Scott Hunstad of Good Games Pty. Ltd. in Australia writes in to share his thoughts on the current discussion surrounding retailers and Kickstarter campaigns (see "Charles Ryan of Monte Cook Games on Kickstarter" and "Rolling for Initiative--Five Reasons I Skip Kickstarter Retailer Levels").
 
As both distributor and retailer, we monitor Kickstarter trends here quite closely.  On the one hand, I agree almost completely with Charles Ryan.  The most successful Kickstarter projects have self-promoted themselves into something that will last far beyond the campaign and its fulfillment.  Measured by the only real question, "Will a customer buy this?," the success or failure of a campaign truly speaks volumes in terms of a game's viability and longevity.  We've certainly had success here in Australia with a variety of Kickstarted titles--not just the Zombicides, but smaller titles as well--Miskatonic School for Girls, Krosmaster, etc.  We're currently on our second reorder of the Numenera RPG as well--which says as much about our skepticism in initial ordering as it does about the products success, but regardless, people are buying the product.
 
So all in all, that's great for me both as a distributor and as a retailer--and I would wager that post-Kickstarter, Scott would have Numenera on his shelves.  In terms of addressing the problem though, I think perhaps Charles is missing Scott's point.  It's hard to find a good reason, the way things are currently structured, for a retailer to back a Kickstarter campaign.  I don't need to say why as Scott already has.  There are PLENTY of reasons why a retailer would want to stock products that have been produced off the back of a successful campaign, but that's not what the article was talking about.  It's talking about actually being involved in the campaign--pledging a store's dollar on a retail level in order to provide an opportunity for profit for that store.
 
We have taken on many games post-Kickstarter, and a successful campaign generally means we will order more than we would have if the game were not on Kickstarter--perhaps even more than we would of some of our major supplier releases.  Kickstarter is a great model and will invariably change our industry and many others dramatically. 
 
But as a retailer we have yet to back a campaign, and I can't see any real reason to do so the way things are currently set up.  All I am buying is risk, which I could easily avoid by waiting until mass release.  Whether or not this is problematic is another question, but it would seem that it would be in the best interest of budding and seasoned Kickstarter campaigners to understand that there is value in these relationships, and that more thought needs to go into what happens beyond the initial campaign.
 
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