Last July I backed a project on Kickstarter. It was for a cardgame called Kanzume Goddess which was being translated and produced by Japanime Games. I have still not received said card game, despite the Kickstarter having a target of September 2012. Here’s a look at the timeline of this ongoing debacle.
During the Kickstarter “Estimated Delivery – September 2012”
On the 18/08 – Kickstarter ended successfully
On the 10/09 – “Delays, games will be shipped in early November”
On the 31/10 – “Oh actually we’ve no date as to when the game will be shipped
On the 18/12 – “You should be receiving your games at the beginning of February, as an apology we’re adding two promo cards”
On the 26/11 – “Factory misprinted them, you should be getting it now in early 2013”
On the 05/02 “We plan to have everything shipped by March 6th”
On the 08/03 “Buttons have been delayed by Chinese customs, should be in by 20/03. We’re shipping out 33% of orders that don’t have buttons (Oh yeah and were also shipping to retailers)” Japanime Games representative clarifies in the comments that the buttons should be in by 15/03
So at this point you could buy the game for ~$25 from sites like Cardhaus, Cardhaus in fact also have an option with the buttons and playmat
On the 14/03 Japanime game launch a new Kickstarter for Krossmaster Arena
On the 15/03 No update about the buttons
On the 20/03 No update about the buttons
On the 23/03, Some of the Kanzume Goddess pledgers comment over on the Krossmaster Arena KS about how there’s been no update (despite Krossmaster getting 7 updates between 15/03-22/03) “Coincidentally” we get an update on the Kanzume Goddess where the head of Japanime Games states that “Everything is here and in order” and “It’s going to take a week”
On the 26/03, “Should all be sent by 29/03”
On the 02/04, “Will all be sent by 05/04”
On the 08/04, “Will all be sent by 10/04”
On the 10/04 “They’re all sent bar a handful we need updated addresses for”
On the 18/04 “Well actually none of the pledges at the $40 level (~100) were sent at all. (The $40 was for the game and a set of buttons). “Oh and also we’re out of buttons. So here’s a playmat you didn’t want instead, they’re TOTALLY shipped (via USPS) this time”
Well firstly the communication was terrible. It was barely once a month and there were stretches where for a month or two there were no meaningful updates. This may be fine if your project is running on schedule. When its months out you should be updating the backers regularly, not forcing them to “demonstrate” on your other projects pages to get a response. Now personally I never thought it would make the original September goal, so I wasn’t really annoyed when it slipped a month or two. When it slipped to 2013 I was a tad miffed, as it slipped again and again it became irritating and over the last month where we’ve been flat out lied to it got to the point where it was pretty irritating. But the latest update just pisses me off.
It’s bad enough that the project was seven months late (it’ll be around nine months late by the time most of those at the $40 level get it) when you shipped the initial batch, but then you make us wait a month and a half for the buttons which we don’t even get in the end?
What I was supposed to get out of this Kickstarter:
Kanzume Goddess
Button Set
Promo cards
Estimated Delivery Date: September 2012
What I got out of this Kickstarter:
Kanzume Goddess (with a misprinted can)
No button set
Promo cards which are printed in a different format from the other cards and worse quality because a different printer was used
Playmat – Which I didn’t pledge for, do not want and according to reports from those who have received them is folded in half in the shipping container creating an unerasable crease in it
Estimated Delivery Date: Sometime in early May assuming that there isn’t yet another update where we find out JAG have messed up again
I’m not sure if the icing on the cake is the wildly superior level of communication their new Kickstarter has (because obviously the have our money and couldn’t give less of a shit about it) or the fact that a month and a half ago I could have bought the game and THE BUTTONS from a third party retailer for less than the cost of the pledge?
I suppose in the interest of fairness I should point out that JAG has made some small attempt at restitution, they’ve offered a 25% discount voucher for their store, which is a) valid for only one month, b) doesn’t apply to shipping (and c) only brings their products down to the level 3rd party retailers sell them at anyway, though that’s not really their fault). They’ve also offered an unspecified reward for when they run a Kickstarter for Kanzume Goddesses expansion. And finally access to a VIP party at Gencon.
So to summarise, in order to make up for their mistakes they’ve offered me the option to a) spend money on their products, b) spend money backing one of their products, or c) go to a party at an event I’m not attending. Well, let me tell you sir, I can feel the love right now.
I back a fair amount of stuff on Kickstarter and this is by far the singular worst experience I’ve had with it.