Ravensburger invests $4.5 million in Gamefound

...along with Awaken Realms. Could this be the future for boardgame crowdfunding endeavors?

www.dicebreaker.com/companies/ravensburg...estment-crowdfunding

I suspect it is. I think a lot of the major players feel kind of ugh about the moves kickstarter is making. Gamefound seems like a much more purpose-built company with less silicon valley startup vibes.

I welcome it. Being a little clearer that this is a prepay preorder thing for games if they meet a number takes away a lot of the annoying fake-ness of Kickstarter. And if I have a choice between a company going blockchain and one that is not and they do the same thing... easy decision.

Ravensburger, in my mind, is a “name you can trust”. They’ve done quality stuff for -decades- and as far as I’m aware they’ve never been a garbage company. I think this is an interesting and possibly paradigm-shifting move that could “legitimatize” crowdfunding. I think under Ravensburger we’ll see Gamefound as a platform for far less barnstorming, FOMO or die product line launches with astronomical prices. Ravensburger is going to want their partnership and investment to be on the up and up, and likely with less a sense of “you are an armchair investor and your $100 pledge entitles you to dictate the development of this product”.

I’m kind of for it…Gamefound was already well positioned to accept migration from Kickstarter and I like seeing a good company partner with them- that’s a vote of confidence.

Michael Barnes wrote: Ravensburger, in my mind, is a “name you can trust”. They’ve done quality stuff for -decades- and as far as I’m aware they’ve never been a garbage company. I think this is an interesting and possibly paradigm-shifting move that could “legitimatize” crowdfunding. I think under Ravensburger we’ll see Gamefound as a platform for far less barnstorming, FOMO or die product line launches with astronomical prices. Ravensburger is going to want their partnership and investment to be on the up and up, and likely with less a sense of “you are an armchair investor and your $100 pledge entitles you to dictate the development of this product”.

I’m kind of for it…Gamefound was already well positioned to accept migration from Kickstarter and I like seeing a good company partner with them- that’s a vote of confidence.

I can't foresee it having quite the impact you're hopeful for.

Awaken Realms built Gamefound and Awaken Realms is basically a blend of old FFG and CMON (in terms of style). They're the current top of the heap in heavier thematic games.

I think Ravensburger may bring some smaller, less over the top projects to the platform, perhaps through influence and sheer weight, but Gamefound will always be at least as dominated by huge million dollar minis heavy projects as Kickstarter. Right now, that balance is out of whack as the initial GF audience were the fans Awaken Realms built.

So what I'm trying to say is that in a BEST case scenario, Gamefound gets to where Kickstarter has been in recent times in terms of featuring smaller projects. Even then, the platform will still driven by the big games.

Good points- I certainly don’t think AR is gonna slow their roll, after all that is their bread and butter. But I think Ravensburger is going to temper that and broaden what they offer to something less…overwhelming… for sure.

Besides injecting cash into the equation, I think Ravensburger will bring in a new customer base to the GameFound ecosytem. I doubt there is a lot of overlap between the Ameritrash big box AR crowd and the typical Ravensburger catalog fan.

Oh, you guys think Ravensburger games will start to pop up on Gamefound?

I dismissed that thought quickly. I figured they would provide advice, additional cash, and perhaps support in terms of contacts/production/logistics.

Why would anyone crowdfund a Ravensburger game? Are they going to start issuing exclusives?

Unless they're going to start offering deluxe games or stretch themselves in ways they hadn't previously.

Backers will demand perks Ravensburger doesn't currently provide. Otherwise you're paying more, particularly with shipping, for games you can just buy with less risk later.

This is about 12 labor-years worth of money. Not much. My first impression was that Ravensberger was looking to hitch a rocket ride on the cheap. Y’all honestly think they’re a value-add, that they’ll be at the table?

It locks them in as a customer, and their brand is recognizable I suppose. A marketing sugar daddy.

Could be a shorter ROI depending on how fast Gamefound grows. With KS veering into the crypto bro douche territory more companies may be tempted to jump ship, esp if GF offers lower fees.