Age of Annihilation - Backer Trend and Discussion

[Nukatha]

Current count is 3661 backers, one less than my prediction. There is a slight speedup.

[GamerDad74]

To say I've been disappointed since it was proclaimed that "Heroscape is BAAAACK!!!" is an understatement. It may have been back, but it wasn't the Heroscape I originally came to rate as one of my all-time favorite games; it was something so different it didn't really grab me (steampunk rodents?). Believe me, I tried to talk myself into it, but in the end, there was just not way to drop $250 on something where only 1 or 2 factions even interested me (and why did we need so many new generals and totally new factions? Who was asking for that?) and that forced me to buy a bunch of terrain I already have bins full of.

No on ramp. No tiers. No options. No add ons. No historical. VERY little classic.

They kept talking about the cost of the tooling/molds and how many different units there were and they couldn't do it for any less. Well, I just finished backing Cthulhu: Death May Die at $165 for 140 or so total units, ~84 which are unique. It also included all the game components (plastic and cardboard tokens, dice, cards, tons of artwork) and 16 unique "episodes" (scenarios) with all cards, tokens, and miniatures necessary for each one. The campaign brought in $3.4 million dollars and over 21,000 backers in 2 weeks. It had a low entry point of $100, tons of stretch goals (close to 50), a bunch of add ons, and every miniature had full color art including professionally painted examples of the miniatures (miniatures come unpainted, but that didn't stop them from showing how cool they could look), advertised all over the place, lots of reviews, tons of interactions on the comments board, and on and on.

It's still hard for me to believe that a $9 billion dollar company like Hasbro couldn't come up with something at least equal to what a company worth a fraction of that did.

I get that Heroscape has the cost of the plastic for the terrain. I don't know what plastic costs, but the Hasbros kept telling us that what was really driving up initial cost was the cost of the tooling/molds. My point is C: DMD had more molds (and more detailed) and more art, for much less. If CMON can make a campaign with so many more options, add ons, a relatively low starting point, and so much more art, why couldn't Hasbro, unless it was just a cash grab and they didn't really care all that much?

[chas]

GamerDad74,

Your comparison between the two companies approaches' to crowd funding is spot on, like many others before you.

I sometimes wonder if people who don't want "new Scape" but just "more Scape" play with Customs. C3V has done such a good job "filling in" the old factions that I myself do like to see new factions (not necessarily new Generals, but I can go either way on that). If you look at the new AOA cards we've seen so far, its pretty clear to me that Craig and the others are continuing the character card creativity that is at the heart of Scape. And that's why I'm backing. The amazing character diversity is in fact continuing to blossom.

Go full blast, like a Hellforge! Its the character design mechanics I play Heroscape for. And I think what they are doing now is great. I still hate Hasbro, (and not only because of Heroscape) but I love Avalon Hill. Even though ironically its not the same AH I began this hobby with, back in the Sixties. That's how I roll.

I also hate Disney, and I'm not crazy about turnips.

[nyys]

Cthulhu is also a bajillion times more recognizable IP, with a following to match

[Tornado]

Not dead with eternal lie
Stranger eons Death may Die
Drain you of your sanity
Face the thing that should not be

[bmon]

Originally Posted by Tornado

Not dead with eternal lie
Stranger eons Death may Die
Drain you of your sanity
Face the thing that should not be

Tried to quietly rep you for that, but apparently I've gotta spread it around more. So instead I'll publicly appreciate this.

In madness you dwell...

[Grungebob]

I have a question that I think begs asking. I see a lot of people talking about how horribly they feel this crowdfunding campaign has been run, and are wondering why Hasbro hasn’t done much in the past week to help the final push.

I also see a lot of people talking about increasing their backing up to multiple sets they say they don’t want or need.

My question is: Why? If you are upset at the management of this campaign, why not pull your pledge out instead? Doesn’t it send a stronger message?

I’m not advocating for that, but I’ve been scratching my head about this for a couple of days. The natural tendency when people are unhappy with something, is to not support it at all.

There’s also a real issue of Hasbro possibly misunderstanding the market, and pledging multiple sets that you only pledged for out of desperation seems like it might set Hasbro up with a false impression of the reach of the hobby.

I hope I’m making my point clear.

[rudyvalentine]

My impression is people want to see it succeed but are frustrated by what they view as missed opportunities to have made it more successful. Not that they feel the product is bad and don’t want it.

[1moreheroscaper]

Originally Posted by Tornado

Not dead with eternal lie
Stranger eons Death may Die
Drain you of your sanity
Face the thing that should not be

Nice Masters of Puppets/Thing that should not be reference.

[Hogg]

Originally Posted by Grungebob

My question is: Why? If you are upset at the management of this campaign, why not pull your pledge out instead? Doesn’t it send a stronger message?

I believe if this campaign fails we will never see the word HeroScape again. Ever. And that this is our only chance to ever receive a non-custom HeroScape product.

[Grungebob]

Originally Posted by rudyvalentine

My impression is people want to see it succeed but are frustrated by what they view as missed opportunities to have made it more successful. Not that they feel the product is bad and don’t want it.

I didn’t mention anything about the quality of the product. What I see are people complaining about the care that was put into the campaign, and then following it up by increasing their pledge. To me this seems like a glaring disconnect. Speaking for myself, if I don’t like the way a company does business, I don’t do business with that company. Maybe I’m old school.

[Grungebob]

Originally Posted by Hogg

I believe if this campaign fails we will never see the word HeroScape again. Ever. And that this is our only chance to ever receive a non-custom HeroScape product.

I understand that feeling. I think what I’m getting at is that you expected Hasbro to put forth a glorious final week media blitz to get this thing across the finish line, correct? The only final push seems to be from backers convincing themselves and friends to back more copies. There’s a mismatch here.