Kickstarter Whales

[Morrus]

I know this as the "Porsche Tax". Where to gain access to a highly sought-after model or the newest Porsche, the manufacturer/dealers first require a customer to have a purchase history of less desirable models (such as the SUV or base models).

Ferrari, too. You can’t just buy the newest Ferrari,
No matter how rich you are. You have to build up a purchase history.

 

[chuckdee]

I'm a superbacker - just on kickstarter I'm approaching 2k projects. But I never put that much into any one project. Just too much risk vs reward for me. And I back for the process more than anything - one day I'll get my project up there and use all that I've learned (I've used a lot of it in the cottage industry of reviewing projects). And in all honesty, the whale tiers include things that are red flags to me in a lot of cases. If I come in for a TTRPG and see that they're offering plushies and backpacks and all sorts of things that are out of the wheelhouse of a ttrpg publisher, it makes me side-eye them.

 

[darjr]

This was a guest post off patchworkpaladin, wherein the author analyzed million dollar ttrpg Kickstarters, focusing on the high-cost whale tiers, which generated an average of 23.25% of funding.

Figured it would be of interest in case any wanted to discuss, as they pulled data from the enworld site!

Thanks for posting this.

 

[RyeVsWorld]

Ferrari, too. You can’t just buy the newest Ferrari,
No matter how rich you are. You have to build up a purchase history.

I’ve just realised that WotC must be the one company that I have the longest and most consistent purchase history with… even topping supermarkets and utility companies.

If WotC dropped AI and pivoted into ‘super cars’ I could expect to be first on their list for a launch model!

Ahh… They’d probably call it a ‘Quickling’ or the ‘Tabaxi Monk’!

Ferrari, too. You can’t just buy the newest Ferrari,
No matter how rich you are. You have to build up a purchase history.

 

[RyeVsWorld]

I'm a superbacker - just on kickstarter I'm approaching 2k projects. But I never put that much into any one project. Just too much risk vs reward for me. And I back for the process more than anything - one day I'll get my project up there and use all that I've learned (I've used a lot of it in the cottage industry of reviewing projects). And in all honesty, the whale tiers include things that are red flags to me in a lot of cases. If I come in for a TTRPG and see that they're offering plushies and backpacks and all sorts of things that are out of the wheelhouse of a ttrpg publisher, it makes me side-eye them.

You are a Superbacker! I have the same tag on KS but I fall far short of 2k projects backed!

I 100% agree with your point regarding superfluous extras (Plushies/Backpacks) for me it’s dice also. I often wonder if creators full understand the tax/import duties associated with these ‘extra’ items beyond the intended book.

That said, added extras must be useful for creating perceived value against a ‘whale tier’ and also for increasing ‘mid-tier’ to the point where it grants access to the ‘pay-in-instalments’ feature KS added recently. I imagine it would be payments via this KS ‘pay-in-instalments’ feature that will come to dominate funding campaigns on the platform going forward.

But I have no idea how you would go about harvesting data to demonstrate that.

 

[Thomas Shey]

I'm again reminded that even though I'm a Superbacker, I very rarely am in for more than $20-30 dollars on anything, my average may well be lower than that, and I don't think I've ever gone in for more than $100 (and that was for a computer game KS, not an RPG one; the highest I've ever gone within the hobby was, I think, $50 (though it would probably be more expensive now since it was one of my rare in-it-at-physical-book-level cases).

 

[MGibster]

I've only backed 10 projects on Kickstarter and they've all been TTRPGs or table top miniatures games. The biggest project I backed was Delta Green back in 2015 for a whopping $300. I've run a few one shots but have yet to run a campaign. My next largest Kickstarter was $240 for Zombicide: Undead or Alive. I haven't backed anything since 2024.

I suppose that $300 is the closest I've ever come to whale status. I can imagine for the right Kickstarter I'd be willing to spend between $400-500.

 

[RyeVsWorld]

I'm again reminded that even though I'm a Superbacker, I very rarely am in for more than $20-30 dollars on anything, my average may well be lower than that, and I don't think I've ever gone in for more than $100 (and that was for a computer game KS, not an RPG one; the highest I've ever gone within the hobby was, I think, $50 (though it would probably be more expensive now since it was one of my rare in-it-at-physical-book-level cases).

Not wanting to belittle the importance of ‘whales’, but I’m now wondering about the importance of ‘Super Backers’.

I wonder if there is a huge consort of Super Backers swarming from big project to big project, backing at various levels yes, but ultimately generating huge project success?

 

[dbm]

A superbacker is a user who backed more than 25 projects in a year, for a minimum of $10 each.

 

[Morrus]

Not wanting to belittle the importance of ‘whales’, but I’m now wondering about the importance of ‘Super Backers’.

I wonder if there is a huge consort of Super Backers swarming from big project to big project, backing at various levels yes, but ultimately generating huge project success?

Super backers are important to Kickstarter as a whole, but I wouldn't think for any individual project. I've never noticed a swarm of super backers hitting any of our Kickstarters.