MMP to Customers: Yea, OK, we get it...

Of course, all the games being yanked off the preorder list were games I had actually pre-ordered (I hope GMT picks up the Spanish Civil War CDG as I suspect it would be a good fit there. I'd *really* like to get my paws on that game.) The Gamers series games aren't worth my pre-order dollars unless the preorder prices are going to beat the online discounters. Same with the ASL stuff.

Anyway, read on...

Multi-Man Publishing

An Email to Our Friends November 2012

We are announcing a number of changes here at Multi-Man Publishing. In listening to your feedback, we have heard a number of frustrations, which we have taken to heart. After analyzing how we can better provide our customers with quality games and service within our given constraints, we are undertaking two initiatives to improve our process. The first initiative comes in the area of customer relations. We understand that MMP needs to do a better job communicating with our customers, so we have engaged Steven Mitchell as our Communications Coordinator to help us accomplish that goal. Steven will be an active presence on the various wargaming boards and social networks, and he will help us release a monthly status update about our game development and preorders. This will allow us to respond better to your feedback and help us keep you informed about the games you enjoy and the games you hope to enjoy soon.

The second initiative is to improve and streamline how Multi-Man Publishing handles pre-orders and the production queue. The perception exists that games languish on the MMP preorder list forever and that even after a game hits, MMP takes forever to publish any game. While we have made great strides in the past year, there is no question that some games have spent a very long time on our preorder list and that we have at times taken a very long time to publish a game after it hit its P#.

We are taking a number of concrete steps to correct this as outlined in this list and then further explained below:

We will not put a game up for preorder unless development is essentially complete and we have in hand box art and solid rules for the game.
We will publish all games within a reasonable amount of time after they hit their preorder #.
We also commit to a two-year deadline for new preorders.
We are dropping some games from our preorder list (see below).
We are putting VCS-Salerno on a six-month deadline.
We are moving our magazine Special Ops to a once-a-year schedule

We promise that we will not put a game up for preorder unless development is essentially complete and we have in hand box art and solid rules for the game. On game series that we know are well supported, like ASL and OCS, we will not post the game for preorder until all artwork is complete and the game is ready to go to press. Please just think of preorders for these series as a way to offer our most supportive customers a bit of a discount! Whenever we put a game up for preorder, we will post the box art and the rules for review. This will not only serve as a reminder of our commitment to full development for all preorders, but it should also help better inform players about the game in question. We will also post other playtest components when appropriate.

The above will help fulfill another promise: we will publish all games within a reasonable amount of time after they hit their preorder #. We cannot commit to an exact timeframe because there are too many variables involved. Although we cannot afford to sink a lot of money into artwork for a preorder that might not hit its P#, we intend to monitor carefully the progress of our games to ensure that the artwork is being completed as the game hits its goal.
As part of our effort to combat the perception that games languish too long on our list, we also commit to a two-year deadline for new preorders. If a game does not hit its P# within two years of going on our preorder list, we will drop it from our list. We will either redevelop it (if we think that is the problem), or hold it for a more promising time in the future or-if not part of an existing series-return it to the designer. In light of our new commitment to having games ready to go, two years should be plenty long enough for a game to hit its P#.

We think that there are various reasons why some of our games have not been able to hit their P#. Sometimes it was the wrong game at the wrong time. Sometimes our marketing efforts may have been insufficient, although in other cases there is not much more the designer could have done along those lines. Part of the problem is that some people are discouraged from preordering by the perception that the game will just sit on the preorder list, both before and after hitting its P#, and we aim to address those concerns directly.

Putting our money where our mouth is (so to speak), we are dropping some games from our preorder list. Make no mistake about it, we think these are great games that we would be proud to publish, but we think we need to make some hard decisions concerning games that are not capable of hitting their P# anytime soon.

The easiest games to cut are two reprints, Drive on Paris and Fallschirmjager. Although these games are proven successes, the market to reprint them just isn't there right now. Maybe later for them. Harder decisions were required for the reprint of A Las Barricadas and its expansion Help Arrives, and for the initial entry in the War Storm Series-France 1940. All three suffer from competing with our other tactical WWII-era games, with ALB's problems compounded by a seemingly-limited interest in the Spanish Civil War as a topic. Another tough decision surrounded another great game on that topic-Crusade and Revolution. Despite some great artwork and the Herculean efforts of designer David Gómez Relloso, this card-driven game could not garner the preorders we need to publish with confidence in success. We remain confident that this is a great game, and we believe David has another home for this title. Also coming down off the preorder list are What Price Glory and The Setting Sun. We are glad to say that What Price Glory will be going into the next issue of Special Ops as a magazine game, and we hope that we will be able to do something similar with The Setting Sun.

A tough decision that we hope not to have to make concerns VCS-Salerno. This great game has also been struggling on the list despite its beautiful map, the tireless efforts of its designer, and a priced-to-move preorder cost of $31.50. We are putting this game on a countdown to hit its P# within the next six months-or else. If it doesn't hit by May Day, we will take it off our preorder list no matter how close it is. We don't want to do that, but we think that limiting the time that games spend on our list is the best thing to do.

Speaking of Special Ops, we are going to move to a once-a-year schedule for a slightly larger magazine-timed to come out at the World Boardgaming Championships in the summer. So, Special Ops #4 will be available around August of 2013. We found that a bi-annual schedule was diverting our efforts away from publishing the games on our preorder list, and we think that an annual schedule will allow us to produce a better 'zine.

That's a lot of changes packed into one announcement, but we think all are changes for the better. We are disappointed that we will not be able to publish the great games that we have cut from the list, but we think that cutting them will help us to publish other great games that have a better chance of being successful. We are dedicated to doing a better job of communicating with our customer base. We think we have some of the most dedicated customers in the business, and they deserve no less.


There will be more to announce in the near future, including new games to preorder. So please, preorder a game today and stay tuned for more news.


Multi-Man Publishing

Yeah, I think this is just proof that their preorder system had completely lost its customer's confidence. Of course you can't run the system that doesn't have the trust of its customers. Credibility is important---I think it's a really good idea on their part to rethink the system, perhaps earn back some customer cred.

Look, no one lost money on the deal, they have the best payment system (charge on ship). But no one is going to use it unless they believe it communicates something to MMP that they will follow, regardless of whatever other stuff they have in the pipeline they think will be profitable (i.e. ASL, Gamers line).

Sounds like these are all good decisions. It's no secret that MMP's pre-order system was a complete mess.

Hopefully they will be able to follow through on these decisions. I'm still dubious but we'll see.

Gary Sax wrote: Yeah, I think this is just proof that their preorder system had completely lost its customer's confidence. Of course you can't run the system that doesn't have the trust of its customers. Credibility is important---I think it's a really good idea on their part to rethink the system, perhaps earn back some customer cred.

Look, no one lost money on the deal, they have the best payment system (charge on ship). But no one is going to use it unless they believe it communicates something to MMP that they will follow, regardless of whatever other stuff they have in the pipeline they think will be profitable (i.e. ASL, Gamers line).

Yea, I agree completely.

The Setting Sun, I suspect, is a perfect case study. The game made its numbers eons ago and then just kind of languished at a price that I suspect was actually unsustainable given the game's [kind of huge] size. Then MMP reboots its Pxxx list and all of a sudden it's seriously short. That met with an awful lot of grumbling and "never again"s. Now, due to those low Pxxx numbers and little traffic--because everyone who wanted it pre-ordered it already and those who dropped out either no longer have the money, lost interest due to the lag, or simply gave up believing it will ever be published--the game has been dropped. It's really kind of aggravating, but it's a pretty good example of why they needed to rethink their entire approach.

It's always hard to tell how "real" anti-MMP grumbling is as wargamers are a lot like hockey fans--we hate Gary Bettman, aren't fond of either the NHLPA or the owners and shout "never again" (and "fuck you") at the top of our lungs during each of the 3 ugly work stoppages in the last 2 decades, but we always come back and fill the bloody stadiums like nothing happened. That said, I think a lot of gamers saw their buying power shrink in the last 4-5 years and subsequently directed their money to pre-orders with a shorter "theory to reality" turnaround.

(In the meantime, for those looking for something in the same vein as Setting Suns, Formosa Force games has published another of Leonard To's games on the same topic. It's a 2-player CDWG that includes both chinese and english components. You can contact Leonard directly via PM on BGG for details but it was fairly inexpensive and is nicely done. I'm still muddling through the rules, but it does look interesting--and it's a topic that hasn't been covered to death in English wargames.)

In the end, I kind of wonder what will come next for MMP. They're obviously doing alright with ASL and most of the Gamers' line, but it seems like they've kind of struggled with most non-WWII titles they announced/published. That's probably neither a fair, nor entirely accurate, statement, but it's certainly the feeling I get.

In the end, I suspect this is the right way to go for MMP. Hopefully, they'll get some positive results from this down the road...

I was on the pre-order list for ANGOLA for a good two years, but in one of their switches or migrations or whatever I fell off. And never knew it. Folks started receiving it and that was it. Never got mine. Never got charged. Sucks? I don't even know. I know I can't trust MMP pre-orders, though.

It's more than a bit ironic that a wargame company's biggest shortfall is command and control.

This isn't the CSW bitch thread but I'll put one observation in that they skitter past -- Multiman needs the majority of their conversation to happen in a location where they control the message and where it can be found by the search engines. Their own web page is in a position to execute that part of the change and I hope it starts to happen.

I'd love to drunk up this Mitchell guy and see what he has planned. I wonder if he'd do an interview . . .

S.

Hey Dog, how did you receive that message? I'm registered and have preorders and I didn't get a copy. Was that on their web site?

S.

86 that -- just found it in the chum bucket.

Sagrilarus wrote: Multiman needs the majority of their conversation to happen in a location where they control the message and where it can be found by the search engines. Their own web page is in a position to execute that part of the change and I hope it starts to happen.

*If* they're interested in expanding the audience. It's not clear that they are, they seem pretty happy to appeal to the old guard with their core franchises, by and large.

I know two game designers on a first-name basis that very much want to change that mindset.

And frankly, given that they've hired a guy to manage communications and have made pledges to toe the line on their delivery schedules I think that they are caring about attracting a new audience. I think they're truly interested in making the change. Executing is the next step, because you earn that faith back with deliveries, not emails. There are titles on their P500 well past their number so those should be announced soon.

S.

A long overdue truckload of good decisions in one fell swoop. However, I did go cancel my preorder for What Price Glory once I saw that it's turning into a magazine game. Ugh. Probably for the best anyway, I'm backing a different horse--recently preordered the professionally produced version of To the Last Man! that is being done by a French outfit.

JoelCFC25 wrote: A long overdue truckload of good decisions in one fell swoop. However, I did go cancel my preorder for What Price Glory once I saw that it's turning into a magazine game. Ugh. Probably for the best anyway, I'm backing a different horse--recently preordered the professionally produced version of To the Last Man! that is being done by a French outfit.

That would be Nuts! Publishing for those who might be interested. To The Last Man! is a good game (i got a copy done by the PnP guy on BGG as a gift a couple of years ago. I'm looking forward to the Nuts! edition)

JoelCFC25 wrote: I did go cancel my preorder for What Price Glory once I saw that it's turning into a magazine game.

Details please. Are you referring to it being a three-parter? I played part II years back (two others were playing Part I along with us) and really enjoyed the cascading card action.

S.

Quoted verbatim from the announcement: "We are glad to say that What Price Glory will be going into the next issue of Special Ops as a magazine game"

I just don't want a magazine game, so I canceled.

Wow, I should have read more closely. I'm preordered on that one as well. You canceled, but what about everyone who doesn't? Presumably their preorders are just dropped? My guess is that the two follow-on parts are going to just be dropped entirely.

S.