For the president and founder of Éditions Gladius international, Marc Fournier, it was important to create board games that would be successful in Quebec and that would interest Quebecers to become “masters at home”.
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“We wanted to focus on Quebec. We didn’t want to go out and invade the United States or the rest of the planet,” Mr. Fournier explains in an interview with Le Journal.
The company, which now produces more than 500,000 games per year, was founded in the early 1990s out of Marc Fournier’s very specific desire to… buy a supplier!
Then, around the age of twenty, Mr Fournier dropped out of training to be a gamekeeper but was unable to find work in the field.
“Some friends and I were wondering how we could make money and buy an outfitter,” he says. The idea was to create a game about nature, wildlife and the environment and sell it to a game company.”
After spending hours in the library developing the quiz, no one wanted to buy the concept for it. That’s why Marc Fournier and his friends produced and assembled it by hand in addition to selling it.
Nature Enjeux was born, but the demand was not very great… until an interview with the program Salut Bonjour! present your project.
“It exploded, the demand came. [Les propriétaires de boutiques] who told us: “I will wait until I have demand”, so the demand was there!” exclaims Mr. Fournier.
Marc Fournier initially wanted to be a gamekeeper, but discovered his passion for publishing board games. Stevens LeBlanc/JOURNAL DE QUEBEC
This initial success preceded many others, including the Gangster series, OKO and numerous TV game adaptations. The latter – like Le Cercle or Le Cheur – also established Gladius’ reputation.
“What does the world like? What are people watching? If we have a television show that has a million ratings, it’s because people like it!” explains Marc Fournier.
The other side of a successful game
Developing a board game presents some challenges, especially for Gladius, who wants to remain “educational, family-oriented and accessible.”
Therefore, production costs are being monitored as the company wants to differentiate itself from “gamer” games that cost more than $100 per box.
“We have to manage to keep people together at the table for as long as possible,” adds Marc Fournier.
In particular, he spent hours watching “tapes” of television shows to figure out how they could be adapted to a tabletop game.
Afterwards, the testing process can sometimes be frustrating, especially with early designs. A game can take anywhere from a few months to years to produce.
“After 30 years it’s no longer frustrating, it’s just at the beginning […] Adrenaline and frustration can build up, says Marc Fournier. Now the ego drops and the quality of the game takes precedence.”
Mr. Fournier has been in the board game business for all these years and still recognizes himself as “a poor winner.”
“I like to get angry when I play, but out of anger a lot of them turn on me…” he says with a laugh.
And did he end up buying an outfitter?
“NO! he shouts. And I don’t want it anymore! We work so much that I now go into nature to relax.”
Much…
Entrepreneurship is…? “If I do something, it has to end successfully. We can’t do it without that.”
Who inspires you? “My stepfather inspires me a lot because he was a successful businessman. With his way of seeing things, with his examples, he meant a lot.”
If you could change anything in the world, what would it be…? “What disgusts me most in the world is violence against children and women.”
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