Russian stores face shortage of Monopoly game

Russian stores are faced with a shortage of the Monopoly game Suppliers say parallel import won't work as the games require translation

There is a shortage of the popular board game Monopoly in hobby and entertainment stores. So, the classic Monopoly is not available at retail outlets of the Mosigra network and in Hobby Games stores (owned by Hobby World, which positions itself as the largest publisher of board games in Russia ), RBC discovered.

In one of the stores of the Mosigra network, an RBC correspondent who introduced himself as a buyer was told that Monopoly's stocks ran out almost immediately after the New Year, and no new deliveries were expected. By phone support on the Mosigra website, they confirmed that the owner of this brand, Hasbro, has stopped deliveries to Russia and whether they will be in the foreseeable future is unknown. In the Intellect-Toy store, where Monopoly was also not there at the time of the appeal, they said that they had placed an order with suppliers, but IT was not clear when it would be completed. Detsky Mir, the largest seller of goods for children in terms of revenue, said that Monopoly games are still available for sale, but we are talking about stocks in 2022.

Why did Monopoly disappear?

The rights to the Monopoly board game belong to the American children's goods company Hasbro, known for the My Little Pony series of toys and toys based on Star Wars and Power Rangers. After the start of a special military operation in Ukraine , Hasbro suspended its activities in Russia amid political and economic instability. In a report for the past year, released in early April 2023, Hasbro indicated that it had suspended "all deliveries and distribution of new content in Russia" and, as of December 25, 2022, had "exhausted all local stocks."

Hasbro acknowledges that the decision to leave the Russian market affected its financial results, but does not specify how. Earlier in its Q2 2022 report, Hasbro claimed that it had $115 million in Russian revenue for the full year 2021. Based on Hasbro's 2021 total revenue of $6.4 billion, Russia accounted for about 1.8% company sales.

On the Hobby Games website, there is only one collector's edition "Monopoly of the USSR". Only a few thematic versions remain on the Mosigra website - for example, Monopoly of the USSR and The Walking Dead based on the series of the same name. Representatives of Mosigra, Hobby Games and Hobby World did not respond to RBC's official requests.

Monopoly also remains on sale on Ozon and Wildberries. However, on marketplaces, goods sold at prices comparable to the cost of the original version (from 3 thousand rubles and more) from suppliers found by RBC are published with the mark “one piece left”. For other ads with a price tag in the range of 400–500 rubles. consumer reviews of the product state that this is, in the opinion of buyers, an unofficial version of the game and in many cases of inadequate quality, for example with black and white banknotes or without the required cards.

What is Monopoly known for?

The Monopoly board game was invented in 1935 by American inventor Charles Darrow. Entertainment portal Fun from the USA ranks it as the third best-selling board game in the world after chess and checkers, and estimates the total number of sales in history at 275 million units (as of 2020). In 1999, Monopoly was listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the game played by the largest number of people in the world - 500 million people (at the time the record was made). "Monopoly" was also one of the first Western board games that became known to domestic consumers: in 1988, the first analogue of this game appeared in the USSR under the name "Manager".

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In 2013, Monopoly generated about $400 million in revenue for Hasbro, accounting for 30% of global board game sales at the time. In its 2022 annual report, Hasbro does not disclose what percentage of sales of each individual project of the company, but notes that Monopoly is the flagship of its entire category "Games". In total, game sales in 2022 brought the company nearly $2 billion.

How the game was shipped to Russia

The president of the Association of Children's Goods Industry Enterprises (AIDT), Antonina Tsitsulina, claims that Hasbro produced Monopoly on its own, as it did not sell licenses for its anchor products, including this game, in Russia. Licenses were transferred for a limited number of toy products, but they were terminated with Russian companies after Hasbro's decision to leave the market. A RBC source on the market said that some thematic types of Monopoly were produced in Russia under license by Hobby World. The Hobby World website lists two versions of Monopoly of its own production - based on Adventure Time and Rick and Morty cartoons (they were not available in the official store at the time of publication). Classic Monopoly boxes purchased in the last three years have Hasbro SA listed as the manufacturer. they are marked "Made in Ireland", RBC was convinced. The importer was Hasbro Russia LLC - its revenue according to RAS for 2021 amounted to 7.2 billion rubles, and net profit - 523.3 million rubles.

After Hasbro left the Russian market, several large wholesale companies were able to buy stocks of Russified games, one of the sellers of Monopoly on Ozon, the owner of the Igry.Shop store specializing in the sale of board games, Sergey Seregin, told RBC . According to him, stocks are “quite a lot,” but companies most often sell goods on their own in the online sales segment. Now Igry.Shop is selling off previously purchased goods, as new deliveries through parallel imports are still difficult.

In mid-March 2023, the Ministry of Industry and Trade included toys in the list of parallel imports, including goods from Hasbro and Mattel (known for the Barbie and Monster High franchises, as well as for the board card game Uno). But the press service of Detsky Mir told RBC that board games are not delivered to Russia because they are not Russified.

What's happening with other board games

Theme stores have also run out of some other board games from foreign manufacturers. For example, the Uno card game and the Scrabble game produced by the American company Mattel are “not available for sale” (an analogue called “Erudite” was produced in the USSR).

However, some Hasbro items remain in stock. So, on the shelves in stores there are Jenga and Twister (manufactured directly by Hasbro), as well as goods for Dungeons & Dragons (Hobby World is indicated by the manufacturer).

How is the demand for board games changing?

Market participants surveyed by RBC unanimously note an increase in interest in board games among Russians. So, on Ozon, piece sales of board games grew by almost 50% over the year, the press service of the marketplace said. However, the greatest demand on this site is not for foreign, but for domestic board games, "the range of which has more than doubled over the year." The most popular board games on Ozon in 2022 were Battleship #48, Sly Fox and Sleeping Queens.

Demand for board games at Wildberries in 2022 grew by 60% year-on-year, a company spokesman said. Most often, buyers of this platform choose classic board games: Imaginarium, Jenga and Sea Battle, as well as educational games for the little ones.

The press service of the Respublika chain reported that in the first quarter of 2023, the demand for board games increased by 32% in units and by 47% in money compared to the same period last year. “Trends indicate that among the preferences of the audience, interest in card games such as Compass of the Subconscious, as well as games for the company and for children, such as Treasures of the Universe, prevails,” adds the representative of the Republic. - The children's board game "Sherlock Holmes" has entered the top sales since the beginning of 2023. If we turn to 2022, then the top ten games are opened by Imaginarium, 500 Evil Cards, Suffering Middle Ages, Subconscious Compass and some other games for a more adult audience.