It’s rare but not entirely unheard of that a company might try to save another publisher’s product. This isn’t unique to the game industry; it can happen for TV shows, books, movies, and a wide variety of other brands and products.
Recently, Mythic Games announced that they were passing the torch for 2 of their funded-but-not-manufactured games (campaigns valued at $3.2 million) to CMON for an undisclosed amount. There’s excellent reporting about this situation from Board Game Wire (plus an interview with Mythic) and Alex at BoardGameCo. I also previously discussed what creators can do to prevent mythic meltdowns (in reference to a third Mythic Games project that appears to now be in the freight shipping process).
Today I’m looking at this type of situation from another angle: If you’re a publisher who has the opportunity to rescue a product or project, what are the considerations? Please note that I have no insider information, nor am I a backer of these projects.
- Empathy and Altruism vs Breaking Even: When a peer is struggling, I feel for them. Even if they’ve put themselves and their customers in a tough position, I’m rooting for them to figure things out. However, solving another company’s problems isn’t my job (or your job); my job is to serve my customers and my team. So if you’re considering a bailout, I think the primary motivator has to be that you see significant long-term upside in making another company’s customers your own. Not only is CMON now responsible for manufacturing and shipping these games, they also bought the intellectual property from Mythic. CMON isn’t getting the Kickstarter funds. To break even, they will need to sell a huge quantity of Hel and Anastyr.
- Potential for Backlash: Alex from BoardGameCo has a superb commentary about the unintended consequences of CMON’s bailout. You see, CMON isn’t producing Hel and Anastyr exactly as Mythic promised to backers. They’ve determined that there is a version of these games that makes financial sense for them to make; otherwise, there’s no bailout, and backers aren’t getting anything. Yet some backers are angry with CMON. If I were a backer of these projects, I may be mad at Mythic, but not at CMON. I understand the frustrations, and this is a crucial piece of information for publishers to consider: It is very, very difficult to please people who are already angry, even if you are not the original source of their anger. I would be very hesitant to enter the lion’s den (and I love cats!).
- Legal Implications: Transferring intellectual property and personal information for thousands of backers from one company to the next is not simple. These things do not happen overnight, and if the scale is big, you’re probably looking at 100+ billable hours from lawyers and accountants.
- Focus: I’ve heard from a few creators and companies over the years who asked if Stonemaier Games would consider either bringing them in as a studio or acquiring their products so they could just focus on design. These aren’t full acquisitions or bailouts, but they’re in the same realm. We’ve looked at these offers and always ended up turning them down, and it’s largely due to focus. We want to stay focused on only a few major releases each year, shine a huge spotlight on those releases, and support those games in the long term. “More games” is not our goal, nor is “more overhead”. As Leo from Mythic mentions in the interview, “We should have kept a tighter rein on our operating costs and found other sources of revenue, perhaps retail, sooner. We probably hired too many people.”
- You Can’t Please Everyone: This mantra applies to many different aspects of entrepreneurship, but I’m specifically thinking about rescuing out-of-print products. For example, Libertalia was a game that was out-of-print, the rights reverted to the designer, and we worked with Paolo Mori to bring the game back to life via Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest. The game has done well for us and brought joy to tabletops, and I’m proud of the large investment in time, creativity, and resources we put into reworking the game for its 2022 release. But there were certainly some people who would have just preferred that we reprint the game instead of creating a completely new edition. I hear that, and I’m grateful for the secondary market and for Board Game Arena–the original game lives on there. The whole process made me wary about doing anything like that again, though.
- Corporate vs Personal: Looping back to my first point, while I think it’s rare for a bailout to be a good business decision, that isn’t the only way to help a peer in need. We’re all also individuals–you can personally support companies you admire and appreciate without putting your business at risk, whether it’s a small pledge or a major investment. I’ve done a little of both myself when it’s felt right.
What do you think about these considerations? What have I missed in terms of factors to consider if a publisher tries to rescue another company’s product or project?
***
Unrelated, today I intended to write a post about how it’s okay to work on vacations (if it’s your choice, not your employer’s) or even plan travel around the idea of working somewhere else for a while…but then I realized that I already wrote that article back in 2019! It was on my mind because I recently had a “working vacation” in the Caribbean that I greatly enjoyed, especially given how icy it was in St. Louis that week.
If you gain value from the 100 articles Jamey publishes on this blog each year, please consider championing this content! You can also listen to posts like this in the audio version of the blog.
17 Comments on “Bailouts: Considerations for Rescuing Another Company’s Product”
Leave a Comment
If you ask a question about a specific card or ability, please type the exact text in your comment to help facilitate a speedy and precise answer.
Your comment may take a few minutes to publish. Antagonistic, rude, or degrading comments will be removed. Thank you.
I’m angry with CMON not because they’re modifying the game — that’s to be expected — but because they’re not treating $80 backers of Anastyr any differently than $600 backers in who gets bailed out. They absolutely could do that, given their incredible scale and the fire-sale price at which they’re obtaining an IP and a mostly complete game, but they’re doing the bare minimum to avoid mass riots. They could have even tossed us a bare minimum additional expansion, *something*! But they’re saying that the $80 backers will be essentially made whole (free copy of the new base game), and $600 backers can take a long walk off a short pier, when we were the people who put the lion’s share of the money into funding the creation of the game. It’s not right, and CMON needs to do better.
But do you actually know the details of CMON’s finances? What’s their current cash flow? At what price did they obtain this IP?
You have every right to feel what you feel, and I’m not invested in either of these projects. As an outsider, it just seems like I would be angry at Mythic for the $600 I spent for gaining nothing in return, and I’d appreciate that at least I’m getting something from CMON (who did not receive my $600).
CMON didn’t receive my $600, but they received the game progress that the $600 funded, at what we can only assume is a fire sale price. A nearly complete game that they now can finish up and profit from. Finishing it up is still a fair bit of work, but it’s light years away from starting something new from scratch.
The game might still need a considerable amount of work–we’ll see what CMON reveals about that. Also, I prefer not to assume things I don’t actually know about another company’s finances.
Good point! I would not consider to take over another project, for so many different reasons. As you say, focus being the main thing. The project might not fit well to the current product line or it might not justify the time, energy and finances needed to deliver it to the market.
I was a backer of a project that got rescued.
The project creator kept trying to sell backers on more and more merch and additional kickstarters shortly after the first one funded, which was both obnoxious and also a big red flag. Eventually the updates slowed down and apologies and lies started to pile up. This was a licensed IP so the rights owners were also quite upset that their reputation was being tarnished by association.
The final product wasn’t everything that was originally promised (for obvious reasons), and because of the negative experience with the project creator going AWOL, I have never actually pulled it off the shelf after receiving it. Every time I see it I am reminded of the years-long ordeal so I choose something else instead. Just the thought that the creator “got away with it” (though I know it’s often way more complicated of a situation than that) makes me upset, and ruins any fun I would have with the project.
It’s kind of like trying to watch an old Bill Cosby comedy performance today. His jokes may be good, but I have a hard time laughing when I know what else was going on with him.
So what’s the moral of the story and how do I feel about bailouts? For me personally, at the point a project needs bailing out it is probably already poisoned in my mind so if I had the choice I would choose a refund.
I am happy for the backers that are able to enjoy the bailout releases even if my personality doesn’t allow me to.
I don’t back much anymore (went from 1 or 2 projects a month several years ago to maybe 1 or 2 a year now, if that) , and while the failed projects are certainly part of the reason, they weren’t the only driving force behind that decision.
I appreciation this consideration for publishers, Shaun: Rescuing a project may not fit into your planned schedule of releases, and you really need to run the numbers to see if it makes financial sense (without using tactics that require asking backers for more money).
I definitely appreciate and applaud the effort and investment by the rescuing publisher, even if I never want to play thr game after the ordeal.
It is a huge goodwill gesture that does not go unnoticed, even if my inner Shylock sometimes still wants a pound of flesh from the original project creator.
Great post, Jamie. Thank you for writing it :)
While we’re not a publisher of games, we have a hand in most parts of their development and production. On a few occasions, we have done what we could to either help bring a game to market, or chipped in to ensure that our clients were still around to keep doing what they love; making games.
The things that go through my head when considering what we can do to help are pretty simple. It all boils down to what can we do to help keep their boat afloat without the risk of sinking ours. We’re not publishers, so we don’t have the infrastructure to fulfill a campaign, but what we CAN do is offer our expertise on how to keep (graphic) design costs down and/or offer our services at a discounted rate while still remaining in the black.
One of the main reasons why I choose to keep my business in the tabletop industry is the community. Having operated in hospitality, high-tech, and housing, nowhere have I been among such kind and generous individuals as in the Tabletop Games industry.
We’re not going anywhere and will still continue to do what we can to help out those who need it, as I know several who would (and have) done the same for me.
Beautifully said, Matt. I think it’s awesome that everyone has different talents and resources to help keep the boat afloat, and while it’s never expected, it’s great to see that type of generosity in the community.
Just so it’s clear, this forum is not a place to pile on game publishers who have struggled. I understand how frustrating it is to not get a reward you paid for, and there are other forums to talk about that. Today’s topic is about what publishers can/should consider when considering a bailout of another publisher’s product or project; comments unrelated to that discussion will be removed.
It’s an important thing to do. I know a company that has offered this to numerous Kickstarters of various sizes behind the scenes. Stick together folks. It ain’t about you, it’s about them.
What types of considerations and stipulations has that company (specifically or generally) made when offering something like this?
Something to consider is perhaps this a roll of the dice for CMON as well. Maybe things are going as great (certainly crowd funding wise) and feel the need to try something different? They seemingly generate huge funds from the Zombicide series but it must be diminishing over time and maybe are freshening it up.
Relief for those backers anyway that they don’t lose everything.
I do have respect for CMON as they fully refunded my all in pledge of Trudvang Legends after they decided to redesign it a year after the campaign. They make great games and are dependable (if a little excessive on KS).
Absolutely, I can’t imagine they would do this if they didn’t think there was some long-term upside.
Perhaps not directly what you addressed above, but the Kickstarter included this explicit “guarantee” on the campaign page: “[I]f any part of your order cannot be delivered, then we will reimburse you the full cost of this component regardless of the date.”
Given that Mythic Games presumably accepted money from CMON for the sell, and intends (?) to continue as a company selling games, what would you say is their responsibility to backers with respect to their own commitments? If it helps draw a line, consider someone who only backed Hneftafl, which was tacked on to the campaign.
That’s an interesting consideration for a publisher who is thinking about a bailout: What responsibilities are they opting into? Do they get to pick and choose since they aren’t the ones who made the original promises?