In 2021, Mythic Games announced a Kickstarter campaign for an officially licensed board game adaptation, backed by Ubisoft. Rainbow Six: SiegeTwo years later, Mythic is asking those who already paid for the game to pay a little less. many-more.
game, simply called 6: Siege, pretty much what you’d expect: two teams of operatives battle it out on a tactical map, one attacking and the other defending. Also, as you’d expect from an officially licensed board game coming to Kickstarter, giganticpromises all kinds of plastic miniatures, expansions, 3D buildings and terrains.
In 2021, the game will be available in three tiers: a basic $69 copy, a deluxe version for $199, and a premium $269.the last one is many Stuff: Includes a 5 “year” expansion, multiple map packs, additional units, a neoprene dice tray, 3D buildings, and even a small laser pointer so you can quickly and accurately determine what’s in your line of sight .
Well, in 2023, As the pandemic wreaked havoc on the board game industryMythic ( wargamer) posted updates on the campaign website. In the current situation, it states that the money people paid during the initial campaign cannot actually cover the manufacturing costs.
As a result, they are giving backers three options: they can pay more money, they can wait for the price to drop and perhaps receive the game at some point in the future. $69 backers are asked to pay an additional $39, $199 backers an additional $99, and $269 backers an additional $129. increase.
It’s… hooboy, it’s many of extra money.mythic I explained my decision on the campaign pagethe increase is due to the international situation, there is also an internal overrun:
… The combined crisis of COVID and the war in Ukraine, which we did not expect, has changed the international landscape. With prices literally exploding everywhere, the quotes we based before and during the Kickstarter campaign no longer make sense.
Paper and cardboard costs have increased by an average of 50-100% (for example, the paper we use has gone from $600/ton to $1,200/ton), to name a few. Manufacturing, assembly, and shipping also doubled from $4 to $8 an hour. Energy, plastics and raw material costs have increased by almost 50%. Finally, while container rates have recently fallen from ridiculous highs (and have not returned to pre-crisis prices), last-mile costs have skyrocketed and are higher than ever. So I must say that we spent a lot more money developing the game than we expected, had more people working on it than we expected, and spent longer than we originally estimated (which led to the extra cost It happened, but in the end it’s an optimal, well-tested, diverse and balanced game).
Wildly enough, this isn’t the first time Mythic has had to do this.their Darkest Dungeon Adaptation also had to ask for additional money, which 20% of supporters refused. In this case, Mythic updates state that “If the commitment rate is not met, we promise to reimburse all contributors for these additional costs pro-rated.” Once we have a minimum commitment to go into production, we will start printing. ”
I have a lot of sympathy for board game publishers and makers right now, but these situations are nothing new. I wrote “board games go wrong” was released in April 2020, and the game was Kickstarted a year later. Mythic’s reluctance to tolerate too much price volatility in such turbulent times reflects poor campaign planning, with fans not only being asked to pay more, but You are right to be upset that you were asked to pay more. many more.
It’s also another example of the dangers inherent in the arms race, with many board game publishers trapped on Kickstarter, dumping increasingly obscene amounts of plastic miniatures and other luxuries into their games to appeal to backers. is offered to Actually creating the project is much more expensive and therefore risky.
We reached out to Mythic to see exactly what the entire campaign would look like if the “commitment rate” wasn’t met. I will update if I get a reply.