Reply To: Darkest Dungeon: The Board Game – Shipping surcharge

[jamescutts 6924xp 0]

This seems to ringing all the alarm bells several of us have been mentioning for a while about Kickstarter, boardgames and Mythic (not mantic who are very different bunch of friendly folks).

First of I think the communication is poor, it does read like a ransom note to some extent, I suspect it risks alienating some backers enough they won’t pay, which is what Mythic really need if the costs are so out of control.

Secondly sympathies go out to those backers affected by this. Sadly though in most countries it is a investment and not a purchase so generally outside usual consumer protection. You all now have a tricky decision to make, invest more and hope or potentially write off your investment.

I’ve said before I don’t think there’s a huge problem with Kickstarter, used as it was originally intended it is a great way to raise funds for new ideas, there’s been great examples of this outside our hobby and some inside it. It’s a great tool for smaller companies too even in the Pre-order style, the likes of the new miniatures from flags of war probably would happen without Kickstarter due to costs.

Kickstarter very clearly states with a huge checkbox required that this is not a purchase and is an investment with no guarantee of a return, I hate to say it but people should really read the small print, or in this case the rather large print Kickstarter use to this effect.

However it’s been abused as a glorified pre order system that removes consumer protections by the likes of mythic for many years, this is exactly what gives it a bad reputation within our hobby.

As for Mythic, I hope this is a wake up call for them. I’ve disliked their model for many years and they are the reason I stopped backing these kinds of Kickstarters a few years ago. If they want to survive as a company they need a major shakeup.

Firstly there need to deliver on time to lessen impacts like this, I can’t think of a Kickstarter mythic has delivered on time and they have loads so this shouldn’t be something they can’t calculate.

Secondly they need to more accurately set funding goals to cover their costs.

Third they need to reassess their “stretch goal” model, nearly every mythic game is huge, with huge boxes and many stretch goals, this adds cost complexity and is heavily hit by shipping. I’ve said this before but the core product of miniatures and board game is good, they should focus on simple boxed games and expand gradually from a core product base rather than needing one Kickstarter to fund the next and so on.

It would also be worth investing in more local production, or at least considering it, similar to WGA who moved production to the US to lessen shipping costs.

Finally they need to be honest with their customers, they should be communicating the risk this poses to all their projects and I suspect the very real potential they may go bust people should be made aware that their investments may be lost. while that’s not the news many will want to hear it would lessen the impact to be upfront with consumers and may even get some sympathy if delivered is a meanful way.

My advice for those looking to back future Kickstarters, can you afford to lose the investment, do you really need it or can you wait and don’t go big, go small. Back a indie for £20 or £50 not a £300 monster, you’ll more likely get, get it quicker too and support small businesses.

Money talks, by not supporting these kinds of projects companies like mythic will either adapt to more a more consumer friendly model or probably not stick around for long.