this post was submitted on 02 Jan 2024
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[–] [email protected] 39 points 10 months ago (4 children)

not $65-for-a-box-that-will-never-be-opened good, though

[–] [email protected] 30 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Me staring at my copy of Catan that is still in the plastic wrap contemplating buying this for the memes.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 10 months ago

it's not like it's Twilight Struggle. Catan is one of the easier games to get to table. you just gotta ask more people.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 10 months ago (2 children)

They're making money on it, so that's reason enough for them.

Presumably, the few people that buy it will open and use it.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 10 months ago (2 children)

I highly doubt they are making much money, if any on it. Board game development and manufacturing is expensive in the U.S. especially for a one-off. A game with this many decks and pieces would probably cost an easy $100 in a regular retail environment, which is likely why the run is limited.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

I expect a larger, less limited run for a higher price later on if this test run sells well. If this is a loss leader, it's also a marketing gambit.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 10 months ago (1 children)

This is completely possible and a much more realistic analysis. We'll see what they end up doing here.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Might sell decently in the UK as well 😆

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago

Yeah, the TrashFuture audience would love this shit.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 10 months ago (1 children)

$100 is way too steep for punch-out tokens. or maybe games developed in the era of kickstarter have skewed my perception.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

It used to be better even 10 years ago, but my understanding is that the demand for time on the manufacturing machines has gone way up due to Kickstarter and the popularity of D&D, and supply of machines has not gone up because it takes engineers and investors literally begging (and sometimes even threatening to sue from the investor-side) for management to even consider buying new machines (Thanks Lean Six Sigma). I'd say the biggest thing creating cost here is the board itself, the packaging, and the (looks like three or four) decks of cards, not the punch tokens.

That said, I could be way off and they are pushing these babies out for 10 bucks a pop.

I have a buddy that just published a game last year, and his set up isn't much more complicated than this, with more plastic counters, and his ran for 80 dollars outside of retail, which wasn't much above cost (according to him).

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I think a good comparison would be a game like Dead of Winter which has like at least twice as much papercraft stuff in it as this Storm the Capitol game but at highest I think sold $79.99 retail and was rather profitable.

The difference in your friend's game is the plastic counters, I think. A pair of my friends have been publishing games for almost a decade now and they try to exclusively design papercraft games because of the difference in cost to produce.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 10 months ago (1 children)

well, they're charging money for it. Whether or not they make money sort of depends on whether people buy them

[–] [email protected] 18 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

They have 30k members that collectively pay them $100k per month over patreon. Plus the large number of folks like me who listen on bootleg feeds and their public feed. I think that's enough people that they can sell out a limited run of a board game.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 10 months ago

It's certainly possible, but it's also not guaranteed

[–] [email protected] 18 points 10 months ago

I am 100% going to buy this and play it with my in laws.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 10 months ago

$65-for-a-box-that-will-never-be-opened

If I actually bought this I would play the living fuck out of it