Mario Sacchi
Let’s talk about the most obvious fact: for the first time since we acquired it, in 2021 we didn’t have any new Placentia Games publication. After Kepler 3042, Wendake, Wendake: New Allies, Florenza Dice Game and Florenza X Anniversary, this should have been the year of our greatest and most ambitious project ever, Shogun no Katana, but unfortunately things happened that were out of our control (we talked about all the issues here, if you haven’t read that post yet, I strongly recommend it), and the release of that game was pushed back until 2022.
So, how was 2021 for Post Scriptum? How did the horrible global situation affect us? How can a publisher as small as we are, get ready for the future? These are our answers!
HOW WAS 2021 FOR POST SCRIPTUM? HOW DID THE TERRIBLE GLOBAL SITUATION AFFECT US?
Overall, it wasn’t too bad considering the situation. It is true: Shogun no Katana hasn’t been published yet, and it took much more post-campaign hours than expected, especially to design the plastic tray details: it was really a complex process because they have to hold all the materials, they have to combine together perfectly, and they also have to comply with the minimum thickness required by the production machine and be the right size for the game box. Luckily Tambu likes these things (and you, readers, like to find out these behind-the-scenes facts, don’t you?).
Despite this radical change of our plans, last year was quite positive, thanks to some factors:
- For sure, the money collected on Kickstarter was important to dedicate all the necessary extra time to Katana without suffering. I know that many see crowdfunding only as a way to do pre-sales, but for companies at our level it is a fundamental support to create games that otherwise wouldn’t be released.
- The fact that we had physical mock-ups of the game ready, gave us the opportunity to create some important distribution partnerships, both with old and new clients. In the end, Shogun no Katana was sent for print later than expected, but we’re printing 10,000 copies, which is excellent for a game of this range.
- Game fairs starting again, especially Essen, was fundamental for this process, for Katana and for other games that we haven’t announced yet. The B2B meetings went really well, and we can’t wait to go to Nuremberg in 2022.
- Our production work for third parties, even though it is not as visible, it always helps us, and in these 2 years of pandemic it went really well, also thanks to the fact that casual players rediscovered boardgames because they spent much more time at home.
Then, finally, at the end of the year we published Pazzaparola, even though at the moment it is only available in Italy, it is doing great! It is a small portable game, but it required a lot of efforts, both to decide the categories and the illustrations connected to them (splendidly drawn by Sara). And most of all it is a game we are really proud of, because we think it is simple, fun, engaging, and suitable for everybody. We think it has everything a game needs to become a classic!
HOW ARE WE GETTING READY FOR THE FUTURE?
For sure the past two years changed the way we work in a lot of different ways.
- First of all, online playtests took on a pivotal role in the development of future games, Mario, Tambu and Matteo spend several hours every week, testing together with game designers, often until 11 pm. In particular, we’re focusing on two new Placentia Games publications: one of them is by Simone Cerruti Sola, Kepler-3042’s author, and the other one by a debuting author, which we think has all it takes to keep up with the rest of the games in the catalogue. At the same time, we are working on our first Amerigame, that we consider a real strike of genius, and we are enjoying it very much.
- On top of this, there’s all the product development work, in terms of materials, illustrations and design. Sara designed Pazzaparola and 3 more family games, which had excellent feedback at the exhibitions, and we are looking forward to launching them. Moreover, we have already found an illustrator for one of the games that I mentioned above and we are looking for the others.
- From the production point of view, we strengthened our main partnerships with suppliers with whom we have been working for years, and we have started new ones. At this moment we can say that, even though production problems haven’t been solved yet, we are planning to print over 100,000 boxes in 2022, and it is quite a big amount for a company as small as ours, since we don’t localize other publishers’ games, but we develop everything internally.
- Last but not least, for the first time ever, we are going to host a stand in Nuremberg, because we need to show the results of all our efforts to as many people as possible!
Bye for now, we’ll talk again in 2022. We’re going to take a little break and the next article will be published in 4 weeks’ time, on the 21st of January. We can’t wait to tell you all about our projects that we are carrying out with our usual passion and dedication. We wish you all happy holidays and a wonderful 2022!
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