Passion Counts: Michael Hopf on product design through the ages
Michael Hopf, manager of the marketing and distribution divisions for toys and games recalls the game model discussions which happened every 6 weeks in the early days. Mr. Habermaass took part and and everyone at the table was united by their passion for game development. It was always lots of fun for us to develop new products and whatever is fun works well. In the early days ideas often came from customers or preschools. But the focus was on developing unique concepts and observing children while they play. Today, the company's own designers and game editors come up with half of all game ideas. The other half come from external game inventors who send concepts or even handmade games to HABA. Around 1,000 such packages reach the editorial team each year. The entire bandwith is represented from kids to grandparents, teachers, attorney's and mathematicians. And the ideas which they submit are just as diverse.