Twilight 2013 Kickstarter

[Cdnwolf]

Just wondering with Twilight2000v3MM and I trying to do a virtual tabletop version of the game using TWL2013 rules if anyone has thought about doing a kickstarter campaign and get the licence to the system?

[Twilight2000v3MM]

Oh. Hell. No.

Knowing how much the lic. is per year (IMHO its too much) there's not enough fan base support for the game system, whether T2K or T2K13, to justify the lic. fees.


REFLEX on the other hand......

I would however like to get G. Barber and the crew to finish the "Everytown" series. We had 3 done (I think only two published) and had another 3 to go.

[Tegyrius]

Agreed, Max.

Wolf, I hate to say it, because your enthusiasm warms my shriveled little heart... but the business numbers haven't changed since the last time we discussed this.

- C.

[Targan]

Isn't it kind of strange that the license fees exceed the likely sales profits? I thought US-style free market capitalism was supposed to be self-correcting in circumstances such as this. What's the point of having a product (the license) available to be picked up if no-one ever would because it would be investment suicide? Can't quite get my head around it.

[DigTw0Grav3s]

Why not just create a new IP?

[Damocles]

Originally Posted by DigTw0Grav3s

Why not just create a new IP?

And miss out on TW2K's player base of dozens of people? Maybe even scores?!

[Tegyrius]

At the risk of further flattening a dead horse, I'd like to get this on record on the forum. This is a G+ post from Fred Hicks, who runs Evil Hat Productions (responsible for the Fate system and several of the better games that use it).

Originally Posted by Fred Hicks on G+

Living the Dream by the numbers.

DriveThru netted us around $42k over the 12 months from December 1st 2013 to November 30th 2014. (This seems relevant given recent speculation by third parties.) Sidebar: That means we made DriveThru about $21k in that same timeframe, aka $1750/mo, aka, roughly equivalent to a $10/hour full-time job with no benefits (assuming 20-21 workdays in a month).

In that same timeframe Evil Hat grossed about $598k from all sources. So DriveThru's revenue represents 7% of that. Stack that $598k against company expenses of about $450k in that timeframe (shipping was about 20% of that to the extent it was tracked as shipping; printing & manufacture about 1/3rd).

That means Evil Hat's net profit in that 12-month timeframe is about $150k, but the vast majority of that money is earmarked for spending on projects that haven't been released yet.

As far as how I'm doing, personally, within all that:

After about 8 years of working at this job, at least half of which were without any pay whatsoever, followed by a couple years of very minimal pay, I'm finally within the last year or so making just shy of what my salary was in 1996 (18 years ago) as an entry-level customer service rep for a website hosting company — without any of the benefits that came along with that CS job, like a 401k or healthcare.

It would not have been possible to get to that point without my wife's job (salary and benefits) supporting me and my family.

- C.

[Targan]

Ouch.

[Cdnwolf]

Ouch indeed.....

but at least he tried to live his dream...

[unkated]

Originally Posted by Targan

Isn't it kind of strange that the license fees exceed the likely sales profits? I thought US-style free market capitalism was supposed to be self-correcting in circumstances such as this. What's the point of having a product (the license) available to be picked up if no-one ever would because it would be investment suicide? Can't quite get my head around it.

It is supposed to be self-correcting, based on the rational self-interest of the participants.

Rationally, the license holder should realize that unless the license fee is below the expected profit from the license, there will be no license sales, and then set the license fee appropriately.

Unless, of course, the license holder has other reasons for not wanting an income from the sale of a license. Other perceptions of the value of the license play hob with free market capitalism.

True Yankee style free market capitalism (19th Century Style) would allow for creating a similar but not quite the same setting with similar but somewhat different mechanics (which I believe you are doing anyway).

Sunset War anyone?

The Sunset of 20th Century Post-modern Industrialism. That's my story and I'm sticking with it.

Uncle Ted

[Sanjuro]

I can think of one way of sidestepping the licence fee (although it would depend on Far Future cooperating).
1. Crowd fund the software (I suspect it would have to be as a module bolted on to one of the existing virtual tabletops).
2. Make a gift of it to Far Future.
3. Buy copies from FF. $35 per disc springs to mind!
Probably cheaper than buying the licence...