Retailer margins

Game stores generally buy at around 50 percent of MSRP, whether from a distributor or directly from a publisher. Keeping half the retail price sounds generous until you look at a store's economics: rent, staff, utilities, payment processing, shrinkage, and the inventory risk of every game that does not sell. A healthy store needs that margin to exist, and stores are the channel where most hobby games are discovered.

This 50 percent keystone margin is why your MSRP has to carry the whole chain. When you sell direct to a store, you receive the 50 percent yourself. When a distributor is in the middle, the store still pays about 50 percent but the distributor takes their cut from your side, paying you around 40 percent of MSRP. The store's margin is essentially fixed. What varies is how much of the other half reaches you.

Respect the margin in your own selling. Stores watch how publishers behave online. If you run permanent 30 percent discounts on your website, stores that carry your game at full price are being undercut by their own supplier, and they respond by not reordering. The common practice is to sell direct at full MSRP, keep discounts short and event-driven, and let stores be the everyday place to buy your game at a fair price.

Margin also explains store behavior that frustrates new publishers. A store passing on your game is often not a judgment of quality. It is shelf-space math: every facing your game occupies is a facing a proven seller does not. Demos, local buzz, and a strong sell sheet reduce the store's perceived risk and are usually more persuasive than an extra discount point.