Is This Really the End of Reprints?

18. Dezember 2025 um 19:15

“In the past two weeks last copies of Imperial Settlers and Alien Artifacts sold out from our website. Games are gone. There is no reprint planned. Gone forever. It makes me sad on so many levels…. I am brutally honest – this is no longer an industry with possible reprints. Games come and die fast, you put a title on the market and a few months later it is considered old.” —Ignacy Trzewiczek, Portal Games

I’ve read this message (click the link for the full version) several times on different forums. Before I dig into it from a publishing perspective, I just want to say that I feel for Ignacy. I can relate to putting love, time, effort, and resources into something that doesn’t last as long as I hoped. While Imperial Settlers has been around for over a decade, Ignacy also says that much newer Portal games like Thorgal and Eleven also won’t be reprinted.

So is this really the end of reprints for all game publishers? From my perspective, definitely not. Spanning from Charterstone all the way through Origin Story, 17 out of 19 Stonemaier games have been reprinted at least once, and most of them more than once.

That said, I think it is harder than ever to create an evergreen game–a game that sells consistently year after year–though there are a few things publishers can do to increase the odds of a game becoming evergreen:

Reconsider which games you publish: Some types of games are much more likely to become evergreen than others based on price, theme, innovation, art, mechanisms, etc. While there isn’t a magic formula for these elements, there are some commonalities among evergreen games. If your game isn’t the type of game that’s likely to garner multiple reprints, that’s okay–it simply shift to a frontloaded marketing strategy.
Reconsider crowdfunding (and how it impacts retailer relationships): Crowdfunding is great for single-run games (particularly fancy versions). However, I don’t think crowdfunding lays the best groundwork for working with retailers, the backbone of evergreen games. I truly am not suggesting that creators ignore crowdfunding as a launchpad for new games, but be aware of how a crowdfunding cycle impacts your relationship with retailers and customers. Are you just crowdfunding the first printing, or are you returning to crowdfunding for expansions, reprints, etc?
Reconsider digital game strategies: It’s wonderful to have the option to play digital versions of tabletop games on Steam, BoardGame Arena, Tabletopia, etc. In some ways, I think these digital options have replaced reprints for some publishers and gamers, with very few analog sales resulting from digital plays. Perhaps this is just the future of most games’ longevity, but publishers have a choice as to how much of their games they offer digitally and when they’re available.
Reconsider new editions and sequels: I think the industry has trained customers to expect that there will always be a new edition, special edition, or sequel to any game that sells well the first time around. I still hear from people saying that they’re waiting for an all-in version of Scythe even though it will never exist (just like all our products, you can always pick and choose which expansions, accessories, and promos you want). It’s neat that publishers can breathe life into older games or that designers can revisit older games with a more experienced vision, but doing this too often may hurt the longevity of the original game.
Reconsider back catalog marketing: Customers get caught up in the cult of the new, but so do publishers. Imagine if you didn’t release or launch any new games in 2026. How would you market your existing games? If it’s different than how you currently market those older games, why? I regularly offer games to reviewers dating all the way back to Viticulture, I talk about older games on social media and YouTube, I foster online communities built around the game, and we’ve released a variety of expansions over the years.
Reconsider how you gauge demand: The minimum order quantity for many manufacturers is 1500 units, so to reprint a product, you need a clear indication from at least 500 people (ideally more) that they’ll buy the product if you make more. What ongoing opportunities are you giving customers to share their interest in a reprint? Stonemaier uses back-in-stock requests on our webstore (we’re gearing up for a Rolling Realms promo reprint based on this data), along with occasional surveys, polls, and reminders on our monthly newsletter; GMT uses their P500 program; other publishers use Kickstarter.

With thousands of games released each year, most of them will not become evergreen games. Also, games that earned multiple reprints in the past may not have the same marketability today. It’s the bittersweet nature of this industry, and I think it’s okay to sunset a game, a brand, or even a company on your own terms.

Do you view this new era of gaming as the end of reprints? What’s the last game you bought that was released prior to 2025?

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