The latest ICv2 Retailers Guide to Games takes a look at the game business as retailers enter the critical holiday season, and finds that while the market is strong in most categories, it represents significant challenges for retailers trying to decide which products to emphasize. Board games, miniatures, and CCGs are all strong going into the season, with RPGs weak below the top few product lines. But the plethora of new releases in the CCG and miniature categories makes it a difficult environment.
Most agree that the number of strong new releases exceeds the ability of the market to absorb them, meaning that retailers have some difficult choices when ordering and when deciding what events to run. And the variety of inventory management strategies at the manufacturer and distributor levels also means that products that sell well aren't always available for reorder. The safest category may be board and family games, which are selling well and appear to have little downside risk. For a much more detailed analysis of the state of the market, based on interviews with distributors and retailers, see the ICv2 Retailers Guide to Games #3 (for information on how to obtain this Guide, see 'ICv2 Releases Retailers Guide to Games #3'). 
