Kickstarter and Elite 4

StarTux

S
It's true, the physical add-ons with its high price for postage make it practically impossible to really send anything, maybe the one item, but nothing else. The 20 special limited price isn't so bad for a title of this nature, but will soon run out, and I think 30 is almost the same price for a fully released game with no pre-order discount over in the States.

Reducing shipping costs to 10 would make a great difference if possible.

You can make digital add-on's for 5 GBP, as this is likely to attract a few more pledges.
 

Paden

Paden
Quick one: where's the money from?

Just a quick one to day for you number junkies...

I had a look last night at a snapshot of the data (about 4am GMT more or less 04/12/12) and put together a chart showing the pledge totals for each pledge tier - so you can see "where" the money is coming from.

9hTx3.png


I don't know what a 'normal' distribution would look like, and unfortunately I don't have time to look at that for a moment. It is clear that the minimum spend to actually buy the game (£20) is the most successful, and as that tier runs out, hopefully many new backers will go for the £30 tier. But for that to work we need to get them in!
 

Kipper

K
Given the scale and ambition for E4, I'd expect it to retail at £39.99 as one of the more premium titles, if they can pull it off.

...So I'm a little surprised that even getting in on day 1 gets you a copy for £20. I'd have put that at £30 and bundled the electronic dark wheel sequel, and then we would have been £90,000 closer to the goal.

For £40, I would have gone for a physical copy in a DVD case (which would still get you the e-book which shouldn't be free when it's released).

Then at £60+, you could add in a physical copy of the game in an 'old school' box, with add-ons like a paperback or hardback copy of the book, a core-systems star map, a ship identification poster (as per the original elite) and a premium manual (or something like a guide to core systems, common ships).

For a little bit more you could have a signature edition, obviously signed and a limited collectible.

There's also a trick being missed for more 'in game' cosmetic items to be bundled in with higher pledges, they are relatively cheap to create compared to physical items - so higher bundles could offer more unique decals, body kits or paint patterns.
 
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QuartzHair

Q
Kipper said:
Given the scale and ambition for E4, I'd expect it to retail at £39.99 as one of the more premium titles, if they can pull it off.
Click to expand...

Publishers take a huge percentage of that £39.99.

Elite: D will have no publisher. So there is no reason for the game to be that price.
 

[VR] Shadowman

[VR] Shadowman
QuartzHair said:
Publishers take a huge percentage of that £39.99.

Elite: D will have no publisher. So there is no reason for the game to be that price.
Click to expand...

Perhaps not, but there are many here who would gladly (myself included) pay £39.99 (and more eg pledges), because it's such a massively anticipated game. Without said publisher, the funds go back to FD, which in turn means more content/updates for us, the customers.
 

Alien

Alien
I'm getting a 503 when I try to refresh Kickstarter ... is it down for anyone else?
Forget that .. it's back
 
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DrBaggy

DrBaggy
:(
Paden said:
There's another set of live tracker graphs been set up which look great, as they have time filters which you can change. It's by @Peter Magnusson.

https://cosm.com/feeds/90429
Click to expand...

There is also KickTraq:

http://www.kicktraq.com/projects/1461411552/elite-dangerous/

I have been following this too obsessively over the last few weeks!

The major donations at the beginning skewed the graph. However, kickstarter projects generally tick up at the end, and I'm hoping DB has a plan if it looks as though it will just miss the target: we don't want this:

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/alpha-colony-kickstarter-misses-funding-goal-by-17-45/0107421

ps the Kicktraq projection is now below target for the first time: £1,249,267
 
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bbwonder

bbwonder
newplot.png


Just seeing if this will work... (the image should stay updated on here too)

Hi, I'm Andrew Winter by the way!

Thanks for posting details of my stats on here, anything I can do to rally interest in Elite 4 is my goal!

Also, any requests will be gratefully received and 'added to the list' :)
 

Alien

Alien
I'm sure that won't happen ... if the Elite KS is that close, there will be people who will up their pledge to make sure it succeeds.

I also note that the company behind that Kickstarter invested $60,000 in it to raise $50,000 ... forgive my stupidity, but why not just spend the $60,000 on what you wanted the the $50,000 for? :S
 

Bromley86

Bromley86
They'd not put $60k into the KS campaign, rather into developing the game over the previous year.

That seems to be the usual approach to KS. Frontier's testing-the-water approach is far less common (okay, there do seem to be a lot of aspiring rappers who want money upfront, but they've not been particularly successful).
 

Paden

Paden
Alien said:
I also note that the company behind that Kickstarter invested $60,000 in it to raise $50,000 ... forgive my stupidity, but why not just spend the $60,000 on what you wanted the the $50,000 for? :S
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Hey Alien, I think the idea is that the developers had invested $60,000 in the project and were looking for a further $50,000 from Kickstarter - that would have given them a total of £110,000 for the project.

I'm sure Frontier have already invested time and money in the game so far, and will continue to do so. £1.25 million is only a part of it... It was the same for Star Citizen, as Chris Roberts mentioned they had some investment aside from the crowdsourcing.
 

Gelt

G
I'm a little confused now that the boxed copy and t-shirt has been added - the tiers that have had this added says to add £15 for shipping outside of the UK, but the tiers above (which also include them) does not say this.

I assume the tiers above should also have the £15 added (so the £150 becomes £165 etc), no? If so, shouldn't it say so in the tier description?

And also, what about those who pledged before the box/t-shirt was added? Will they be notified so they can up their pledge with the shipping costs?
 

Bromley86

Bromley86
It was the same for Star Citizen, as Chris Roberts mentioned they had some investment aside from the crowdsourcing.
Click to expand...

$5m via the website vs. $2m on KS. I suspect (but am not certain) that the bulk of the website stuff was kinda an extension to the KS campaign.

Clearly Elite is not likely to be massively overfunded on KS, but if they do get the $2m they want for the basic game, they can always add to that via the Frontier website. So keep an eye out for those personalised number plates.
 

Alien

Alien
The tiers above the £60 and £90 reward do say "includes the rewards above" so the natural thing to do is look at the rewards it includes and think to yourself "I need to add £15 for that reward"

It is Kickstarter's rules that you can't alter the description of a tier once people have pledged to it to prevent backers being ripped off.
 

Bromley86

Bromley86
Gelt said:
I assume the tiers above should also have the £15 added (so the £150 becomes £165 etc), no? If so, shouldn't it say so in the tier description?

And also, what about those who pledged before the box/t-shirt was added? Will they be notified so they can up their pledge with the shipping costs?
Click to expand...

I suspect that the shipping will be treated as separate to the pledge. So on pledge day, you'd be charged your pledge and the receive an email asking for your address and, if you live outside the UK, £15p&p.

People who pledged above that category and now find they have it as well can always choose to not pay the p&p and so not receive their copy.
 
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