Richard Garriott Interview on About.com

Ultima Codex published an article about Richard's interview with About.com. You can read about it here:
http://ultimacodex.com/2013/11/thre...-richard-garriott-about-shroud-of-the-avatar/

There are links directly to the About.com interview from there.

I find this response interesting:

Richard Garriott:
But from our perspective, some players have been asking why are we still in fundraising mode. And the answer is, because we still really need more money to finish the game. It is just that blank. And so, we still probably need to raise through the end of the game, another million dollars. We know we’ll find it one way or another. We know we could find it through publishers, but we’re trying to put off perhaps indefinitely that decision. But a strategic partnership is not out of the question.

But the people who are supporting us already, by the way, are supporting us phenomenally. So, we are trying to get out of the mode of squeezing the blood out of turnips, so to speak, because the community we have is phenomenal. Not only in their contribution support, but to art, design, sound, and all kinds of other areas. But we’re trying to get the onlookers off the fence, and on to, basically, preordering the game, just to make sure we don’t have to go to other funders.

 

Very interesting!

 

...and there is a depressing start to the weekend!

 

I always thought that RG was funding the rest. No?

 

I wouldn't be too worried. Even before the Alpha, they're doing about 100k a month. We should see a small spike at Alpha and a much larger one at Beta.

 

The game is almost fully funded by us. Richard stated that in a Polygon comment.

He may have partly funded Portalarium the company, but the game is nearly all crowd funded.

 

Tell me something I didn't know. Every developer needs to make money, and without a publisher, they need pre orders and micro transactions to secure their vision of the game. The worst thing that can happen is the community doesn't support them and they have to find an outside source because they always come with conditions.

 

Reading the RG response quoted by smack, it sounds like the funding they have now may not be enough to finish the game and if so then certainly not do all those follow-on episodes (EDIT: although Richard didn't specifically say it that way). So either they get the funding they need through more pledges or they look to other investors and/or a possible strategic partnership with a publisher. I guess next time people complain about them advertising shop items or housing perks for higher backers they should consider this. All this talk about too much emphasis on housing, too much emphasis on stuff you have to pay for, etc. should really be re-considered in light of the fact that the game won't happen without sufficient funding.

If they don't have sufficient funding and have to go to a publisher, then a lot about the game could potentially change. Even if they don't want it to, it may be forced if the money doesn't come in from elsewhere.

 

That article was from 2 months ago. I wonder how things are going? RG decide no matter what it's getting made so he is putting even more personal money into it or got someone else to invest? hmm.. Curious..

In either case I agree, would be better to get as much money pumped in to make it as good as possible... sell that add-on store stuff.

 

Been trying & trying to upgrade my pledge, but can't find the payment selection, where is says "My Shirt"

 

Hmmm stratedgic parternship... Need 1 million more... Well wonder what equity in the company they are offering. If they really need the capital, there are options other than publisher, but angel investors may want to review books and how to monitize the game. Certainly we are a source, but what are the longer term revenue streams that can be leveraged. At launch what is the expected subscriber base that would be required to continue funding additional development in the current and follow on EP?

 

If you are logged into the main site (not the forum) click on the "account" link. You should see a place on your account page that will let you upgrade your pledge.

 

What Koldar said .

 

I think you meant the conference was over 2 months ago. The article was published Oct 26. But you're right, things may have changed since then. For one, they made another $200k in pledges since the conference. I think they should definitely get as many new backers as possible with the Alpha and Beta releases. The quality of the game will speak for itself in the next 3-6 months. Seriously, imagine what they can accomplish from now until then and that will be the main attractor for new backers. The existing backers are nearly tapped out.

 

If SotA sold 16,667 preorders at an average price of $60, they would have one million dollars more by launch.



SWToR had 865k preorders by six weeks from launch.
Aion had 400k preorders by the week before launch.
Guild Wars 2 had 1m preorders by the day before launch.
FF XIV had 128k preorder sales at launch (US only)

It doesn't seem quite so depressing anymore.

 

At a later stage they could go the Steam "Early Access" route too?

Personally, I kick in more dollars whenever something interesting is for sale in the add-on store. I'm hoping there will be more basement styles soon...

 

That interview is from August

 

Ok so he's not just a lier his finatial managment is also incopitant. Kickstarter states they need 1 million to make the game, they then state that as they have enough to make the game with that million if they get extra then it will pay for all these extra things (strech goals). They then get 2 1/2 times that million and yet they still don't have enough to make the game. If this was a bank loan rather than a crowd funding what do you think the bank would say to that attitude?

 

Well, I said thats what it sounded like based on his quote. He didn't directly say that though so who knows. Edited that post to clarify that.

 

I've been glancing occasionally at the figures on the main site, and over the course of the past month or so, the numbers have started moving in the upward direction (after spending quite an amount of time at the initial Kickstarter+Site 2.1M and change) and now sits at 2.6M+.

Parts of this can be attributed to the connection of the Kickstarter account to the site itself and allowing for funding upgrades (I started at Adventurer during KS then upped to Collector shortly afterwards myself), the opening of the game Store, and a LOT to getting the 3 and 6 month demos out to show people the progression of the game. The continued communication from the devs almost giving us a play-by-play look at the development process is also a big draw IMO.

If it sounds like I'm fanboy gushing, maybe I am a bit. However, that's because I see this team doing what I've been MISSING from UO for YEARS now (it was kind of accepted in the beginning as long as we got the monthly HoC chats), and there was a brief timeframe when UO looked like it was going to break out of its own mold and reinvent itself during the leadup and release of Kingdom Reborn, but has since had the team reduced, replaced, and removed from the players so much that it's basically a zombie of its former self. While I have stuck with the game in terms of keeping my account(s) open, UO for me has entered a sort of "maintenence mode" where I log in every week or so to empty ore carts. I've even made a statement of fact that if the UO team can't get the new client to be worth the effort in the time that SotA releases, and assming SotA lives up to its own hype, I'm out of UO completely in favor of SotA.

Back to the topic though. We're up to 2.6M right now, and I'm guessing that at the time of the interview it was what... 2.2-2.3M or there abouts? (Anyone who can verify, please do) At that pace, the needed Million will come fairly easily, ESPECIALLY once the initial Tech Demo Releases/Alpha/whatever you want to term it are brought out and people actually get to play around in the game itself and more information gets sent out to the various news sites. It will happen likely before the first poriton is released much less the "end of the game" as stated in the quote above.

Funding for a project is always a guessing game, Right now, I'm not worried.