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Post by Jaymz on Jan 1, 2015 4:27:23 GMT
As the year closes my little palladiumites, we have one last weekly update for me to comment on before the new years rings in... Read it if you wish, don't if you do not like that I criticize and comment as I do. With that, here we go www.palladiumbooks.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=758:palladium-booksr-weekly-update-december-31-2014&catid=52:weekly-updates&Itemid=183"Happy New Year! May it be a prosperous and healthy one for us all" And to you. "Trust me, good health and loved ones are what matter most in life. " So is the value of one's own word. You may want to look into improving that. "And maybe some good games and sourcebooks to play with all those healthy friends. I think we’ll be able to help out on that last part a lot in 2015. " Is his where you swear you will support ALL games lines this year? Again? and then only put out four books for two lines? "2014 was a wild ride for us at Palladium Books" Every year is with how things are done there. "A lot of that ride and wildness involved the Robotech® RPG Tactics™ game and Kickstarter. As I keep saying, there has been a tremendous learning curve with all aspects of this product, " Even though you kept telling all of us this project was not supposed to affect palladium and it's production....repeatedly. Guess you were wrong eh? "If Robotech® RPG Tactics™ Wave One is the hit we all want it to be," You better keep hoping....this game is not beginner friendly and the IP is not exactly a big name when put up against the mini game competition. How you have handled this entire project does not help it either. "Much more for The Macross® Saga followed by ALL eras of Robotech – The Masters Saga, New Generation, Shadow Chronicles and MORE. (Really.)" You better plan on getting this done in a couple of years to make it viable. Not the 10+ years it will take you the way it has been going thus far.... "In some ways, 2015 could be even wilder. I mean we’ll be continuing to release new Robotech® RPG Tactics™ products, but I’m hellbent on getting a lot of other releases out too." Worry about wave two first will ya? As for other releases, worry about what you need to get done THEN think about other stuff. Marines, Bizantium, Heroes of Humanity. Get THAT done, then talk to us. "And for many of our game lines, including Rifts®, Chaos Earth®, Palladium Fantasy®, Beyond the Supernatural™, Splicers® and Dead Reign®, among others." And there it is. Pie in the sky "we plan to put out books for all of this" when we all know they can barely manage four books total for a year....and then some wonder why just scratch our heads and go WTF? "Right now, I want to keep business to a minimum and keep the happy holiday vibe going. To do that I’m going to post another big batch of comments from the Christmas Surprise Packages," I swear the more of these I read, the more I think they are made up.... "UPDATE: The Rifter® #69 – January, 2015 release Wayne is already working away on The Rifter® #69 to get back on our old quarterly schedule. This should be an end of January release." Even though you previously stated you wont be holding to that schedule and switched it to spring, summer fall winter? Makeup your damn mind and honestly I'll be shocked to see it out by end of January. ""UPDATE: Palladium Fantasy RPG®: Bizantium and the Northern Islands™ – in production – January release" I still say March. Prove me wrong. "UPDATE: Also Coming in January" A robotech dice bag could be neat.... Well that's it. I hope all the members here have a happy and safe New Year's Eve. May the new year be one in which we no longer have gripes about Palladium....and one which we all may prosper in innumerable ways. |
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Post by MacrossMike on Jan 1, 2015 18:52:20 GMT
"Trust me, good health and loved ones are what matter most in life. " Perhaps... but trust and goodwill are what matter most when your business depends on repeat customers. From a business standpoint, 2014 was an unqualified disaster for you and yours, Kevin. Thanks to your handling of the Kickstarter, with its dishonest pitch and all the subsequent lies you told to justify breaking your verbal contract with the backers, you've annihilated any residue of goodwill you may have had with your customers. No expert eye is necessary to see that you f*cked up royal, friend, and that all of your subsequent attempts to handwave away the problems have resulted in what we call "boomerang f*ckup". "2014 was a wild ride for us at Palladium Books" To be entirely fair, when the man at the wheel displays all the situational awareness of a young Helen Keller... every ride is a wild ride. "A lot of that ride and wildness involved the Robotech® RPG Tactics™ game and Kickstarter. As I keep saying, there has been a tremendous learning curve with all aspects of this product, " Unfortunately, no part of that learning curve seems to have involved being more honest with your customers... it is DISTRESSING to see a local business whose work I've been quite fond of in the past demonstrate customer relations that I can only characterize as "asinine" and "aggressively hostile". The refusal to acknowledge customer concerns or even apologize when caught in a blatant lie is bad business, and there's something to be said for blatantly lying to get business in the first place. Pretty much the only thing keeping this from ending up a scandal on the news is the fact that Palladium is such a small-time outfit most Michiganders living in the same city don't even realize that Palladium exists. "If Robotech® RPG Tactics™ Wave One is the hit we all want it to be," It's easy to declare success when the bar is set low enough to be a trip hazard in Satan's wine cellar, Kevin. This is NOT something you should be imitating from Harmony Gold's business practices. "Much more for The Macross® Saga followed by ALL eras of Robotech – The Masters Saga, New Generation, Shadow Chronicles and MORE. (Really.)" Considering they've already mined the official material to death and didn't even get four books out of it... I suspect this is either a lie, or Harmony Gold is finally desperate enough for new material that they've authorized some adventures books. |
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Post by Sci-Fi on Jan 1, 2015 20:19:55 GMT
Well the thing I see is that "Robotech tactics wave one" Can be counted as a hit... as it was bought and paid for over a year ago. It's not like they can get more kicckstarter guys now. Nor for wave 2. There seems to be a bit of a disconnect of "People have already paid for that, you need to get them their product"
It's like with NG1 and 2. When those were crowd sourced, Palladium got their money and it appeared that once the money was in their pocket, they had no imputus to get the book out. hell they'd already been paid. What's the rush? It's not like they're getting paid 'more'.
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Post by MacrossMike on Jan 1, 2015 22:09:11 GMT
Well the thing I see is that "Robotech tactics wave one" Can be counted as a hit... as it was bought and paid for over a year ago. Eh... I have a hard time with the argument that Robotech RPG Tactics wave one was a "hit". Yes, the Kickstarter campaign brought in a good deal more than they were expecting, but what's more telling is the actual number of backers. Look at it in terms of the number of "sales" the Kickstarter generated, and it's much, MUCH less impressive in context. They moved less than 5,342 starter sets WORLDWIDE with their product launch. That isn't enough to sustain the game even in the short term, let alone in the long term... and neither the game nor the publisher have the name recognition to give the game any staying power. It would be very difficult, on that basis, to claim the game was a "hit" when there is, in all likelihood, not enough of a population in any one place for their backers to even sustain casual play, to say nothing of tournament play. A momentary financial windfall that can't be sustained is no hit. It's like with NG1 and 2. When those were crowd sourced, Palladium got their money and it appeared that once the money was in their pocket, they had no imputus to get the book out. hell they'd already been paid. What's the rush? It's not like they're getting paid 'more'. That attitude is one of the biggest problems with their customer relations... they clearly do not feel any urgency in getting product they've already been paid for out the door. That ties into their other big problem of treating customer complaints over what is now arguably (and potentially legally actionable) false advertising as something objectionable. As a company, if your customers are calling you out because you (knowingly or otherwise) made a promise you couldn't keep, it's generally seen as bad form to turn around and act like they're being unreasonable or unfair when they present objective evidence that you made promises you couldn't (or weren't willing to) keep and broke faith with them AFTER taking their money. It's probably a good thing for Palladium that they're not BBB accredited, or they'd have a lot of explaining to do... then again, I'm rather amazed this hasn't matured into investigations for a class action suit. |
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Post by kryptt on Jan 1, 2015 22:54:45 GMT
I think one backer posted that he is going to contact the AG in his state.
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Post by Sci-Fi on Jan 2, 2015 0:22:22 GMT
I think if you make over a million out of the blue, it can be categorized as a 'hit'. Now if they capitalize on it, is up to them.
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Post by Prysus on Jan 2, 2015 0:38:01 GMT
"If Robotech® RPG Tactics™ Wave One is the hit we all want it to be," It's easy to declare success ...
Greetings and Salutations. Just for the record, Kevin didn't declare any success. He said "If" it's the success he (and others) "want" it to be, then they'll do other stuff.
I'm not going to defend the way that the RTT KS has been handled, but I just don't like when people make up/alter things either. Pointing out the unlikeliness of it being a "hit" as Jamyz did is one thing. Claiming he said it is a hit is either a mistake or dishonest. I'm hoping it's simply the former, and this is a simple correction of the facts. That is all. Farewell and safe journeys to all.
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Post by MacrossMike on Jan 2, 2015 4:19:59 GMT
I think one backer posted that he is going to contact the AG in his state. Best of luck to him, then... because the way Palladium handled this mess really would raise eyebrows on the "false advertising" front, if nothing else. Palladium is lucky they're so obscure. I think if you make over a million out of the blue, it can be categorized as a 'hit'. Now if they capitalize on it, is up to them. Two things there... The first thing is that a million dollars (US) really isn't the achievement it used to be... it's actually pretty easy to bring in $1 million when you're dealing with a high-priced commodity like a tabletop game. The second thing is that it'd be more impressive if the $1 million was pure profit. That, it most decidedly is not. That $1.4 million they'd brought in included all the development and production costs, so their take-home was likely very low (by industry standards) but high by Palladium's low-volume sales standards. Despite the large amount of money the Kickstarter collected, very little of that is walkin' around money and the actual sales volumes are relatively low (sub 6,000 units is nothing to write home about). It's easy to declare success ...
Greetings and Salutations. Just for the record, Kevin didn't declare any success. He said "If" it's the success he (and others) "want" it to be, then they'll do other stuff.
I'm not going to defend the way that the RTT KS has been handled, but I just don't like when people make up/alter things either. Pointing out the unlikeliness of it being a "hit" as Jamyz did is one thing. Claiming he said it is a hit is either a mistake or dishonest. I'm hoping it's simply the former, and this is a simple correction of the facts. That is all. Farewell and safe journeys to all.
He's characterized is as a great success before. Look to the previous threads like this one. |
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Post by Sci-Fi on Jan 2, 2015 4:23:09 GMT
Oh right. Making over a million on a table top game is easy.... riiiight.
That's why when Palladium did it with the Robotech tactics thing they were one of the top 10 or 20 Kick starters to date, right?
It's so easy you can cite numerous other games that did it on kickstarter right?
Come on now. Lets not be twats. They made 1.4Million when they were trying for what, 50, 100k?
It can be catagorized as a hit upon funding. They just dropped the ball on fullfillment.
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Post by Jaymz on Jan 2, 2015 4:56:30 GMT
I would qualify that as "the Kickstarter was hit, the game itself is yet to be determined"
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Post by kryptt on Jan 2, 2015 4:57:24 GMT
What are the chances of tatsunoko continuing their relationship with HG? I ask because of the RT true fans thinks it'll continue past 2022.
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Post by Sci-Fi on Jan 2, 2015 4:58:08 GMT
Ug. 2022? That' "THE FUTURE" man. Flying cars and jet packs... I'm struggling with 2015!
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Post by Jaymz on Jan 2, 2015 5:03:20 GMT
I think Big West would likely look at Tats and say "we can do this and make money OR you can do that and watch them do nothign because we will NOT do business with them" thus HG will NOT get renewed.
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Post by kryptt on Jan 2, 2015 5:14:30 GMT
I hope you guys are right. Even if HG is out in a couple of years how do we even BW will bring macross over here? I thought because of the music it's cost prohibitive.
i hope HG doesn't try something sneaky before and after 2022.
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Post by Jaymz on Jan 2, 2015 5:19:03 GMT
it's not a bad as it used to be music wise as far as I know. Macross 7 was the biggie there anyway in that regard.
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Post by MacrossMike on Jan 2, 2015 23:48:03 GMT
Oh right. Making over a million on a table top game is easy.... riiiight. Actually, yes... it is. Especially when you consider how expensive a hobby tabletop gaming usually is, and the profit margins involved due to the comparatively low sales volumes vs. things like video games. Once you've amortized your molding costs, the obscene amount most miniatures cost is almost pure profit. That's why when Palladium did it with the Robotech tactics thing they were one of the top 10 or 20 Kick starters to date, right? Not to put a razor-sharp point on it, but Palladium didn't bring in $1.4 million in profit. They collected $1.4 million... minus Kickstarter's not-inconsiderable percentage... their actual take home was what was left of that sum in the aftermath of development, prototyping, production, and shipping costs. Considering all the difficulties they had (and are still having in shipment), their take-home from that was likely quite small... not more than maybe a quarter mil. It's so easy you can cite numerous other games that did it on kickstarter right? Actually... yes, I can cite plenty of examples of game developers who brought in over $1 million despite asking for far less. To date, the project statistics recorded by Kickstarter itself indicate this has occurred at least thirty-six times. Palladium's "success" with Robotech RPG Tactics is not even the top performer in the relatively niche field of tabletop games there. Reaper Miniatures Bones was a project from a year before Robotech RPG Tactics, which asked for less than half what Palladium did ($30,000 instead of $70,000), beat its target by bringing in 11,400% of its goal (vs. Palladium's 2,060%), with a total take 238% the size of Palladium's ($3.43 million vs. $1.44 million). They also more than three times as many backers (17,744 vs 5,342). Context is a dandy tool for dispelling the illusion of achievement where Robotech is concerned... even at its best, it will never be more than a small-time marginal achiever. It can be catagorized as a hit upon funding. They just dropped the ball on fullfillment. Come now, let us approach this with realism and a meticulous dedication to accuracy... It cannot be categorized as a hit based on the Kickstarter's performance, because it's not even atypical as Robotech projects go. All that actually demonstrated was that a relatively small number of people (~5,400... slightly above average for Robotech merchandise, but 1/3 the rough average for similarly-budgeted tabletop games on Kickstarter) were willing to throw large amounts of money at the project for nostalgia's sake. With such minimal market penetration, both on Kickstarter and post-release, the idea that the game is a hit borders on laughable. Even calling it a "success" is a stretch. |
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Post by Sci-Fi on Jan 3, 2015 1:50:10 GMT
Oh right. Making over a million on a table top game is easy.... riiiight. Actually, yes... it is. Especially when you consider how expensive a hobby tabletop gaming usually is, and the profit margins involved due to the comparatively low sales volumes vs. things like video games. Once you've amortized your molding costs, the obscene amount most miniatures cost is almost pure profit. That doesn't make it 'easy' or everyone would be doing it. That's why when Palladium did it with the Robotech tactics thing they were one of the top 10 or 20 Kick starters to date, right? Not to put a razor-sharp point on it, but Palladium didn't bring in $1.4 million in profit. Putting a point on it, I didn't say they made 1.4 million in profit. I said they made 1.4 million and that's still a big deal. You're trying to move the goal posts to attempt to make a point that's bullshit. They collected $1.4 million... minus Kickstarter's not-inconsiderable percentage... 6% isn't exactly considerable either. It's sales tax type level. their actual take home was what was left of that sum in the aftermath of development, prototyping, production, and shipping costs. Considering all the difficulties they had (and are still having in shipment), their take-home from that was likely quite small... not more than maybe a quarter mil. I've actually pointed this out repeatedly to people. I don't know the number but the general principal. That doesn't change the fact that making 1.4 million is a success if you were only aiming at 50 grand. And noone was talking net profit. You're trying to narrow it down now to make your point. It's so easy you can cite numerous other games that did it on kickstarter right? Actually... yes, I can cite plenty of examples of game developers who brought in over $1 million despite asking for far less. To date, the project statistics recorded by Kickstarter itself indicate this has occurred at least thirty-six times. Thirty six other mini games made a million and a half bucks? Cite your source. I don't buy that. Palladium's "success" with Robotech RPG Tactics is not even the top performer in the relatively niche field of tabletop games there. Reaper Miniatures Bones was a project from a year before Robotech RPG Tactics, which asked for less than half what Palladium did ($30,000 instead of $70,000), beat its target by bringing in 11,400% of its goal (vs. Palladium's 2,060%), with a total take 238% the size of Palladium's ($3.43 million vs. $1.44 million). They also more than three times as many backers (17,744 vs 5,342). So... ONE Other time it's happened... and that diminishes Palladium's hit how? Context is a dandy tool for dispelling the illusion of achievement where Robotech is concerned... even at its best, it will never be more than a small-time marginal achiever. Changing the context to try and make yourself right,is a tactic, but still doesn't manage to diminish the fact that it was a hit. You're not a millionair Mike. Noone on here is. You're not pulling down Millions a year. Your claim that it's easy and small time is bullshit. If you hold them up against oil companies or big pharma or somthing sure. It looks small. If you hold them up against other RPG projects and kickstarters, it's a huge thing. It can be catagorized as a hit upon funding. They just dropped the ball on fullfillment. Come now, let us approach this with realism and a meticulous dedication to accuracy... Lets It cannot be categorized as a hit based on the Kickstarter's performance, because it's not even atypical as Robotech projects go. Again you try and move the goal post. Is there another Robotech kickstarter that's made 1.4 million? I seem to remember someone else tried a robotech kickstarter, after Palladium and it failed? All that actually demonstrated was that a relatively small number of people (~5,400... slightly above average for Robotech merchandise, but 1/3 the rough average for similarly-budgeted tabletop games on Kickstarter) were willing to throw large amounts of money at the project for nostalgia's sake. With such minimal market penetration, both on Kickstarter and post-release, the idea that the game is a hit borders on laughable. Even calling it a "success" is a stretch. No. You're trying to discount the achievement by waving your hands and shouting as you look down your nose at it. Who cares why people paid? They did. Who cares if it was a small amount of people? The money was still there. You act like you're some robotech god. You don't speak for the rest of the fans. (in fact from what little I've heard, it's kinda the exact opposite and you get banned and booted alot, no way to verify that. Just saying from the very very VERY little I hear/read about the robotech community, you ain't leadin' it.) You can snort and be like 'Oh REAAL Robotech fans this and that and neener neener neener. Fact remains, they made 1.4 million dollars on by all accounts, Middling to shitty mini's(Depending on who you talk to). That's a hit as per their sales and what it was. Sustainability will be seen (and I've little hope for that will all their mirid of mistakes) but acting like making 1.4 million, 2,060% of their goal (Your number) is a hit. If you go 10% over your goal you're dong well. if you go 100% over your goal it's a hit. 200%... 500%.. 1000% of your goal? NICE that's a hell of a thing. TWO THOUSAND percent over your goal is a hit, no matter how you try and tbag it. |
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Post by MacrossMike on Jan 3, 2015 4:27:24 GMT
That doesn't make it 'easy' or everyone would be doing it. No, obviously not everybody can sculpt or cast miniatures... but the point is that it's actually not difficult if you have the appropriate skill set. There are many examples right there on Kickstarter of people who did SIGNIFICANTLY BETTER without having to subcontract out all the actual work. There's at least one case where a company managed to do it TWICE. Putting a point on it, I didn't say they made 1.4 million in profit. I said they made 1.4 million and that's still a big deal. You're trying to move the goal posts to attempt to make a point that's bullshit. They DIDN'T make $1.4 million, that's the bloody point... and as the evidence shows, that's honestly not that big a deal, even if the raw dollar amount was anything like as significant a metric of success as the number of backers or post-completion sales. 6% isn't exactly considerable either. It's sales tax type level. It's actually 5% for Kickstarter itself and 5% for payment processing... which adds up pretty quick. I've actually pointed this out repeatedly to people. I don't know the number but the general principal. That doesn't change the fact that making 1.4 million is a success if you were only aiming at 50 grand. And noone was talking net profit. You're trying to narrow it down now to make your point. Er... why is my making a specific point so upsetting to you? Also, the target was $70,000, not $50,000. Thirty six other mini games made a million and a half bucks? Cite your source. I don't buy that. Thirty-six different games category Kickstarters exceeded $1 million, as I indicated before. Thus far, every one of those that was a minis game in that particular category better than doubled Palladium's supposed feat. It's right there on the Kickstarter.com statistics page. So... ONE Other time it's happened... and that diminishes Palladium's hit how? That's just one example... that same company has achieved that feat at least twice on Kickstarter. There are others as well. Changing the context to try and make yourself right,is a tactic, but still doesn't manage to diminish the fact that it was a hit. You're not a millionair Mike. Noone on here is. You're not pulling down Millions a year. Your claim that it's easy and small time is bullshit. If you hold them up against oil companies or big pharma or somthing sure. It looks small. If you hold them up against other RPG projects and kickstarters, it's a huge thing.  Please stow the self-righteous indignation... it's not helping your argument. Calling the Robotech RPG Tactics Kickstarter a hit is laughable. Yes, they got $1.44 million in pledges for them to use as the development budget, but that's not that big an achievement. Just on Kickstarter, other publishers have done two or three times as well and even made that a repeatable feat. True, I'm not pulling down millions of dollars a year myself... but I'm a businessman and even without having the convenience of being able to "phone a friend" (of my brother's) in the gaming industry to talk about profit margins, a little back-of-the-envelope math on cost-amortization from parts castings is not a tall order. For a competent publisher, making $1.4 million on a tabletop game is not exactly difficult... especially considering the cost model the entire industry's operating on. Pretending $1.44 million (unqualified) is a serious achievement is making a mountain out of an especially uninspiring molehill. Again you try and move the goal post. Is there another Robotech kickstarter that's made 1.4 million? I seem to remember someone else tried a robotech kickstarter, after Palladium and it failed? No, I'm not moving the goal post... I'm providing relevant context for my statement that this is not a success or even an unprecedented show of interest for Robotech. Obviously we're not going to have a second Robotech Kickstarter that made any money, because they've only had the one that actually lasted to completion... the other one was a hilarious ragequit failure. The more important metric for measuring success here is the number of backers... the number of people who, with product in hand, are effectively the total preorder sales of the product AND the number of people promoting the product before release. 5,342 is NOTHING in the tabletop arena. It's not even atypical as a show of interest in a Robotech product. They generally consider themselves to be selling "gangbusters" if they've got 6,000 people willing to buy whatever turd they've boxed up and shipped out. Compare that to similar game projects launched on Kickstarter, and you'll find they've got about 1/3 of the backer count of other tabletop games that achieved similar takes. No. You're trying to discount the achievement by waving your hands and shouting as you look down your nose at it. Who cares why people paid? They did. Who cares if it was a small amount of people? The money was still there. The point... which you are laboriously attempting to ignore... is the number of backers, more than the amount of money, is the indication of relative success. With just five thousand people behind it, and minimal store-level support for the game, the chances of it being a success are vanishingly small. You have to take the take in context... yes, $1.4 million sounds like a lot to Joe Blow on the street, but when take it in its proper context that less than five thousand people actually bought the game itself, that just shows that what you've got is a very small number of people with a lot of disposable income. The measure of success here, because this is a GAME, is the profit margin (minimal) and the size of the player base. You act like you're some robotech god. You don't speak for the rest of the fans. (in fact from what little I've heard, it's kinda the exact opposite and you get banned and booted alot, no way to verify that. Just saying from the very very VERY little I hear/read about the robotech community, you ain't leadin' it.) Look, if you're out of legitimate objections, just say so... you can do better than this. I'll confess, I'm not sure why you seem to believe that I've claimed to speak for the Robotech fandom... pretty sure I've never claimed to represent anyone's opinion there other than my own. In fact, I'm pretty sure it's common knowledge that my views are pretty unpopular, considering I've supported Harmony Gold's efforts with the official canon and I'm not drinking the proverbial Kool-Aid. I'm also not sure where you've come away with the idea that I get "banned and booted alot". I've only been on four Robotech web communities total, and only managed to get banned from one... Robotech.com, and that one only stands because I've never bothered to request reinstatement of my account despite being invited to on several occasions. Fact remains, they made 1.4 million dollars on by all accounts, Middling to shitty mini's(Depending on who you talk to). That's a hit as per their sales and what it was. *sigh* I keep trying to explain this and you're not following for some reason... the $1.44 million is NOT total sales volume, that's a mix of donation money, sales of unrelated merchandise, and pre-orders of the game. It's a misleading figure. Most of that is money burned thru the prolonged development, prototyping, production, and shipping expenses. Very little of it actually went into Palladium's pocket. The total sales volume was less than five thousand base units sold. THAT is the telling piece of information that shows us that it wasn't a hit... less than five thousand people in the entire world looked at this and said "Yeah, I'd like to play that" and plunked down that inflated $300 or so preorder cost to fund development. |
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Post by Jaymz on Jan 3, 2015 4:46:11 GMT
Ok guys, you aren't gong agree on anything so give it a rest.
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Post by MacrossMike on Jan 3, 2015 4:49:45 GMT
Ok guys, you aren't gong agree on anything so give it a rest. 'k. |
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Post by kryptt on Jan 3, 2015 5:37:41 GMT
On a somewhat related note FRP Games lists RRT as the #2 seller behind imperial assault. In third is zombiecide. In other places I've heard that it either sells out or it's just collecting dust. CoolstuffInk sold the core box for 50% off and they did well. I don't know if the game will be a hit. If it does it won't be because of Kevin the lier. It's because people with time and money will make it a success. The drawback is Kevin will think he's the reason why it's a hit.
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Post by Sci-Fi on Jan 3, 2015 6:45:46 GMT
Not trying to be mean to Palladium, but that's kinda their 'thing'.
Palladium was/is to an extent a successful RPG company. The problem is, it's ----not----- do to their business practices. It's do the worlds they build. Thing is they were largely successful (and less and less now) but Kevin/The workers don't seem to really grasp 'why'. They know they sell books. They know that people like them. But it very seriously seems like they kinda fall assbackwards, into it.
Getting the TMNT and Robotech licenses back in the 80s was great, and that helped them form the wave that they continued to ride when they made rifts.. but then they let TMNT Fall off, even when they had TMNT&MS ready to roll out, to the tune they had to rewrite part of it and rip out all mentions of the Turtles and put it as a PA setting to make the book. They let robotech lapse for a long time. They rode rifts even as it spiraled down and again they didn't quite know why. They're radically disconnected from modern practices in a business and industry they helped to found and build. Which is weird as hell.
They're still around (and many use that as a defense. "They've been doing this 30 years and are still around") and on the one hand, that says something good about Palladium. On the other, I really -really- don't think they have any clue WHY they're still around. They are doing things the same way they did in the 80s and just kinda stumbling along gleefully.
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Post by MacrossMike on Jan 4, 2015 4:12:27 GMT
They're radically disconnected from modern practices in a business and industry they helped to found and build. Which is weird as hell. Ach... there's more to it than just Palladium being out of touch with the industry as a whole and relying on an obsolete business model. At the most basic level, their problem is the same one besetting their on-again off-again partner Harmony Gold USA. They're convinced that they're clever because of their early (relative) successes, and can't (or won't) accept that the reason for their fortunes being on the decline is that the industry changed and they failed to change with it. If they write off their failures and so on as the result a third party screwing up* or bad luck**, and dismiss what the competition does differently as them following fads***, they don't have to accept that they're the biggest obstacles to their own success. * E.G. Robotech RPG Tactics (blamed Ninja Division), Robotech: the Untold Story (blamed Tatsunoko, Cannon Films, Hasbro), Robotech II: the Sentinels (blamed Tatsunoko, Matchbox), Robotech 3000 (blamed Netter Digital, fans), Robotech: the Shadow Chronicles (blamed fans, Warner Bros), Robotech Academy (blamed Creavision, their social media manager, Macross fans), all pre-2001 licensee material (blamed licensees), Palladium's so-called "Crisis of Treachery", the RT2E RPG spaceships book (blamed Jason Marker).
** E.G. Robotech II: the Sentinels (exchange rate crash), Robotech: the Untold Story (distributor's release timing), Robotech: the Shadow Chronicles (the American industry's reorg)
*** E.G. Kevin's adamant refusal to release new books in eBook formats, Harmony Gold's obsession with trying to get an episode commitment from a network for a new show.They're still around (and many use that as a defense. "They've been doing this 30 years and are still around") and on the one hand, that says something good about Palladium. On the other, I really -really- don't think they have any clue WHY they're still around. They are doing things the same way they did in the 80s and just kinda stumbling along gleefully. "Still around" doesn't mean "successful" though... there are plenty of companies whose brands are only hanging around by the skin of their teeth either due to cult followings or being a secondary line of business supported by profits from the main line of business (e.g. Robotech). |
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Post by Jaymz on Jan 4, 2015 4:47:58 GMT
Oh Sci-Fi and I quick to point out survival is not success....
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