Report To The Stakeholders

[roguebfl]

Originally Posted by Þorkell

Why is there financial trouble in getting the book out? Didn't the company budget for the entire process?

Because the budgeted steps too more work hence more cost than expected to get it done. The can also be a change in expected sales return.

[philreed]

Originally Posted by Þorkell

Why is there financial trouble in getting the book out? Didn't the company budget for the entire process?

Financial budgets know nothing of quality. We do not force creative works to a "finished" state just because of money. A project is completed when it is ready and meets Steve's expectations.

[philreed]

Originally Posted by Ronnke

Is there anything we fans can do . . .

Patience is all we ask at the moment.

[Þorkell]

Originally Posted by philreed

Financial budgets know nothing of quality. We do not force creative works to a "finished" state just because of money. A project is completed when it is ready and meets Steve's expectations.

However it looks odd for a company having the completed work in hand, as Phil Masters says above, and then going 'We don't have the money to release this'. I'm not trying to be unfair, I'm however slight frustrated by this, but it looks like the financial side of this all leaves something to be desired.

[philreed]

Originally Posted by Þorkell

'We don't have the money to release this'.

That's not what we said. We could send this to print right now, but to do so without the proper marketing and sales plan in place would mean losing money on the project.

The report states:

"The failure here is one of marketing and sales; right now, we cannot profitably bring the two new hardcovers to print."

[lachimba]

There's an alternate world where GURPS Discworld is the number one GURPS book for sales, high in that top 40, tapping into the market of new GURPS players and winning awards left and right.

I hope it's just a future echo and not a parallel.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Folks, Phil Reed is one of the most savvy, articulate, forward-thinking guys in the hobby industry. He's also honest, forthright, and about as professionally transparent as you can get. If he says they need more planning it's because their needs to be more organization involved with the product and not much else. Let's not armchair quarterback him, he knows what's he's doing and he'll figure a way to do it and do it right.

Am I happy GURPS slipped below the top 40? No, but that's because they are making millions off of products like Munchkin or Zombie Dice, not because no one is buying or playing GURPS.

I'm sure we'll get a better feel for the 2015 year (which has seen GURPS releases of at least a book a month with many more in the pipeline and of course our monthly dose of Pyramid) when the report comes out next year.

Sides, having budgeting issues from too much growth is the kind of problem you want to have if you have any at all. :-)

[RogerBW]

+1 to Christopher's post, or whatever it is the young people say these days. I want to see more GURPS players, GMs, books, and writers, because it's the system that copes best with the way I like to run and play games. I agree the situation looks a little odd, but I trust Phil to have his head screwed on and do this right, rather than go with luck and end up with a hole in the budget that needs to be filled with Munchkin cash… because what would that do to proposals for future large GURPS projects?

[Þorkell]

Like I said, I'm not trying to be unfair. It's just that this situation looks odd to me.

[Blind Mapmaker]

Sad to hear about the Discworld delay. I was getting ready to pre-order one or two copies of this sure-to-be collector's item. I hope the marketing campaign won't take that long to start up. Releasing the book around one year after Pratchett's death would probably be its own boost to sales. If it takes longer, interest will most likely flag (unless there are secret texts by the man himself in the book).