Edit: The GM for “Phoenix Rising” has contacted me suggesting that I was overestimating attendance for that game, and (from the middle of the year) for “Werewolves of London”. I’ve updated the graph and statistics below to include this correction. For 2018, I will be estimating monthly campaigns at 15 rather than 20 places, unless there’s a suggestion otherwise.
For the past few years I’ve been tracking stats about larp attendance in New Zealand. The full dataset is available on the web here:
The headlines:
- Overall larp attendance fell by 10%. This follows a ~10% decline in 2016.
- However, the decline was limited to Auckland (down 27%) and Wellington (down 17.5%). In other regions, attendance grew.
- In Auckland, the cancellation of Chimera and delay of Saga obviously had an impact, but more significant is the decline in regular monthly campaigns, which provide a solid monthly base for people to attend.
- Wellington has a similar tale of event cancellations, with Embers, Dry Spell, and even the post-Armageddon theatreform impacted. However, it has also seen Reloaded turn into a solid quarterly campaign, as well as the launch of Thunderrealm Island.
- Attendance increased significantly in Greater Waikato thanks to a new monthly campaign. However, there was only one event run outside of this, and Medusa was cancelled due to lack of interest.
- Christchurch saw a short campaign, as well as an increasing number of larps at SAGA’s conventions.
- Dunedin added a convention, Cerberus, as well as a small campaign on top of its term-time WoD campaign.
I was expecting attendance to increase this year due to the large number of campaigns due to launch. Instead, the opposite has happened. Hopefully next year will be better.