Are We Consumers or Investors in Crowdfunding?

I think this is the starting point of the conversation. Because, I believe that what we should expect is different between the two and often people don’t consider that. When I say people, I mean both backers and the project creators themselves.

According to Kickstarter, and I believe Gamefound as well, we are investors in the project. This is important to note because it does not mean that we deserve anything more than the project creators best attempt to turn out a product. If they fail, well, our investment failed and we don’t have recourse.

On the flip side, a lot of backers and project creators, treat the backing as being a consumer only. If we are consumers only, we deserve a refund if they can’t fulfill. We pre-order something and we should have the ability to cancel a pre-order if we decide that we want the newer shinier thing.

However, by the letter of the law, crowdfunding has us not as consumers, though we will – most likely – get a product at the end. We are investors in what the company is doing, whether it is a bigger company like CMON or a small company that’s launching their first game ever. By that, they do not owe us a product.

What Are We Owed Then?

This is interesting, because by the nature of investing, we aren’t really owed the product. The project creator is promising us one, but we aren’t owed it. And we might need to pay in more for our investment to get that return, the game, from it. And that is kind of lame. I want to get my product, so you do. Thankfully most board game projects deliver, albeit maybe late or costing more.

However, since we invest in the game and the project, we should expect some things. Mainly, I expect good communication on the status of the project. Jesse from Quackalope did a very good video covering this.

But I want to talk about it more as well. Because I expect good communication. And I think what that means can vary from person to person. And for a project creator, it might not seem that people are reading your updates. Here’s a secret, most people aren’t and that is a good thing.

Communication

I expect consistent communication once the project is done. Let’s make it simple, pick a day of the month, the 1st, last day, 15th, whatever day you want, and give me an update that day. Even if it’s just a thank you for backing message with a little of an update on development, that’s great. In particular, a thank you and some pictures, I will love that.

What I don’t want is no message for four months. Then a short message, maybe a picture, and letting me know that shipping has doubled. I want to know shipping has doubled, but that shouldn’t be the only reason for sending me a message. If shipping is doubled, I want you to link to an article about the shipping crisis. And I want to know what if anything I need to do about it. But I also want the benign updates that things are progressing.

But People Aren’t Reading My Content

Now, that is just fine that they aren’t. I know it might seem wrong but you don’t want people reading them, you just want people getting them. If people are getting an update, they will see the e-mail or notification for it. Then they will know that things are progressing and skip what you wrote. Sending out the communication is about what it says, for some people, but also to reassure people you are still working on the game.

If you send updates sporadically now people will assume either production is starting, shipping is starting, or something has gone wrong. And people will read those and be primed to be frustrated when something is going wrong. Also, more people read it and more people are frustrated. If you put it out normally, even if announcing a delay, people feel like you are staying on top of it.

But I Don’t Have Much to Say

Again, that is fine. I invest in your project because I like the idea of it. But also, I invest in your project and your company. The point of the message is to keep your investors happy. And you want to keep two groups happy. First is the group that always complains, it’s a loud but small group. The second, also small, is the group who will defend you.

If you don’t send messages, you lose that second group. I am willing to go to bat for you and for my investment, because I invested in you, if you keep me informed. Instead of that, I will be critical of you if you do not send consistent messages. For example, I still kind of defend Grimlord Games, I understand it is not their fulltime job. But they do not send consistent updates, they are well delayed at this point. My willingness to defend them is reduced because they do not communicate.

On the flip side, when Nemesis Games sent out a message asking for more support for shipping, I will defend them. I understand that shipping is crazy, and because they communicate now I am willing to give them more grace. Same with Creative Game Studio. Even though they ran into issues with shipping and how things are being charged, they keep communicating.

So Is There More?

Honestly, it is all about communication. If you show that you are being responsible with my investment, setting aside money, building in margin, and communicating success and struggles that I need to know, I don’t need to know all of them. I feel like my investment is in good hands.

Yes, behind the scenes, you need to know what you are getting into. And I expect that before going into your crowdfunding project that you have a plan. If you don’t, if you don’t have plans for shipping, for production, if you don’t have estimates, you aren’t ready. And as Quackalope talks about, it is hard to make money on a first Kickstarter or Gamefound campaign. So plan contingency money, plan not for everything that goes wrong, but plan to communicate when it does.

It is important to keep it moving forward, and it is important to keep communicating. It might feel like added work, something you don’t want to stop work on the game for. But just a two paragraph message with a picture of playtesting, or an update that says what you are working on. I keep on harping on it, but that is what I expect as an investor.

Finally, yes, I expect to get a product at the end. And whenever that end might be. But if for some reason that can’t happen, I expect to know why. And if it is because everything costs 2000% more than when you ran your campaign, I will try and understand. It sucks, but things happen, and I want to be understanding, but that means I need to know through the process. And hopefully, eventually, I receive that product.

What do you expect from a crowdfunding campaign? Do you see yourself as a consumer or investor?

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There are a few things to notice that might be different there now. And for the consumer, not all of them are for the better. Or at least not changes that we wanted to happen. And honestly, it’s not going to go back to the way it was before the pandemic even as more and more things are opening up. So, let’s talk about the changes.

More Companies Going to Crowdfunding

This is one of the maybe better things that happened. Now, for some, they might see this as a negative, but companies going to crowdfunding means that those companies survived. There were certainly companies that went under during the pandemic. I don’t know how much that played into TMG going under, or getting out of board gaming, but that sucks to have a bigger company no longer there. And other game companies as well did.

Plus, I think it allows companies to more correctly judge demand. If you’ve ever notice with Stonemaier Games, their games are always impossible to find when they release. The print run isn’t that big. That is something that Kickstarter or Gamefound takes care of. You have a better idea of demand. And if it does well there, you know to order more copies for retail locations. If those companies only stick on Crowdfunding, though, then it can be a bit of a negative. But I think Kickstarter and Gamefound were a lifeline for some companies.

Higher Shipping

Now, to a negative, shipping is higher. And I fully expect that won’t come down. Now, it might fluctuate over time, but it’s going to take years for shipping to sort itself out. With inflation as well, it’s never going to be as cheap as it was.

Now, some of this is the container shortage, or more containers going from one side and not back to the other side of the ocean. So they build up in different spots. Some of it is that it’s been harder to staff positions right now. And some of it is with the pandemic generally people order more for delivery. So that means that there is a higher demand for shipping products and not yet catching up on space and employees for shipping those products.

Higher Production Costs

With that, there is also a higher cost of production right now. That is more that there are fewer resources going around. It’s not an obvious thing, but when a lot of those places that create the resources, farm the trees, things like that, cut back or shut down for a period of time, we’re now at a product shortage.

Things like cardboard, plastic, and wood all cost more than they did before. If you have tried to do a house project or know someone who did in the past couple of years, it’s more expensive now than it was. Will these prices come back down, I feel like it is doubtful. Right now there is inflation happening and that means that prices are going to stay higher.

Long Delays

Finally, there were a lot more delays. And these delays happened for a few reasons. The most obvious would be delays in shipping. Everything takes longer to cross the ocean and unloaded. Now, crossing the ocean, that part is the same amount of time, but getting containers then getting them onto a ship, and unloaded on the other side, and onto trucks or trains, there is a lot of reasons why shipping is delayed.

But it is not just shipping. Production can be delayed if the factories have to work limited hours, or limited capacity due to brownouts or COVID. So production locations are delayed and that takes longer than normal. Though, often times that can be estimated, especially for smaller Kickstarters or Gamefounds with short print runs.

Finally, there are also delays when it comes to things like designing the game. It is much harder to playtest a game these days. I have playtested a few, Rogue Angels which is playtesting and coverage, and it has to be done via Table Top Simulator. That is not as good as in person. And even designing, things are slower when you are working remote. So there have been a lot of big delays.

Crowdfunding Expectations Going Forward

So, what does that mean? Firstly, it means that your Kickstarter and Gamefound games are going to be more expensive. Shipping and production costs might come down a little, but don’t expect pre-pandemic pricing on your games. Even in retail games are going up in price. So no, it won’t get cheaper again, which is a shame, but also necessary at points in time. It probably means that we all can’t back as much so need to pick and choose more.

But I don’t think it’s all negative. I think that delays will lessen over time. And I think that with the delays going on, most new crowdfunding games are pushing their timelines out a bit. Now, that isn’t to say it won’t be much later, it certainly might be. Eventually shipping and staffing and everything is going to even out as things return towards equilibrium.

Finally, I hope that there will be a few things coming from this. Firstly, I’d like to see, eventually, more localized production. I know Rogue Angels was originally looking to do German production but that made the cost point too high. But I’d love to see more productions based in the areas that buy more of the board games to help keep times shorter. I’m not sure it’d be a massive difference in price, but timelines, getting a product from the US to the US is much faster than across the ocean

I also hope we’ll see a pull back on big minis games. Now, don’t get me wrong, I want my campaign games. But the size of those games makes shipping exceedingly expensive. To go with Rogue Angels again here, the game works well with standees and giving optional minis, that’s cool. But I don’t need every game to come with a million minis, minus Marvel games, or something like that where it adds so much to it. Games with minis for minis sake, I hope we see fewer to help keep costs down.

Final Thoughts

It isn’t all good news when it comes to crowdfunding, obviously. We’re still going to be in a world where there are a lot of delays. Factories are going to shutdown for a week or work at limited capacity. It is going to take longer to get your games.

I do hope that there will be some things that can happen to help improve the situation over time. Like I said, I do think shipping will get better, but I don’t expect it to happen over night. And when I say shipping, I mean, shipping times, costs are likely stuck where they are at. So, maybe don’t plan on backing as many games. I might go through and talk about Kickstarter and Gamefound again and what to know about projects.

But what do you think will happen in the world of crowdfunding?

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