrepreneurs from achieving the success they could be having.

Let me caveat this real quick. The folks repeating this belief online mean well. Starting a game store has a notorious and well earned reputation of having a low bar for entry, which means that most would-be store owners are under-funded and under-prepared for the realities of running a retail business.

Finding hard numbers on this is tough, but I would estimate that for every game store that exists and has been open for 3 years or more, there are between 10 and 20 stores that didn’t last more than a year or two. And those failed store owners, whatever the cause of the failure, disappear from the conversation, so we have a Survivorship Bias situation in online retailer groups.

So the general advice given online when someone asks about starting up their own shop is “Don’t do it.” The advice givers knows how difficult the business is to build and grow, so it’s correct to discourage someone who might not be ready to put off their dream or try something else.

I’m not arguing against that. I think recommending a prospective store owner come to the table with more resources and knowledge of the business will only increase their odds of success.

This isn’t what I’m talking about in this podcast.

I’m referring to the ingrained belief/mindset of game store owners that it’s not possible to become “wealthy” running a game store. One manifestation of this mindset is store owners discouraging would-be store owners from entering the market in the first place, but it also subconsciously limits their own potential.

There’s a quote attributed to Henry Ford that encapsulates this really well.

“Whether you believe you can or can’t, you’re right.”

If you believe, deep down, that the best you can do with your business is to muddle along and provide yourself and your team with a basic level of income, you’re not only wrong, you’re doing yourself and the people who rely on you a disservice.

Let’s get into the psychology of this for a moment.

There’s a psychological phenomenon called the Pygmalion Effect, where higher expectations lead to an increase in performance. It suggests that when someone, for example, a teacher, manager, or leader, expects a person to perform well, that person is more likely to meet those expectations due to the positive reinforcement and belief in their abilities.

The concept is named after Pygmalion, a figure from Greek mythology who sculpted a statue that he fell in love with, which was later brought to life by the goddess Aphrodite.

Positive expectations can influence behavior, motivation, and self-esteem, leading to improved outcomes. Well, this applies to more than just the people you have working for you. In many ways, you are your own manager. The things you believe and say get internalized over time, and shape the actions you take in the future.

If you believe you’re destined for great things, that you are smart, talented, and capable of making a big impact on the world, you are much more likely to actually make it a reality.

There is also the opposite phenomenon known as the Golem Effect.

When low expectations are set for an individual, or yourself, performance tends to decline, leading to a negative self-fulfilling prophecy.

By operating under the assumption and belief that a game store isn’t a “real business” or can never really become a way to have more than a middle class lifestyle, you’re constructing the Golem one piece at a time.

Let's break this down. Why does this belief exist?

First, tabletop gaming has always been a community-driven hobby. Most of us are nerds at heart and up until recently, our hobbies were looked at with a side eye by most of society. We banded together to create our own communities of people who share the love and passion for games in the same way that we did.

If I had to arm-chair psychoanalyze again, and it’s my show so I get to do what I want, I would say most game stores were created out of a desire to create a safe space to enjoy the things we enjoy, and to allow others who feel the same way to gather. A consequence of this is the business existing and functioning as a business is often secondary.

A games store is usually fueled by passion, creativity, and a love for games. But somewhere along the line, passion became synonymous with poverty. As if loving what you do means you shouldn't expect to make money doing it.

This is often entangled with the dual problems of: feeling like you have to “serve the community” first with making money becoming second, and the people in your community becoming friends.

Having your customers become friends is one of the nicer aspects of running a game store. You are surrounded by people that love the same things you do and want to talk about them all day. It can be great, but it also usually blurs the lines between customer and friend. Friends expect special treatment from you. You’re not a stranger, so they should expect special treatment from you in some ways.

But as a business, it can be awkward when a friend expects you to give them a deal. Do you give the friend what they are asking for and sacrifice your margins to maintain the friendship, or do you risk the relationship and tell them no?

If your friendships are the top priority of the business, you will lean towards the first option. Integrity is hard. Not keeping it will erode your ability to stay in business, as well as your perception of yourself and what you should be doing to pursue your goals.

I’m not saying your relationships with people aren’t important and you should be a ruthless capitalist who only thinks about profit. Relationships have a place in the hierarchy of how you make decisions and run your game store, but they can’t be the deciding factor.

The game stores that operate on the thinnest of margins in order to serve the community and make their friends happy almost always inevitably fail.

Second, most game store owners' goals are simply too small.

I think this is gradually changing as the industry has become much more professional over the last ten years, but there is still the afterimage of the idea of the local game store in people’s minds that shapes their perception of what’s possible.

Maybe this is a downside to the moniker “friendly local game store”. Language matters, and the words we use to talk about something simultaneously program our minds in how we think about it.

There’s something inherently small about the local game store, and maybe that’s why most store owners aim for moderate success instead of swinging for the fences.

At this point, I’ve helped several game stores in my work with their marketing and seen the inner workings of what’s possible in the business. I’ve seen stores go from $0 to over a half a million dollars in yearly revenue in the space of a year. Game stores that have seven figure revenue numbers with 8 figures in sight. Teams of dozens of people making a decent wage.

How many Star City Games, Game Nerds, Cool Stuff, Face to Face Games, and Card Kingdoms have to exist before people feel like “yeah, there’s real money to be made in the games business”?

The difference between those who struggle and those who succeed often comes down to mindset and strategy. Are you treating your store like a business or a clubhouse? Are you investing in marketing, building an online presence, and diversifying revenue streams? Are you managing your inventory and putting in the work to make it work for you? Or are you stuck in the mindset that "this is just how it is"?

Here’s the truth: You can absolutely make a substantial income as a tabletop games store owner. But it first requires the right mindset. If you hold yourself back because you don’t believe it’s really possible, you’re only going to create a self-fulfilling prophecy. Of course, you need a ton of other skills in order to build a business that achieves those ambitions too!

You need to embrace modern marketing, understand your customers, and be willing to innovate. You need a great operation with people who can sell, you need to be able to cultivate a strong community. You need organizational skills. You need to be able to spot the winning products and manage inventory correctly. You need to maintain your passion for games and persevere through the inevitable hard times.

But without the vision and belief that you can build something great, you’re going to constantly undermine what your game store could be.

If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe and leave a review—it helps more game store owners discover the show. And if you're ready to take your store to the next level and want to talk about how we can help your game store grow with some ridiculously effective digital marketing, head over to manaversesaga.com/mma and let's make it happen.

Until next time, keep building, keep growing, and keep gaming.