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Old 04-24-2019, 06:27 PM   #1281
Beoferret
 
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Default Re: Report To The Stakeholders

Good to see GURPS Characters in the top 40. Did the release of the DFRPG lead to a noticeable bump in overall GURPS sales? (especially from newcomers? - not sure if you parse that out though.)

So that question popped into my mind, when reading the stakeholder's report. But I also noticed this in regard to 2019 goals: "Continue to improve on our Kickstarter efforts [with] a second GURPS project (following the first of the year, Dungeon Fantasy Monsters 2, ....), as well as some other ideas that we're not yet ready to reveal." A second GURPS project for Kickstarter..... Another boxed set? Or some other equally interesting fun thing?
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Old 04-25-2019, 08:14 AM   #1282
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Default Re: Report To The Stakeholders

The report raises some interesting questions:

"And as we watch the distribution network continue to transform, with shorter sales windows for new products, we direct more of our energy to Kickstarter where we can judge demand for a title before taking the finished work to print."

Do you find that you've had to take on the responsibility for tasks that were previously provided by distributors (pre-order collection, marketing and freight-forwarding to retailers)?

Imagine that you had a built-in world-wide distribution network (like Asmodee). Could you judge demand and manage the sales windows for your games better? Or are the hobby distributors losing their ability to consolidate supply and demand?
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Old 04-25-2019, 08:22 AM   #1283
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Default Re: Report To The Stakeholders

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Originally Posted by Beoferret View Post
A second GURPS project for Kickstarter..... Another boxed set? Or some other equally interesting fun thing?
I have no inside information, but seeing as Kromm hasn't been visibly killing himself with a project he can't talk about, I suspect a new box set isn't in the works right now. There are, I think, some more likely possibilities. Girl Genius has been kicking around for a while, as has Vehicle Design. Either of those seems like a plausible candidate for a Kickstarter, particularly the former, which seems like a natural candidate for release in a well-illustrated hardcover, which means in turn costs which they'd really like to be sure they can cover. Kickstarter looks like a suitable mechanism for that.

Or, of course, it could be something completely different.
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Old 04-25-2019, 08:33 AM   #1284
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Default Re: Report To The Stakeholders

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Originally Posted by rickr View Post
The report raises some interesting questions:

"And as we watch the distribution network continue to transform, with shorter sales windows for new products, we direct more of our energy to Kickstarter where we can judge demand for a title before taking the finished work to print."

Do you find that you've had to take on the responsibility for tasks that were previously provided by distributors (pre-order collection, marketing and freight-forwarding to retailers)?

Imagine that you had a built-in world-wide distribution network (like Asmodee). Could you judge demand and manage the sales windows for your games better? Or are the hobby distributors losing their ability to consolidate supply and demand?
From what Phil's said when I've chatted with him about it [and his being more blunt about it in last year's report], the problem is the fickleness of the consumer part of the market, caused by a glut of product.

Last year he described it as "a periodicals market"...with hundreds of new games releasing every month, and game store shelves not getting any bigger, either your product is a viral smash hit or you're old news that everybody's forgotten about within 90 days, making every print run is a gamble.

If it's a great game and you print enough for a smash hit, there's a very high chance of being stuck with pallets of the stuff until the end of time [or the warehouse burns down]. If you don't you're not stuck with dead stock, but with lead times and such an 'out of stock' smash hit falls off the radar before a reprint leaves the factory and the customers who wanted it have moved on. Hence why we see so many big companies on Kickstarter now. Technically it's not a pre-order platform (something something, no guarantee of delivery)...but because it effectively is, for the company it becomes a way to hedge their bets; it gives them an idea of how the market's going to react before they even approve the work order.
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Last edited by TheAmishStig; 04-25-2019 at 08:36 AM.
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Old 04-25-2019, 01:58 PM   #1285
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a sourcebook on uplifted dinosaurs in a steampunk era? sure, that might be useful some
Please tell me that actually exists and isn't something you made up...?
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Old 04-25-2019, 11:12 PM   #1286
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Please tell me that actually exists and isn't something you made up...?
Haha I made it up, but hey, there's a Steampunk series now so it might happen...
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Old 04-26-2019, 01:46 AM   #1287
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I think our coordination between the two events (report post, BackerKit live) may have been off by about 24 to 36 hours.
The BackerKit survey is now live and working. Thanks!
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Old 04-26-2019, 07:03 AM   #1288
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Originally Posted by johndallman View Post
The BackerKit survey is now live and working. Thanks!
Sorry that we didn't have the two coordinated well.

Preorders are also open:

https://dfrpg-monsters2.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders
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Old 04-26-2019, 08:45 AM   #1289
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Default Re: Report To The Stakeholders

So, as sales decline for a 4th year, is this a sign that Munchkin is wearing out it's welcome? I mean, at some point you must have sold a game to every household in the US. :)
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Old 04-26-2019, 04:08 PM   #1290
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Default Re: Report To The Stakeholders

https://www.alderac.com/2019/04/25/p...JxHZ98k3WIffQY

This post from AEG seems to be talking about some similar issues to what SJ Games is also dealing with.
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