Heroforge introduces microtransaction model with Daggerheart collaboration

[IggyMoonbeam]

Hero Forge just dropped a statement:

https://heroforge.com/content/collaborator-collections-statement/

 

[Imaro]

Right, and Darrington would want HeroForge to pay them for usage.

Yes but the way you phrased it was like DP would somehow be paying the artists more because of this deal... when in fact hat ship sailed when the contracts for the corebook were signed.

 

[Parmandur]

Yes but the way you phrased it was like DP would somehow be paying the artists more because of this deal... when in fact hat ship sailed when the contracts for the corebook were signed.

Maybe, depends on their contracts.

 

[Imaro]

Maybe, depends on their contracts.

This seems like pure speculation... as well as being highly irregular in the art market... but hey anything is possible, I guess.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Yet, many of these larger brands required more than what we’ve offered in previous collaborations, which focused mostly on cross-promotion and shared community excitement. For big IPs, there needed to be a benefit beyond visibility. Namely, a financial one. As we dug into a solution, we discovered that splitting profits on purchased miniatures wasn’t viable. Mixed-IP miniatures created complications around licensing fees and branding; it simply wasn’t something we could navigate.

This is a good point I hadn't considered.

While "frog man" doesn't seem to be a particularly strong archetype, the next partner might have miniatures that are much more wedded to a brand -- Mandalorian armor pieces, or something -- and it's not hard to imaging lawyers being a pain in the butt, especially if there's a regime change at the IP-holder company and someone comes in with a skeptical attitude toward the collaboration. So having this stuff siloed makes sense.

So, what happens now? We’re working with Darrington Press to give access to all Daggerheart Collaborator Collections to current and future Pro and Pro+ subscribers at no additional cost. We want to express our deep gratitude for Darrington’s grace and understanding through this, and helping ensure we do right by our community. If you already purchased a collection and have a Pro membership, over the following weeks we’ll automatically reimburse your purchase as account credit. If you purchased a Collection and you’re not a Pro subscriber, you’ll continue to have access to those parts.

In the future, we’re unsure how or if we’ll be able to bring these bigger licensed IP collections to Hero Forge in a sustainable way, but we’ll continue to listen to our community and let your input and values guide our path.

This also seems like a classy way to resolve this for now.

 

[JDazzle]

It almost sounds like Hero Forge is not going to do any further collaborations due to this and that's a shame.

But I guess if that's what their community wanted then they had no other choice

 

[Parmandur]

It almost sounds like Hero Forge is not going to do any further collaborations due to this and that's a shame.

But I guess if that's what their community wanted then they had no other choice

I mean, if the only way the could make the collaborations work financially would tear their community apart, it wouldn't make sense to proceed.

 

[humble minion]

Fair response from Heroforge on this. Probably the only possible one, given the firestorm didn't seem likely to die down any time soon, but kudos to them for making the call in the end. And probably also kudos to Darrington for (reading between the lines) being willing to rewrite the contract rather than just let HF twist in the wind.

If this means no more big IP collaborations for HF - I'm honestly ok with that, personally. The REALLY big and recognisable geek IPs (Star Wars, Marvel, Warhammer) mostly have their own miniatures lines already, so wouldn't be looking to HF anyway. But there could have been scope for stuff from individual video games etc, but personally I'd be just as happy if they stuck to their knitting. And of course this doesn't rule out future collaborations, only collaborations using this purchase model. And now they can go to negotiations with potential collaborators saying 'we can't do the revenue-splitting thing because our customer base won't accept it, look what happened last time we tried'.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

And now they can go to negotiations with potential collaborators saying 'we can't do the revenue-splitting thing because our customer base won't accept it, look what happened last time we tried'.

And, honestly, it's hard to imagine a collaborator that RPG fans would cut more slack with than Darrington Press. The reaction to anyone else I can think of would have been much worse.

 

[Jahydin]

The statement does a really good job explaining the thought process behind the monetization. Also, how they need to take a look at how they conduct surveys.

It does not really explain why it was so expensive though. It could read as Darrington demanded the $8 per pack, but for all we know they might have only wanted less than a dollar...

Either way, great to see companies that listen to feedback. My players all use Hero Forge and love their little miniatures.