Kickstarter Top Ten Tabletop Game Kickstarters: Why So Successful?

So this is a thread about a post by Matt Forbeck about an article on icV2. "It's clear that tabletop game projects are among Kickstarter's most successful categories, with five projects at over $1 million, and three over $2 million." I mean, this list is so epic that Monte Cook's half-million-dollar Numenera doesn't feature on it!

Interesting. Why do you think tabetop gaming Kickstarters perform so well? Is it the nature of the audience to collect things? Is the format of a tabletop game something that lends itself towards the Kickstarter model? Is it related to the tabletop gaming community and networks? Or do we just love the idea of crowdfunding?

Rank	Title	Total	Date	Backers	$/backer
1	Dark Heaven: Bones minis by Reaper Miniatures	$3,429,235	08/25/12	17,744	$193.26
2	Zombicide: Season 2 by CoolMiniOrNot	$2,255,018	03/31/13	8,944	$252.13
3	Kingdom Death: Monster by Kingdom Death	$2,049,721	01/07/12	5,410	$378.88
4	Game Tiles by Dwarven Forge	$1,908,155	04/30/13	5,398	$353.49
5	Robotech RPG Tactics by Palladium Books	$1,442,312	05/20/13	5,342	$270.00
6	Sedition Wars: Battle for Alabaster by CoolMiniOrNot	$951,254	06/30/12	4,278	$222.36
7	Myth miniatures by MERCS Miniatures	$926,112	04/24/13	5,360	$172.78
8	Ogre Designer’s Edition by Steve Jackson Games	$923,680	05/11/12	5,512	$167.58
9	Relic Knights by CoolMiniOrNot	$909,537	09/09/12	3,459	$262.95
10	Zombicide by CoolMiniOrNot	$781,597	05/06/12	5,258	$148.65

 

[tangleknot]

Agreed with OP^
My Dice are 20 years old and I've got mini's form the 70's. AD&D, D&D 3rd/ 3.5, Pathfinder... My books and games come and go but the dice and Mini's stay. Hence why I pitched in for DF's Game tiles, and the Frog god games Tome of horrors KS!!!

 

[Bolongo]

Man, 4 of the top ten are Cool Mini Or Not? They're doing something right.

The big lesson on that list is that the *real* money is in minis, not games. #3 Kingdom death is a Boardgame, but I'd bet money it's really about the figures that come in the box.

Not one of them is an actual RPG. Which is not really a surprise -- there's a lot more material expense in producing these minis and games. Number of backers is key,too. So many of those in the top ten are right around the 5K mark. Numenera comes in at 4658, better than several of the top ten, but the backer price point could be a lot lower (38 at $3(an iphone app), for example).

Only 2 of the projects are just minis. But you're right, almost all of the boardgames on the list have a lot of minis included. And everything is either a boardgame or a gaming accessory of some kind.

Why no RPGs? Well, I assume there would be some on a list that went by percentage of goal reached. But if you're going by total dollars, minis and other baubles simply have a higher cost.

Also, there might be reluctance to buy into a new RPG because there's so much work of your own involved in starting up a new campaign, as opposed to breaking out a new boardgame.

Koloth

It could also have to do with long term value. My Reaper Bones minis(Vampire level with several add ons) and SJG Ogre game will be useful, playable and supported long after D&D Next has been relegated to the trash bin. I am increasingly reluctant to support companies that obsolete games on a 3-5 year cycle. Especially when a filled out set of game materials can run $300+ . Boardgames, minis, dice, and terrain tiles tend not to suffer frequent version cycling.​

I'm not sure you should expect these indie RPGs to be on the same kind of product cycle as something from WotC or WW. They're made by much smaller companies that don't have the same overhead and thus don't need to churn out material at the same pace.

 

[Balesir]

I think what this reveals is that the traditional RPG model of selling through stores left money on the table. The stereotype of gamers lacking money seems true at the store level - $20-$40 RPG books can be seen covered in cobwebs at many stores and any gaming table routinely only has 1-2 people that own a bunch of books. But, it is also true that there are gamers with money willing to purchase heavily when the right offer is made.

Pretty much every retail offer will do this - it's a result of the way supply and demand work. All retail sales are made on the margin - in other words, the price is set by the lowest offer the seller can accept. Maximising profits makes sellers go for more sales than the very few they could get top dollar for, and competition drives down the price towards the minimum that covers their marginal cost.

Kickstarter has found a structure that (a) minimises competition, by getting the buy committment in advance of the idea/thing actually being available, and (b) allows different "ranks" of deal, such that the guy who's willing to pay $1,000 can pay that and get the deluxe version, while the guy with only $5 to spare (or only $5 worth of interest) can still get something for their cash.

I think it's simply part of the exploration of what is possible with the internet that wasn't realistic before. We have only just begun to see the changes the 'net will make to retail sales (and thus to just about every other aspect of life), in my view. Interesting times!

 

[howandwhy99]

Minis gamers already lay down $100s - $1000s just to be able to play their game. These kickstarters are bulk, high end, custom purchases of minis. The games may not be that popular or have that many backers, but the buy-it / back-it price is significantly higher than other tabletop RPGs and videogames, while still a bargain.


EDIT: Recognize that the vast majority of money from of those kickstarters isn't profit unless the kickstarters are the sculptors, machine owners, and/or manufacturers of the minis.

 

[Hishen]

never palyed any single game of this.will play this soon...

 

[Warbringer]

I think the demand has always been there, but its taken the microfunding/publishing model to actually allow creators to service it.

As a group, backers have a higher willingness to pay than your average retail customer. We are tailenders, we are advocates, and we generally have higher disposable income for our hobby.

Everyone of us is worth a 1000 customers browsing any given retailer.

 

[CharlesRyan]

My take is that the RPG and minis businesses are a lot like Apple.

Apple's retail operation is one of the most successful in the history of retail. They make a TON of money per location and per square foot, despite spending way more than anyone else on real estate and staff. They do a lot of stuff right, but the main thing is they have a product people really respond to, but that doesn't show off well in conventional retail.

Macs languished for decades on the shelves of Best Buy and Circuit City, but that conventional method of selling didn't really convey the message of why someone would buy (let alone pay a premium for) a Mac instead of a commoditized PC. Once Apple took control of the sales method, and gave customers the experience they knew would resonate, their retail sales took off.

Maybe Kickstarter does the same thing for RPGs and minis. Products that struggle to excite consumers (and retail/distributor buyers) when presented through the conventional channels can tell their story more successfully through Kickstarter. It's a way for the makers of the products to talk directly to the consumer and tell the story their way. And the Kickstarter platform focuses the consumer attention on that message in a way that creates a sort of critical mass.

 

[Hand of Evil]

They are social games, family or group, it gives people a way to interact, plus they really have cool toys as part of the box. Rules are simple, games last a couple of hours and you can rotate games.

 

[MerricB]

Here's the thing: A lot of those kickstarters are great value because of the minis, not the games.

Sedition Wars: The Battle of Alabastar was sold on having great minis. The reviews of the game, now that it's out, have been extremely poor - and I've seen several posts very disappointed by the quality of the minis (other people seem happy with them). In actual fact, the game has since been revised so that that stat sheets, rules and scenarios are completely different. If the game had been released through regular channels, it would have bombed.

Kickstarter projects that offer a lot of minis will likely do well. The simple truth is that minis are expensive to produce, but a lot less expensive in bulk, and so Kickstarter projects allow great economies of scale. When you have 5000+ guaranteed sales, the minis are a lot less daunting to do. Also, you're cutting out the middle men (retailers and distributors).

I've backed a few RPG kickstarters. The ones that made a lot of money had established names working behind them or established titles. And were for multiple books.

 

[Mark CMG]

Here's the thing: A lot of those kickstarters are great value because of the minis, not the games.

Will we see a Kickstarter that "breaks" Merric's Law?

*pre-painted plastic minis can only have 2 of the following: (1) non-blind purchase, (2) low prices, and (3) wide variety