Characters have always been the driving force in every game we’ve ever made*. Whether fighting beneath the ocean to assassinate Andrew Ryan or escaping a city in the sky with Elizabeth, these personalities have always been at the heart of our stories. But what if you could choose between who to befriend and who to stab in the back?
Counterfeiters have gone from handbags to board games, and they’re getting faster
18.01.2024 - 17:27 / polygon.com
Everything was going right for Wonderbow co-founder Laia Gonzalez. Her small publishing company’s latest project, a board game called Kelp, had wildly exceeded expectations and was closing in on its final crowdfunding total of more than $1.5 million. Delivery was scheduled for October 2024, so there was plenty of time to begin finalizing the game’s components and coordinating with a manufacturer for production. Hoping for a little extra dose of dopamine, Gonzalez did a quick Google search to see if anyone in the vast and turbulent sea of tabletop influencers was particularly hyped about her company’s game. But instead of a new video of someone sitting in front of an overstuffed Ikea shelving unit, she was surprised to find Kelp already up for sale on Amazon. She, Wonderbow, and game designer Carl Robinson had become the latest victims of board game counterfeiters.
“We had 12 listings [on Amazon] by then,” Gonzalez told Polygon in a recent interview. “One of those had 400-plus sales.”
She sprang into action, alerting Amazon of the fraud. After days of back-and-forth, the dozen or so illegal listings that she’d found were finally taken down. Thirty-six more showed up overnight. The counterfeiters also expanded their efforts to Google Shopping and other online marketplaces, with more listings always seeming to pop up even as Gonzalez reported them. It was like a game of Whac-A-Mole. Soon she was sending off a series of emails politely asking a startup eBay competitor run out of a Florida office park to delist a product that was clearly someone infringing on her company’s copyright.
That’s when the customer service complaints began to roll in.
“They literally sent us an email saying, ‘We received the game. It looks great, but the manual is missing,’” Gonzalez recalled. “‘Also, there is a Lego shark in it. Could you please send us a real mini?’”
Over the last few decades, as brick-and-mortar retail has struggled and online shopping has become the norm, an entire ecosystem of counterfeit merchandise sellers has sprung up to prey on unwary consumers. Now, after years spent moving illicit shoes, hot handbags, and poorly made electronics, they’ve begun targeting board games.
The problem is only getting worse. Polygon reached out to nearly a dozen publishers in the tabletop industry. All but one that responded to our request said that they and their customers had been the victim of a similar kind of fraud.
“The main concern other than revenue for me is reputational damage,” wrote Nathan McNair, co-owner of Pandasaurus Games, in an email. “The counterfeits are often very poor quality. There was a Machi Koro counterfeit that didn’t have the plastic coins in them, but had Wingspan dice and plastic gems. So I
The website gametalkz.com is an aggregator of news from open sources. The source is indicated at the beginning and at the end of the announcement. You can send a complaint on the news if you find it unreliable.
Top Authors
Popular Topics
gameinformer.com
29.01.2024 / 14:15
New Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero Trailer Reveals 24 New Fighters, And They're All Goku And Vegeta
Publisher Bandai Namco and developer Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd. have revealed 24 fighters for Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero, and they're all Goku and Vegeta. Unsurprisingly, considering Goku and Vegeta are the two main characters in the Dragon Ball Z saga (amongst others like Gohan, for example), Spike Chunsoft is giving players the chance to fight using their various forms. This includes Super Saiyan, Super Saiyan 2, Majin Vegeta, and more.
gamerant.com
25.01.2024 / 20:09
Grand Theft Auto Fans Think They've Spotted Tommy's Vice City Mansion In The GTA 6 Trailer
Some eagle-eyed fans think they saw Tommy Vercetti’s island mansion in the Grand Theft Auto 6 reveal trailer. Even before Rockstar officially gave players a look at Grand Theft Auto 6, there were many rumors that the next entry in the infamous open-world crime series would return to Vice City, which serves as the GTA universe’s version of Miami. Grand Theft Auto 6 will take players to Leonida, the Florida-inspired state that Vice City is located in, and sure enough, an alternate universe version of the troubled town could be seen in the game’s trailer.
gamesradar.com
25.01.2024 / 19:19
Long-rumored Zelda world at Universal Studios seems like a sure thing after a hastily deleted video of series producer Eiji Aonuma at the park
A hastily deleted video posted to a Universal Studios Instagram account for employees shows Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma overseeing some sort of construction at the park, prompting a whole lot of speculation that the long-rumored Zelda expansion to Super Nintendo World is finally underway.
polygon.com
25.01.2024 / 16:41
Jake Gyllenhaal gets ripped, might rip throats out, in Road House remake
Jake Gyllenhaal cannot be pigeonholed. Building on a filmography that includes a Oscar-nominated turn as cowboy Jack Twist in Brokeback Mountain, a greasy sociopathic turn in Nightcrawler, and the villain Mysterio in Spider-Man: Far From Home, Gyllenhaal is tackling a remake of 1989’s Road House — yes, the lovably cheesy, Patrick Swayze action flick about a rundown small-town Missouri bar saved by a philosophical bouncer.
polygon.com
24.01.2024 / 19:47
Eve Online goes gunning for Twilight Imperium with a massive new 4X board game
The last five years of board gaming innovation has proven that video game licenses can hold their own against the best that the tabletop world has to offer. Look no further than Dorfromantik, the breakout indie hit that lit up the charts on Steam when it was released in 2022. In 2023 its tabletop interpretation, Dorfromantik: The Board Game, went on to win the Spiel des Jahres, arguably the most prestigious award in all of tabletop gaming.
gamerant.com
24.01.2024 / 17:05
Florida Joker Wants To Voice Grand Theft Auto 6 Character
After threatening to sue Rockstar for the past couple of months, Lawrence “Florida Joker” Sullivan is now offering to voice the Grand Theft Auto 6 character he claims is based on his infamous 2017 mugshot. The initial Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer was filled with outlandish characters and wild antics, and one of the most notable moments is a brief shot of a tattooed criminal being taken to court. This criminal was quickly compared to Sullivan, who wasted little time accusing Rockstar of stealing his likeness and threatening to take legal action against the developer.
gamingbolt.com
24.01.2024 / 16:15
Gran Turismo – Update 1.42 Goes Live Today, Adds 3 New Cars, Extra Menus, and More
Polyphony Digital has announced the next monthly content update for Gran Turismo 7 goes live today at 11 PM PST. It adds three new cars – the Genesis X Gran Berlinetta Vision Gran Turismo Concept, Suzuki Jimny XC ’18 and BVLGARI Aluminum Vision Gran Turismo (which is available in February end from Brand Central).
gamerant.com
19.01.2024 / 15:43
New Nintendo World Ride Will Have a Thrilling Callback to the Donkey Kong Games
A new ride for the upcoming Donkey Kong-themed section of Universal Studios Japan's Super Nintendo World will give parkgoers a very hands-on and thrilling series throwback, according to reports. The attraction apparently uses a simple yet clever design to provide this experience.
wccftech.com
18.01.2024 / 23:33
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Gets Impressive First-Person Trailer, Confirmed for 2024
Back in 2024 Microsoft and Bethesda announced a new Indiana Jones game was coming our way courtesy of producer Todd Howard and Wolfenstein developer MachineGames, but since then, very little else has been revealed. Rumors that the game may be launching this year have been making the rounds, but it’s been radio silence from Microsoft and Bethesda themselves.
videogameschronicle.com
16.01.2024 / 19:12
January’s PlayStation Plus Game Catalogue and Classics titles have been released
January’s PlayStation Plus Game Catalogue and Classics titles are now available.
gamerant.com
15.01.2024 / 10:15
Talented Elden Ring Fan Makes Awesome Moving Ranni Arms
A fan of FromSoftware's acclaimed open-world RPG Elden Ring created a moving prop arm to cosplay as one of the game's most beloved characters, Ranni the Witch. The fan is hoping to finish the costume in time for an upcoming American convention.