Kickstarter

[Bradius]

I am not sure what this means for the future of Kickstarter, but it isn't good. Their new listings are down 35% and they have started discussions on significant layoffs.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/20/2122 ... ding-union

[justplaycards]

It's a really weird scenario. Designers don't want to launch their products because they feel they either won't succeed or make as much funding as they would in a better economic climate (which makes perfect sense). Yet by doing that, I guess they could potentially fold the very platform they rely on to get their goods to market in the first place.

Hopefully they will be ok though. Imagine a world with no more kickstarter decks

[Eric Lee]

Fascinating. Puts things in light on the true scale of KS and just what they can and can't do. They aren't rolling in the $ that's for sure with a net profit of only $1.27 million. Good for an SME, but not quite the amount alot of people think they actually make. With a staff of 140, that's not a lot to monitor a site as large as KS.

That link also led to link about Patreon laying off staff as well. More creatives are flocking to Patreon due to downturn.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/21/2123 ... -workforce

[BaconWise]

If Jocu's latest project is any indication, there is at least a good amount of interest in new decks, despite the 'Rona. I hope creators will see that and pull the trigger on new launches to keep a feeling of normalcy for us collectors. Obviously disposable income could be a concern but I would hate to see KS fold.

[MagikFingerz]

If Jocu's latest project is any indication, there is at least a good amount of interest in new decks, despite the 'Rona. I hope creators will see that and pull the trigger on new launches to keep a feeling of normalcy for us collectors. Obviously disposable income could be a concern but I would hate to see KS fold.

Many have less disposable income now, but I think many (those not impacted too hard economically) also have more because they spend less than they usually do. No going out for drinks, coffee, bowling etc etc. Less spending on transportation. Also boredom from sitting at home a lot probably boosts online shopping in general.

[Outsider]

I'm in that boat myself with fewer expenses actually leading to slightly more luxury spending, but I haven't backed a KS deck in a while now. I had a backlog piled up from last year that had still not even gone to production before the pandemic started shutting things down, and with the factories now closed I don't see it being in my own interest to keep throwing money into it until some of the backlog clears up. As well, some decks that have delivered have been sold for less at retail than on KS, which burns me a little.

Still buying cards, though. KWP has been getting a bit more attention from me and to be fair they've been spoiling me with this good shit at $12/deck and making me not want to blow 50% more on a KS deck I like less. Also buying from retailers, it's always nice to buy cards and then just receive the cards, like within a week or so. There are so many good decks that I wanted to buy last year but didn't want to blow out my budget on, so catching up doesn't hurt my feelings at all.

All in all I think I've had essentially no impact on Kickstarter's success or failure, but I wouldn't be surprised if first tariffs and now coronavirus has clogged up production lines in all kinds of industries and made a lot of backers want to back off for a bit since many projects from last year still haven't even gone into production and have no obvious end in sight.