Altered’s Seeds of Unity Gamefound campaign climbed by about 20,000 euros (about $23,000) and more than 30 backers in an afternoon Nov. 3 on a request from the Equinox team for support in an official article. The news shared that the overall goal (totaling individual preorders and those made by retailers, which are currently unknown) is about 2.5 million euros (about $2.9 million).

If that goal isn’t reached, the “adventure will come to an end” and backers and retailers will be refunded.

Staying engaged

Sharing that goal and the potential stakes wasn’t an attempt at “dramatic marketing” but an effort to relate “where the project stands, at a time when a significant part of the orders, especially from retailers, hasn’t yet been accounted for,” said Regis in follow-up comments on the Gamefound page. “Our goal wasn’t to create worry, but simply to explain that we don’t yet have visibility on retailer preorders, which represent an important share of the total.”

Another reason for the message was to make certain that the entire community stayed engaged throughout the campaign, rather than expecting to just wait until January when SEEDS is set to be released, he said.

In Altered’s successful Kickstarter campaign, fully 25% of the funding was made in the final two days, reaching 6.2 million euros, according to Kicktraq. That amount included buy-in from retailers and local game stores.

Totals for the current campaign from retailers won’t be better understood until the completion of the LGS preorder period Nov. 10, according to the article.

Pushing for growth

That 2.5-million total is set to “pay the existing part” and allow some growth, said InTox in the official Discord as the team fielded questions from players. “With less, we can only stagnate. With more, we can do more, hire, expand, etc.”

That total is needed for SEEDS and a similar amount at least will be needed for the next set. Reducing to one set each year wouldn’t make a difference without also reducing Equinox staff, which is about 25 employees currently.

If the campaign made the goal and Equinox didn’t invest in any growth, it might be possible to ask for less in future campaigns, he said. But that wouldn’t be responsible to the company’s future. “You build a war chest when you thrive for a while. That’s not the case for now, so we will invest whatever we can, to push the game to grow as much as possible.”

He also described how the 6.2-million total from the successful Kickstarter campaign isn’t exactly what the company took in for investment. Beyond paying the Kickstarter (or Gamefound platform, in the current case) for banking services, production and shipping also take a heavy chunk of that total. A share also went to Gamegenic for the products sold as well. After the Kickstarter campaign, the team invested heavily in digital development, conventions and hiring team members. At one point, Equinox counted about 32 employees.

Reaching goals

Backers crossed off the first stretch goal of 500,000 euros (about $577,000) Nov. 2, unlocking a Skybound Odyssey organized play promo booster in each SEEDS display box. A second stretch goal of 650,000 euros (about $750,000) is still available, adding a random SEEDS unique to each display box.

The preorder period for individuals runs from Oct. 28 to Nov. 7, with orders finalized Nov. 14. Local game stores can order through Nov. 10, and preorders made to LGSs will be included in the final total for the campaign.

Read more

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