Doctor Who Kickstarter

[Kratos3]

They picked the wrong table to kickstart.

Yes. Exactly this.

 

[Kratos3]

Thing is, this already happened. $5 for one pinball table is already rather premium compared to the rest of the world of mobile games at free-to-play or 99 cents, or to Steam where full-sized games go on sale for $5 all the time. We're already paying that premium to support the past and future of pinball. I don't think Farsight can go much if any higher in the realities of the modern gaming market.

True. IMO, the average table should be more like $2.99 or even $3.99, with the premium table going for $4.99. Shoot, I'd pay $5.99 for premium tables.

 

[MontanaFrank]

True.

Perhaps the Doctor Who fanbase is overrated.Or none of them are pinheads.

I don't think the Dr. Who's fanbase is overrated. My thought is that most Dr. Who's fansbase is from the series that started in 2005, ten years, wow. My opinion is that the Dr.'s on the table are "Teeks" to most Dr. Who fans today. Respected, but not in the new series yet.

Also, it wasn't the table most of us was expecting. I think I was hoping too much that the next Kickstarter was going to be The Simpson's Pinball Party.

Update from FarSight on the Kickstarter page says that there should be some more tantalizing tidbits to encourage pledges coming in the next few days.

I do hope it makes it.

 

[Tron]

I don't think the Dr. Who's fanbase is overrated. My thought is that most Dr. Who's fansbase is from the series that started in 2005, ten years, wow. My opinion is that the Dr.'s on the table are "Teeks" to most Dr. Who fans today. Respected, but not in the new series yet.

Also, it wasn't the table most of us was expecting. I think I was hoping too much that the next Kickstarter was going to be The Simpson's Pinball Party.

That's how I thought about it but couldn't put into words.

 

[Rich Lehmann]

True.

Perhaps the Doctor Who fanbase is overrated.Or none of them are pinheads.

How would they know the Kickstarter exists? Farsight has done little to reach them. There are hundreds of Doctor Who blogs and as I have said before the largest Doctor Who convention in the US in two weeks a short drive from Farsights Offices but what promoting have they done other than to existing Pinball Arcade customers. They could make huge amounts of money pre-ordering the game to Doctor Who fans around the world but they have to actually let those fans know that the Kickstarter exists.

I work in marketing, in a single day I could have contacted all the top Doctor Who blogs and forums and offered to swap banners to direct their traffic to the kickstarter in return for their banner directing our traffic to there's. I would have contacted them about doing interviews and submitted a pre-written article and interview. Most blogs would be happy to post content fitting their site if it is already written for them. And lastly I would have someone at the show in Los Angeles in February handing out cards with the Kickstarter info if not rent 5 feet of space at the location to set up a Pinball table.

The Doctor Who fanbase is massive compared to Pinball, and there is very little Doctor Who merchandise for a franchise that size. With a core fan base that size dating back 50 years they could make $1million in $10 presales to fans who have never purchased a TPA game before who would then upload the free version in anticipation, leading to additional sales.

Farsight is really dropping the ball on this kickstarter.

Doctor Who has a worldwide audience in excess of 110 million, with the series reaching over 60 countries, from Australia to Zimbabwe [page 4; Doctor Who Poster Book; Adrian Rigelsford; Boxtree Ltd; 1995]

Their US viewer rating fluctuates between 4 & 8 points over the last 7 years. That's on par with Breaking Bad. They have had Christmas Episodes that scored as high as 10 which is what Breaking Bad's finale was. Sure it's not Walking Dead numbers but Doctor Who fans are easier to reach because they are more of a community online. Far Sight is seriously dropping the ball on this one.

 

[Firefox2000]

I think most are spot on, i would never have known there was a kickstart for the Dr who table if i was not member here, and no doubt a large majority of Who fans out there do not know either, i mean what Who fan would not want to play Dr Who pinball, and i think this table could really bring in a lot of new PBA buyers, Farsight certainly should be thinking of tapping into that massive fan base of whovians, it could pay off big time for them.

 

[soundwave106]

The question is how much that massive fanbase will take to a table that is respected, but not enthusiastically appreciated among pin-heads... that also was focused on the "older era" (ie not the 2005- reboot). With the main voice being one of the more "minor" Doctors even among older fans (mid to late 1980s Who definitely is sub par, often poor budgets and ultra-slashed budgets hurt it...).

That said, it's surprising they didn't time this campaign better with Gallifrey One... behind the "massive" general fanbase there is a hardcore section, and hardcore Whovians are into all of it in general. It may not be the millions that watch the new series but there's plenty of them around.

 

[Rich Lehmann]

New or Old Doctor Who, I think the table will still get massive support if the fans know. The BBC is very aggressive about defending the licensing of their shows so there is very little Doctor Who merchandise. Anyone who has been to a Doctor Who con will tell you the vender room is always REALLY small. There is very little to buy at a Doctor Who con since most people already have the DVDs. The Doctor Who video games of any kind are few and unimpressive for a 50 year franchise. The ten's of millions of Doctor Who fans worldwide would happily throw $7 at a Doctor Who tablet game but Farsight has to tell them where to throw it.

 

[Lostboy]

If you listen to BlahCade, I'll be pushing up the Backroom session from Monday tomorrow.

We talk at length about the kickstarter. The suggestion of locking in table exclusives to kickstarter entitlements is discussed and why it just won't happen.

I listened to it. I know the comments weren't just about me alone, but here's my reply:

For my Kickstarter exclusive EM table suggestion, it wouldn't be at the high tier rewards, but rather the $35 or so range. An encouragement to bump up all the lower tier pledges, which is the majority, but still be cheap enough to make it reasonable for many people.

As for not liking the elitest aspect of it, my idea is only half that. Yes, you can only get this table in a Kickstarter, but if you missed out, it would be available in a year or so when the next Kickstarter happens. For example, this year if you pledge $35, you get this Kickstarter only reward table. Next year, there's a new Kickstarter reward table, and if you pledge $35 you get the choice of 1 of those 2 tables. If you pledge $70, you get your choice of 2 of those 2 tables. Etc, etc. If TPA comes to the end of its life, then these tables are finally offered to everyone.

I know if they did this, I'd bump my pledge up for sure. And I'd be happy feeling I got a "bonus" table.

 

[neglectoid]

I listened to it. I know the comments weren't just about me alone, but here's my reply:

For my Kickstarter exclusive EM table suggestion, it wouldn't be at the high tier rewards, but rather the $35 or so range. An encouragement to bump up all the lower tier pledges, which is the majority, but still be cheap enough to make it reasonable for many people.

As for not liking the elitest aspect of it, my idea is only half that. Yes, you can only get this table in a Kickstarter, but if you missed out, it would be available in a year or so when the next Kickstarter happens. For example, this year if you pledge $35, you get this Kickstarter only reward table. Next year, there's a new Kickstarter reward table, and if you pledge $35 you get the choice of 1 of those 2 tables. If you pledge $70, you get your choice of 2 of those 2 tables. Etc, etc. If TPA comes to the end of its life, then these tables are finally offered to everyone.

I know if they did this, I'd bump my pledge up for sure. And I'd be happy feeling I got a "bonus" table.

jive time FTW

 

[Snorzel]

jive time FTW

Yes please.

 

[DanBradford]

How would they know the Kickstarter exists? Farsight has done little to reach them. There are hundreds of Doctor Who blogs and as I have said before the largest Doctor Who convention in the US in two weeks a short drive from Farsights Offices but what promoting have they done other than to existing Pinball Arcade customers. They could make huge amounts of money pre-ordering the game to Doctor Who fans around the world but they have to actually let those fans know that the Kickstarter exists.

I work in marketing, in a single day I could have contacted all the top Doctor Who blogs and forums and offered to swap banners to direct their traffic to the kickstarter in return for their banner directing our traffic to there's. I would have contacted them about doing interviews and submitted a pre-written article and interview. Most blogs would be happy to post content fitting their site if it is already written for them. And lastly I would have someone at the show in Los Angeles in February handing out cards with the Kickstarter info if not rent 5 feet of space at the location to set up a Pinball table.

Great post, well written. Lots of ideas here for FS, maybe one day they will think about employing a fresh-from-college-therefore-cheap marketing person to try to sell more tables based on the theme. Us pinheads will buy anything pinball, but often forget that there are millions of fanboys out there - Elvis fans, Simpsons fans, Corvette fans, Dr Who fans etc who all have smart phones and will happily spend $5 and probably a LOT more to indulge their passion.

 

[jaredmorgs]

I listened to it. I know the comments weren't just about me alone, but here's my reply:

For my Kickstarter exclusive EM table suggestion, it wouldn't be at the high tier rewards, but rather the $35 or so range. An encouragement to bump up all the lower tier pledges, which is the majority, but still be cheap enough to make it reasonable for many people.

As for not liking the elitest aspect of it, my idea is only half that. Yes, you can only get this table in a Kickstarter, but if you missed out, it would be available in a year or so when the next Kickstarter happens. For example, this year if you pledge $35, you get this Kickstarter only reward table. Next year, there's a new Kickstarter reward table, and if you pledge $35 you get the choice of 1 of those 2 tables. If you pledge $70, you get your choice of 2 of those 2 tables. Etc, etc. If TPA comes to the end of its life, then these tables are finally offered to everyone.

I know if they did this, I'd bump my pledge up for sure. And I'd be happy feeling I got a "bonus" table.

They definitely weren't just about you. And like the episode summary clarified, any idea is worthy of consideration.

Locking out possible instantaneous revenue for (let's say for fun) Jive Time to a small subset of the customer base is the thing that will not see this idea come to pass.

Keyword: revenue.

It would also take a fair bit of planning and foresight to implement this reward type so it was available in a timely manner. Done right, it would be a backer-filler between the main table release.

The balance of releasing the tables eventually does indeed work around the elitist component that was less than palatable.

Maybe it's something that could be considered next year. It's something that would need to be scoped now and budgeted for now, IMHO.

 

[QuiGonJ]

I am with the Time Meddlers of Los Angeles, and we have a table at Gallifrey One, the convention mentioned above. I called Farsight this morning to get flyers for the con, which will be the last weekend of the Kickstarter. With any luck, we can convince Lee and Sue Cummings from Tiny Rebel Games (they have a mobile app called Doctor Who Legacy) to play the video during their panel at the convention, and I will be happy to run the video on a loop at the Time Meddlers table.

As for them appearing at the convention, the dealer's room is generally booked a year in advance. Unless Farsight had known last March this was coming down the pike, which is unlikely. there's just no way they could have gotten in to this con.

 

[Sun Vulcan]

Only a miracle can save this Kickstarter.

 

[Kaibun]

Never give up hope. I thought the TAF quickstarter wasn't going to make it, but near the end it managed to reach the goal.

 

[EldarOfSuburbia]

The KS is now trailed in-game and was in the newsletter. A boost, hopefully.

 

[Trackball]

With my check coming soon, I boosted my pledge to 50 bucks. Dang it, I thought this thing would do better!

 

[node]

I've backed it, I love the theme and table.

I agree that Farsight have just been coasting along on this KS though, there is so much they could learn from more successful Kickstarters. The video is too long and kinda drones on rather than generating excitement. The higher tiers are also really unexciting - a wallpaper or name in the credits? Really? You've got to pay 50 bucks to get a few extra ball designs?

 

[Rudy]

If it came down to the wire I'd probably chip in, but I really don't care about this table in the slightest and it'd feel strange to pay more than the price of the table just so it can be in TPA.