A message from BGA founder, Greg Isabelli (aka Sourisdudesert):
Dear players,
13 years ago I got this crazy idea of launching Board Game Arena. Today, it is time for me to leave and let BGA stand on its own feet.
During the past 2 years 1/2, we set up all what is needed to prepare this transition and make sure it happens well. In particular, we recruited a wonderful team of 10 extraordinary people who manage BGA everyday and have now all the needed skills to make it better. I was lucky to have full trust from our mother company, Asmodee, when assembling and organizing this team.
Since January, Alexandre Schlecht (lordalx on BGA) is already managing BGA and I have been there only as a support and an adviser. Alex has been working with BGA for years, and developed a total of 13 games on BGA including hits like CATAN, Splendor or recently "Next Station: Tokyo". All the time I spent with him these last months made me absolutely convinced that he is the right person to lead BGA and continue to make this service better. I will not unveil anything about the next BGA updates, but you will not be disappointed 🙂
Each time there has been an important event on BGA we used to write a small "FAQ", so here is one !
What about Emmanuel Colin (Een) who co-founded BGA with you?
Emmanuel left the company a few months ago and announced it in this message . Our 2 departures are obviously linked by all what is explained in this FAQ.
Why now?
Founders departure is a major risk for any Internet services. My co-founder and I are perfectly aware of that, and this is the reason we would like to prepare and organize this transition. First, when selecting a buyer, we care about choosing a company for which BGA will always be important, so we are 100% sure they will care about it over the years. Then, we selected and trained a team ourselves, to make sure the service will not be affected by our departures. The complete process took 2 years and 1/2 and ends now.
We have seen too many bad situations where founders want to keep their positions while they do not have anything to bring to the service anymore, and are finally pushed away: we did not want that for BGA.
Are you leaving because of Asmodee?
Absolutely not. I have been very clear from the start with Asmodee: BGA buyout was part of a transition strategy to a new team to make it sustainable over time. They accepted and supported that all along the way.
What do you think about the latest BGA updates and price increase?
I support 100% the latest updates: I followed the development of almost all of them.
About prices: it is quite obvious that the "historic prices" we used to have were too low. The catch-up that has been done these 2 last years was welcome. Among other considerations, something that everyone should keep in mind is that the BGA revenues are shared with Premium games publishers as "royalties". Significant royalties means more money to create new future games, but also make it more probable to have them on BGA.
What are you going to do now?
I am lucky enough to be able to focus on non-profit projects.
I have always found fascinating the possibility of using technology to make new kinds of social interactions possible. It was a pleasure to see all what you created using BGA as a community of players all along these years.
A specific social organization is not going very well at the moment: representative democracy.
I have created a new mobile app, Baztille, which make it possible to infiltrate representative democracy to allow citizens to participate directly to decisions affecting them. Each week, you vote and take collectively a decision for your country, your area or your city. Then, at election time, "Baztille" candidates can be elected to apply decisions taken by citizens, week after week, using the app.
If you also want to make democracy enter in the XXIe century, you can register on this website to make sure you will be part of the very first to try the app in your country. And who knows, they may be future Baztille representative among you?
I want to know more about BGA history !
As I am leaving BGA, this is an occasion to talk about BGA history. This is a quite particular story since BGA was launched as an amateur service at first.
A very complete video about this is unfortunately only available in French by "Un Monde de Jeux" since this is the only media that asked us. If I have the occasion to do something similar in another language I will let you know!
What did you learn in this adventure? Which advice would you have for other entrepreneurs?
There is so much to say and this would not fit here. In 13 years, I had to acquire skills in domains as different as web development, distant team management, large community management, subscriptions based economic models, UX design, multilingual systems, development platforms, scalable application hosting, accountability, personal data protection, IT security, and many others ...
I thought about writing articles with a "blog" format to talk about some of these subjects in the context of BGA, but I have difficulty evaluating if this can interest you or not.
So let's make a simple thing: if you think about a subject that could make a good article, please write it down as a comment to this post. If I see that there are many interesting subjects I will select some of them to write articles on a "blog" and will see where it goes.
Any last word?
A huge thank you to everyone who make this service possible to exist and to grow: game publishers and game designers who believed in this project (there is nothing without you), Asmodée team, the BGA team: Ian, Jurica, Tof, Xate, Sunil, Cyril, Aurélien, Alex & Pietro - you are my Avengers, my co-founder Emmanuel who support me all along the way, and obviously YOU, all the players who made BGA what it is today, and especially the game developers, the testers, the moderators, the translators, the tutorial authors, and all those who at some point help us to go further.
For those who are interested by my future projects & publications, you can follow me on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gisabelli
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sourisdudesert/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gisabelli/
During BGA's first years, we used to end our meeting with "To infinity and beyond". Well, see you for the next adventure, beyond infinity!
Greg
Update: I am not used to talk about BGA to entrepreneurs, but this little talk below is an exception 🙂
If you are interested by entrepreneurship or BGA in general, you should like it (Audio in French / English subtitles available).
Adeus e bos xogos!
Unha mensaxe do fundador de BGA, Greg Isabelli (tamén coñecido como Sourisdudesert ):
Queridos xogadores,
Hai 13 anos teño a idea tola de lanzar Board Game Arena.
Hoxe é hora de que me marche e deixe que BGA se poña en pé.
Durante os últimos 2 anos 1/2, configuramos todo o necesario para preparar esta transición e asegurarnos de que ocorrese ben.
En particular, reclutamos un equipo marabilloso de 10 persoas extraordinarias que xestionan BGA todos os días e que agora teñen todas as habilidades necesarias para facelo mellor.
Tiven a sorte de contar coa total confianza da nosa empresa nai, Asmodee, á hora de montar e organizar este equipo.
Desde xaneiro, Alexandre Schlecht ( lordalx en BGA) xa está a xestionar BGA e eu estiven alí só como apoio e asesor.
Alex leva anos traballando con BGA e desenvolveu un total de 13 xogos en BGA, incluíndo éxitos como CATAN, Splendor ou recentemente "Next Station: Tokyo".
Todo o tempo que pasei con el estes últimos meses fíxome absolutamente convencido de que é a persoa idónea para dirixir BGA e seguir mellorando este servizo.
Non desvelarei nada sobre as próximas actualizacións de BGA, pero non te decepcionará
Cada vez que había un evento importante en BGA adoitabamos escribir unha pequena "FAQ", así que aquí tes unha!
E Emmanuel Colin (Een), quen fundou BGA contigo?
Emmanuel deixou a empresa hai uns meses e anunciouno nesta mensaxe.
As nosas 2 saídas están, obviamente, vinculadas por todo o que se explica nestas preguntas frecuentes.
Por que agora?
A saída dos fundadores é un risco importante para calquera servizo de Internet.
O meu cofundador e eu somos perfectamente conscientes diso, e esta é a razón pola que nos gustaría preparar e organizar esta transición.
En primeiro lugar, á hora de seleccionar un comprador, preocúpanos escoller unha empresa para a que BGA sempre será importante, polo que estamos 100% seguros de que se preocuparán por iso ao longo dos anos.
Despois, seleccionamos e adestramos nós mesmos un equipo, para asegurarnos de que o servizo non se vexa afectado polas nosas saídas.
O proceso completo levou 2 anos e 1/2 e remata agora.
Vimos demasiadas malas situacións nas que os fundadores queren manter as súas posicións mentres xa non teñen nada que achegar ao servizo, e finalmente son afastados: non queriamos iso para BGA.
Marchas por culpa de Asmodee?
Absolutamente non.
Tiven moi claro desde o principio con Asmodee: a compra de BGA formaba parte dunha estratexia de transición a un novo equipo para facelo sostible no tempo.
Aceptárono e apoiárono durante todo o camiño.
Que opinas das últimas actualizacións de BGA e do aumento de prezos?
Apoio ao 100% as últimas actualizacións: seguín o desenvolvemento de case todas.
Sobre os prezos: é bastante obvio que os "prezos históricos" que antes tiñamos eran demasiado baixos.
A posta ao día que se fixo estes 2 últimos anos foi benvida.
Entre outras consideracións, algo que todos deberían ter en conta é que os ingresos de BGA compártense cos editores de xogos Premium como "royalties".
As regalías significativas significan máis cartos para crear novos xogos futuros, pero tamén fan que sexa máis probable telos en BGA.
Que vas facer agora?
Teño a sorte de poder centrarme en proxectos sen ánimo de lucro.
Sempre me pareceu fascinante a posibilidade de utilizar a tecnoloxía para facer posibles novos tipos de interaccións sociais.
Foi un pracer ver todo o que creaches usando BGA como comunidade de xogadores ao longo destes anos.
Unha organización social concreta non vai moi ben neste momento: a democracia representativa.
Creei unha nova aplicación móbil, Baztille, que permite infiltrarse na democracia representativa para permitir que os cidadáns participen directamente nas decisións que lles afectan.
Cada semana, votas e tomas colectivamente unha decisión para o teu país, a túa zona ou a túa cidade.
Despois, en época de eleccións, os candidatos de "Baztille" poden ser elixidos para aplicar as decisións tomadas polos cidadáns, semana tras semana, mediante a aplicación.
Se tamén queres facer que a democracia entre no século XXI, podes rexistrarte neste sitio web para asegurarte de ser parte dos primeiros en probar a aplicación no teu país.
E quen sabe, poden ser entre vós futuro representante de Baztille?
Quero saber máis sobre a historia de BGA!
Cando saio de BGA, esta é unha ocasión para falar da historia de BGA.
Esta é unha historia bastante particular xa que BGA se lanzou como servizo de afeccionados ao principio.
Un vídeo moi completo sobre isto, por desgraza, só está dispoñible en francés por "Un Monde de Jeux" xa que este é o único medio que nolo pediu.
Se teño ocasión de facer algo semellante noutro idioma avisareino!
Que aprendiches nesta aventura?
Que consellos lle darías a outros emprendedores?
Hai moito que dicir e isto non cabería aquí.
En 13 anos, tiven que adquirir habilidades en dominios tan diferentes como desenvolvemento web, xestión de equipos distantes, xestión de grandes comunidades, modelos económicos baseados en subscricións, deseño de UX, sistemas multilingües, plataformas de desenvolvemento, hospedaxe de aplicacións escalables, responsabilidade, protección de datos persoais, TI. seguridade e moitos outros...
Pensei en escribir artigos con formato "blog" para falar dalgúns destes temas no contexto da BGA, pero cústame avaliar se isto che pode interesar ou non.
Entón, imos facer unha cousa sinxela: se pensas nun tema que podería ser un bo artigo, escríbeo como comentario a esta publicación.
Se vexo que hai moitos temas interesantes seleccionarei algúns deles para escribir artigos nun "blog" e verei por onde vai.
Algunha última palabra?
Moitas grazas a todos os que fan posible que este servizo exista e medre: editores de xogos e deseñadores de xogos que creron neste proxecto (non hai nada sen vós), equipo de Asmodée, equipo de BGA: Ian, Jurica, Tof, Xate, Sunil, Cyril, Aurélien, Alex e Pietro: sodes os meus Vingadores, o meu cofundador Emmanuel que me apoiaron durante todo o camiño, e obviamente TI, todos os xogadores que fixeron de BGA o que é hoxe, e especialmente os desenvolvedores de xogos, o probadores, moderadores, tradutores, autores de titorías e todos aqueles que nalgún momento nos axuden a ir máis alá.
Para aqueles que estean interesados nos meus futuros proxectos e publicacións, poden seguirme en:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gisabelli
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sourisdudesert/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gisabelli/
Durante os primeiros anos de BGA, adoitabamos rematar o noso encontro con "Ata o infinito e máis alá".
Pois vémonos para a próxima aventura, máis aló do infinito!
Greg
