Kickstarter Coach
The Board Game industry continues to grow. A big part of this growth is attributed to crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and Gamefound. These sites allow new and up-and-coming board game designers to attract backers who pledge for the game, providing the funding that would otherwise be nearly impossible to launch the game. However, funding on Kickstarter (or any crowdfunding site) is not easy. In about 14 years of Kickstarter's existence, 40,366 games have been funded, but 42,371 have been unsuccessful. Of those that have funded, 42% raised between $1,000 and $10,000 dollars. Only 8% have raised over $100k, and the competition continues to grow with nearly 500 games competing for pledges each month! To make matters worse, many large and established publishers and designers are also on these sites, securing pledges for games that do not need them, and taking precious resources from the designers who truly need the funds to launch their games. On our podcast, we will be talking to board game designers, publishers, reviewers, illustrators, distributors, game con hosts, and even retailers to find out what it takes to make a good game, and what it takes to fund successfully on a crowdfunding site, and what it takes to sell beyond the crowdfunding campaign. By interviewing guests from all different aspects of the industry, we hope to shed some light on each perspective and help the board game community continue to flourish.