5 ms·
Cynically, I wonder if this policy change was not prompted by Kickstarter's own doubts about the lifx team being able to deliver. After all, this is the same t
by mcphilip 14y ago
Cynically, I wonder if this policy change was not prompted by Kickstarter's own doubts about the lifx team being able to deliver. After all, this is the same team that couldn't meet demand for their custom cardboard box project.
I wonder if in the future there will be a requirement to limit the number of backers on every project. Logically there seems to be a point where additional money from backers over what was asked for leads to difficulty delivering at all.
For instance, say I could make 10 custom widgets a month at $100 a piece. I might decide to launch a Kickstarter project asking for $1200 to gauge if at least 10 other people are interested in my fancy innovative widget. What happens if I end up raising $12000? My target of 20% profit on each widget is no longer possible unless the backers are willing to wait up to 10 months for me to deliver. The only other option is to invest money into producing widgets in larger volume to meet this initial demand. That investment would only make sense if there were some reasonable expectation that demand would stay at the same level after the Kickstarter project ended.
So back to my original cynicism, maybe Kickstarter sees signs that some very good marketers are having enormous success with Kickstarter projects whilst being in completely over their heads...
- ghshephard 14y agoYour suggestion that there be a "limit to the number of backers on a project" would have probably saved the elevation dock guys some grief. On the other hand, I want the Planetary Annihilation guys (Digital Product) to have HUGE oversubscription - we got funding for Metal Worlds, Water Worlds, Galactic War, and an Orchestra Score through extra funding!
- omni 14y agoGood point. This restriction should only apply to products with a marginal cost to produce / ship / what have you.
- johnpmayer 14y agoWorth mentioning that the major content of the Planetary Annihilation page was their simulation/rendering - completely concept-art.
- haldean 14y agoIt's not a hardware project so the new rules don't apply.
- ghshephard 14y agoWell - the major content (in my mind) was Jon Mavor/Steve Thompson. If all they do is port some small portion of Planetary Annihilation forward, then I'll be happy. If they actually deliver on 50% of what they've promised + Orchestral Score - I'll be beyond happy. I spent a good portion of 1997/1998 playing Total Annihilation.
- Evbn 14y agoThey could easily set up a bullpen of 5 projects to soak up extra funding. It is completely pointless to fund a project over its budget. The project can change its budget and plan/promise of they want to raise more.
- ghshephard 14y agoI think the extra $200K was well worth the Orchestral Score. I'm happy they got overfunded.
- voodoomagicman 14y agoI think you have a good point, but wanted to point out that you already can restrict the number of rewards available when starting a project.