I don't nessesarily disagree with you on that point. I would absolutly support a project and company I believe in with my money. However not everyone will, especially when we are talking about open digital distribution. Thats just the reality of the social landscape at the moment.
Keep in mind that open formats like what we are discussing, when shared freely, have a ton of positives even without every single copy consumed generating revenue. It generates more consumption by a wider audience than it would have otherwised reached, which in turn creates a wider audience who will be willing to support them in the future. All of that needs to be taken into consideration from a business standpoint and weighed. The notion that sharing digital goods is inherently bad or harmful is flawed. It's a powerful tool when used appropriatly. I would share my digital SotM Comics in a heartbeat if I knew I had the chance to hook others into the world >G has created.
I couldn't complete your survey since I don't want a physical copy (just a PDF) and it wouldn't let me submit my answers without responding to those questions.
Yup. Sharing with someone who wouldn't have bought the comic anyway in the hope that they'll like it enough to buy future products is completely valid. That's why food/drink companies give out samples in stores to people who weren't intending to buy said product. And that's why many digital board/card games (Hearthstone being a great example) have free base games - if people like it enough, they'll pay for more cards/extra levels/avatars/whatever. If they don't, you haven't really lost anything.
The problem with a "smaller" campaign is it does not reduce the work to put the comic together. You cut out the printing but Adam is the artist for SotM, and Christopher is the writer. You don't just pump out a comic book in a few days, that is a lot of art, and much more involved than the art on the cards, you also have a much more involved writing process, neither of which is cheap, esp. when you are faced with the cost-benefit of having Adam and Christopher work on stuff for Tactics or SotM.
You aren't just recouping Adam and Christopher's share of the company profits either, when you dedicate time to a comic instead of something else you need to make the money those other projects would make, you need to cover rent (taxes and maintaining the buildings), and employee pay as well. Marvel has an incredible (and incredibly huge) team that does these things every day, the little kickstarters of people's comics make very little money for the time put in (if at all) and are much more about the dream of your comic reaching other people.
The next Sentinels Comic that sells will be the first, the process is not going to be streamlined, and the numbers aren't going to be big. They have bills to pay, this isn't 2010, they can't take the risks or make the barely profitable stuff they did to get going.
The only way this comic gets made is as a combo with something that can get numbers to pay for it.
I think the most likely way for it to happen is as a stretch goal in the next SotM expansion that isn't free, but is purchasable with the game so it could ship with it.
That way it can piggyback on the money, and the shipping change would be largely insignificant. I think they could make sales that way.
It is sad, because the Kickstarter failure doesn't bode well for a sentinels comic series that can run independently and be profitable. I would buy those comics, because I love these characters.
Therein lies the gamble. Distributing a digital copy that can be shared to a wide audience that may or may not continue to support future releases, or making opimal profit by selling the hard copy.
Personally speaking, I was hooked by playing enough games with my group. The "Let's Play Sentinels" series on Twitch is for sure an excellent cost-free way to generate interest. And you can certainly argue that the comics will do the same.
However, back to my original point, it was a pretty clear-cut issue that the comics cannot happen unless there is an investment in the project. That's the only reason why, in this case, it is important to support the creators. After that, then I would advocate sharing. And as someone else said on here, some of our friends want to read the comics, but don't want to back the project. That's pretty unfortunate.
I like the idea of having the comic as an "add-on" to the next SotM expansion, but I fear that the pairing of the comic with Conflict and its subsequent lack of interest has irreparably damaged >G's faith in and desire to produce it.
If it was a pre-ordered add-on it would probably be wise to take a Kickstarter-like approach to the comic part of it. If Paul says they need 1200 preorders for it to be economically viable then the comic only gets produced if they hit that number - any fewer and everyone gets refunded. Messy, but less risky.
I'm inclined to believe that video games work differently to board games, but either way I think it depends on whether you're looking at short-term or long-term profit, and if you care about "people who bought the game" or "people who bought the game and like it, or at least don't dislike it enough to post negative reviews about it all over the internet".
Do you want 100 customers to buy your game and have 25 hate it and slate it, or do you want only 75 to buy it and love it? Will those hypothetical 25 "hating" customers do damage to the brand/game worth more than the profit you made from them?
Of course thats the way Jesse Schell is going to see it. Look who he is. I should find a link to some Lawrence Lessig lectures. Brilliant dude.
Demos of video games are only being played by folks are are considering buying that product anyway. What new group are you reaching? You are just giving people who would buy it anyway the chance to opt out. Thats a very different dynamic than Silverleafs example of food/drink samples given to customers never intending to buy that product or who may have never heard of it. It's all about the context. What I was saying was not meant to be taken as a blanket statement.
I did fund the hard copy of the comic. I was disappointed that it got so little response. My friends who got me into the game mirrored people’s sentiments that they didn’t want to support the Story Wars game, even if they did want the comic. What surprises me is that they did not try to tie in the comic with the anniversary event. If they had sign-ups and even donation info at the stores that will be holding the event, I think they would have gotten a ton of responses.
So with Just 1 day and 30 responses the numbers are backing what GTG feel there is not enough to justify spending the resorces to makeing a comic, 1500-2000 at an estamated $15 plus lets say $5 shipping so $20 total for a physical copy.
A PDF would genarate a better responce for $10 a pop and so far seems like a more valuable option
