Gamefound apparently has a new function on it’s sight. You might not be familiar with Gamefound, but it’s an all in one crowdfunding and pledge manager for board games and tabletop related projects. Most recently, they came together with CMON to make it the official spot that CMON will be crowdfunding their games. So that is a huge get for Gamefound. But apparently, with that, they rolled out a new feature because it’s one that now CMON has used twice, or soon will be, on Gamefound of preordering games through a Gamefound page.

Initial Opinions

This has been a mixed bag of opinions from people in the board gaming community. A number of people are kind of balking at it because “is that what a crowdfunding site is for”. And some people, myself included are kind of “meh” on it either way. I think the big complaint from some people is that it’s on a crowdfunding site. Now, keep in mind this isn’t being crowdfunded, it isn’t having stretch goals. This is a product and game that are going to happen.

And I think it is worth pointing out, these people don’t have an issue when Stonemaier games does preorders for their games. Or really any company does preorders for their games, it’s more that it is on Gamefound. So it’s a bit hypocritical, and generally comes across more as an issue with how they think CMON operates versus a preorder system. I’m not going to get into that part of it, but I’m going to call it out as what it is.

But Why Does Gamefound do Preorders

So what is the advantage of having Gamefound do their preorders versus a company doing it on their own site. Firstly, that means that you don’t need to maintain as much of an eCommerce site as you would otherwise. There is inherent security with financial transactions that you need to think about. Gamefound is built to handle those transactions. Actually, that’s the main point of the site. Yes, it’s a crowdfunding and pledge manager site. But when it comes down to it the main point is to get you to put money into a game and run that transaction. When that happens, that is when a game can be made.

Now Gamefound just offers a function that most publishers were doing on their own anyways. The difference is, the site is built for providing updates, it’s built for collecting and protecting the transactions. And I, as someone who has done software and web development, am all for a company specializing in what they are good at. CMON should make board games.

Gamefound and other like sites, if they can provide a preorder service or storefront services even, should. Because I don’t trust a board game company to run security like they should. This isn’t a knock against them, it’s more just a statement of fact, it’s a bigger liability to spread yourself too thin or not have the correct resources. And with my money, I’d prefer to have it better handled.

Why Should Game Companies Use It For Preorders

I kind of went over one reason. It allows a game company to focus on what they know how to do. They know how to make games. They don’t need to worry about security and other things. But that isn’t the only reason.

I think more companies should run preorders and push preorders. And on their own site, that’s sometimes hard to drive the traffic there. People look for new games on something like a Gamefound or a Kickstarter or other crowdfunding site. So it automatically gets more eyes on it. And doing preorders is useful for a company because they know how much to order.

Stonemaier and Lorcana

Let’s look at two examples of Stonemaier, even with preorders generally can’t produce enough to keep up with what they have coming out. So it creates a scarcity and panic around tracking it down. Or Lorcana, Ravensburger should have known it’d be bigger than what they printed, but they created a scarcity that if they hadn’t fixed quickly could have killed off Lorcana. A good preorder system can help with that.

The other reason, and this might be an issue with CMON doing it, but again, we don’t know CMON’s finances fully, so how much money they have sitting around who knows. But if a game doesn’t need stretch goals, a preorder is better than crowdfunding. It, again, gives you an idea of how many copies you need. If you sell 10,000 copies in preorder you know to order another 10,000 copies, or something like that, for retail. You probably also know that if you only get 1,000 preorders not to order 200,000 copies.

But it also helps in that it doesn’t create unneeded bloat. There is no need for a stretch goal. It is just a game your game as it is. No need for expansions with 10 extra minis that add nothing. No need for linen card and box finish. And for a company like CMON, I think that’s a good thing. It helps them know how much to order, but it also helps them create and keep a focused game.

Final Thoughts on Gamefound Preorders

For me, I believe that the positives heavily outweigh any negative. This is a practice that a ton of companies already do. It is just now on Gamefound. And for me, that is a great thing. It means that a game gets more eyes on it, it means that a game company can probably sell more preorders. There is less risk involved for the end user because it’s a secure system built for financial transactions. Overall, I think it’s a win win for the companies and the consumers.

In fact, I’m going to go so far as to say, I want other companies to do this. And I want Gamefound to offer a storefront option to board game companies. Instead of them using whatever other third party options are out there for them, build it into a company that knows how to work with board game companies. And a company that can increase the visibility of it. But even if they don’t, I hope that more companies start to use them for preorders.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you see an issue with Gamefound having a preorder system?

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