Atlanta Game Factory was my ultimate expression of that idea

By Christmas of 2007, I had pretty much decided that I had enough with the whole retail thing- Factory Games just wasn’t the same without a physical place. With almost no return on what I was putting into it other than getting games for my own collection at cost- not to mention the fact that I was at that point a working writer and didn’t really have the time to bother with keeping up with orders and distributing them once they arrived- I decided to finally put the whole game-selling racket to bed. The thought of continuing on with the deliveries, monthly taxes, stress from irritated customers, and too many orders that I wound up losing money on suddenly took the last vestiges of joy out of the enterprise.

What’s worse is that I realized that I wasn’t having fun with it any more. My hobby had become more of a burden than a source of pleasure, entertainment, and enrichment. I just didn’t enjoy selling games any more- at least not in the Factory Games manner. Without the store the foundation wasn’t there, it was just filling orders in the same manner that any given online retailer conducts business on a day-to-day basis. After the holidays, I sort of quietly stopped doing orders even though I was still getting emails and phone calls from folks looking for games.

I still do to this day.

That’s the end of my career in hobby gaming retail and the end of our story, at least for now.

Would I do it again? In a heartbeat- even if I never made a buck. Regardless of whether or not I’m in business there will be games- and relationships, connections, and friendships between people will continue to grow around them. You can get rich in the hobby game business, but you have to know where your concept of success lies.

After all is said and done, I was able to retire from the hobby games business a very, very wealthy man.

Questions or comments for Michael? Send them along to gameshark.feedback@yahoo.com .

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