"Are there to many Kickstarter's?" Topic

Is it me or are there now too many kickstarters being put up for wargamer's to spend their money. I understand that bringing new products out costs money (I have been there) but with everybody and his dog now doing it has it not watered down the effect? We have already seen one big company pull theirs down (I think due to slow response) so are gamers now over it?
Is anyone else as board of this now?

Jules

That more or less assumes all wargaming-related KSs are equally interesting to all wargamers, but of course there are a myriad of niches that KSs can provide stuff for, which is a good thing.

In the end, the market will regulate itself and in fact already does, and in the meantime, I'm glad there are so many choices out there.

one big company pull theirs down (I think due to slow response

Gates of Antares was pulled because they didn't have a product to offer, only an idea. It is clear that Rick wanted the KS money to start a games company as he said he didn't need a route to market for a product that was already finished. It is clear that wargamers won't back nebulous ideas and want a see a nearly finished product.

Elmo is backing 4 KS right now. Mainly because my New Years resolution was to acquire new games ONLY from KS in 2013. Having a lot of KSs does allow you to stagger the delivery dates and funding charges on the CC.

So no, for me there aren't too many.

While I agree there seems to be a lot of them, the market will determine if there are too many of them. Right now I'd say they are still a viable option. Even in a flooded market, the right product marketed to the right people will do okay.

Like asking if there's too much air! Don't want them, then don't breathe!

I don't think there are too many.
But I do prefer to pay for something after it is made rather than fund its creation.
Old fashioned so and so that I am.

Reminds me a lot of the vaporware that was sold in the 80s & 90s. Some of it became good software/hardware, most of it evaporated. Whether or not there are too many depends in part on how much risk you are willing to take, I guess.

It is the wave of the future but the seller HAS to actually have the product or components of the product produced and visiable to potential investors. As GoA showed, people aren't interested in spending money on an idea, but will spend on a figure line.

Prefer to see finished products so not really a fan of them.

No.

So far I have only seen one that failed in it's goals, so I would say no, there aren't too many. And why would it matter if there were? If they get enough people interested they succeed and if not they fail. Simple economics…

In a way, it's basically become a preorder system and we've always had a lot of new stuff coming out for order or preorder.
But it seems to me that in many of these it is an attempt to gauge interest in a line or get funding for something before committing much work/money to it. Combine that with the lack of any real promise to get goods, I don't especially like it.
Companies love it because the initial costs get covered by the consumers and there's little risk for them. But as a consumer, I want to pay money for a product I want, not for you to develop a product I will probably want but can't be sure until you actually produce it, whenever that may be. I'm not in the habit of assuming risk on behalf of companies unless I'm going to probably profit from it.

My wallet says "yes".

I agree it's mostly an economics question; the only sign that there's 'too many' will be the failure of all projects to attract critical mass within the time frame, as the wargaming customer base will be spread too thin. And in this case that also assumes all of the projects are of equal quality AND all appeal to the same group, and they won't.

-Will

I agree it's mostly an economics question; the only sign that there's 'too many' will be the failure of all projects to attract critical mass within the time frame, as the wargaming customer base will be spread too thin. And in this case that also assumes all of the projects are of equal quality AND all appeal to the same group, and they won't.

-Will

Not tried one myself….frankly there is so much stuff out there that alreay exists, that I want, that I don't see any point sinking my hobby budget into something that might exist later….

I think we are going to start seeing a big separation. To many established companies are trying to use it to take pre-orders.

I thought long and hard about doing a kickstarter for our new terrain series. I already have a laser cutter so it would be nothing but a marketing ploy. At this time, I can produce 2-5 buildings a month and release them as we go. I think you will see more failures and others that just meet the goal. I'm all for new companies getting started and pushing into much needed niches but I have a feeling this gold rush by established companies will hurt the little guys in the end and cost the entire industry to distrust a valuable tool.

If there were too many, there wouldn't be very many successful ones.

My only complaint about KSs are the ones that are pitching a new rulebook and some nice minis.

All the options include the $40 USD-$60 rulebook that I have no interest in. I'd chip in some cash if there was an option to just pick up the minis.

I agree I just want the minis. No t-shirts, autographed photos, buttons, certificates or rules. Just minis lots of minis and never EVER 1 freakin mini for $30 USD, sorry no matter who you are you aint that good :)

I automatically disagree with anyoe who asks if there is too much of anything.
Except snow, of course.

It was not the figures I was thinking about but all the other bits that seem to have started to be posted. I think one or two people are just using it as a free advertising tool that the customer is now paying for.

I automatically disagree with anyoe who asks if there is too much of anything.
Except snow, of course

I agree with this mostly… I really like snow.

I just can't understand the arguement that there is too much choice.

I just can't understand the arguement that there is too much choice.

There is the thought that there's only so much money, and too much choice means that the Superstar Effect will come into play -- that is, nobody makes any money except for select Superstars, who will make a whole bunch of it.

But this sort of assumes a saturated market in the first place, which I don't think is true. If nothing else, there are a whole heck of a lot of women out there who get ignored.

Meiczyslaw – I think that what we had before KS was a 'superstar' system. Now we are getting choice in what is produced, or the ability to produce what YOU want. There will still be the same amount of money spent on miniatures, it's just that different folks will be getting it.

I really think it boils down to people's fear of something new. The music industry changed immensely with digital music, but there are still plenty of folks making a living from it, but now I don't have to pay $20 USD for a CD with one good song and 9 crummy ones. AND I can now find a band playing a rockabilly cover of 'Irish Rover' if I want that I would never have found before the Internet and small bands ability to sell direct. 10 years ago people that that industry would collapse to.

Yes.

I think it is going to eliminate traditional methods of bringing a product to market.

It really makes little sense to do anything but kickstart.

I've backed several kickstarters… it's a great way to fund a new project.

If you do it right.

The trick is the same as any other product launch. You gotta have a new and innovative product. You gotta package it just so. You gotta research, you gotta deploy it at just the right time.

the only thing kickstarter does is it combines the fundraising stages with the early-phase deployment.

Poorly-managed, poorly thought-out, or simply ty projects will fail, well thought-out well-executed projects will succeed. This is no different than the direct analog of digital versus print publishing. Good books will succeed and bad ones will tank.

KenofYork- I don't think that it will eliminate the old methods. Not all companies will want to give up the level of control they have over deadlines etc…

Eventually the market will reach equilibrium. I'm sure some people thought the same way when internet shopping appeared, but that has been great for wargaming (if not for the highstreet).

I'm personally happy with having greater choice. It's not as if I'm in the market for all of these projects.

Leigh

You can never have enough ponzi schemes on the go……….