Bad news for backers of the Ninja Division Kickstarters

[hephestoParticipant 880xp 0]

Personally I can’t say I’m surprised to hear this given Ninja Division’s reputation, but still very sad news for the backers of Relics Knights 2 and Starfinder regardless.

That said I do find it rather rich to have Archon (Prodos) say something about owning people money and not delivering Kickstarters. There’s quite a few folks out there still waiting for their Aliens vs. Predators stuff like 6-7 years on………..

[coxjul 13301xp 0]

Although I’m personally not directly affected by this, I am concerned by yet another KS failure by a US company unable to deliver rewards through mis-management of significant funds.

Not sure about timelines and overlaps of projects but hopefully this isn’t another Ponzi-like situation where a new project is started (diverting resources) to raise funds partially to cover a shortfall in an ongoing project.

KS themselves will wash their hands of any responsibility, so it’s down to us backers to watch out for these same individuals emerging phoenix-like as a different legal entity to start a new KS.  Back such projects for a $1 and call them out to account in the comments in full view of new unaware backers, and call them out on platforms like OTT.

[andre77 13013xp 1]

That is serious bad for both sides. I can not say what a legal way out of this is. But there must be a solution. The only thing i can think of is a direkt sale of the production from Archon or ND. But that is not a solution for the backers.

ND needs money for movement room and Archon to get paid for the production or both go the way of the dodo.

It may be possible to divide the production. And both selling the production. Archon for Europe and GB and ND for NA and Asia. But in what parts is the production to divided. For what will ND use the money they get?  Paying the rest of production und saving money for the backers.

ND will sure lose the rest of reputation it has. But maybe can still build up again. But the backers will have to wait a very long time more, till enough money is accumulated.

Hard desicions to be made.

[onlyonepinman 18072xp 0]

I backed this for the starship miniatures and I am a bit gutted that I won’t be getting them.  However they posted something a few months ago that pretty much lead me to write this one off.  On the whole I would say that I still have a pretty good track record with Kickstarter – this is only the third one I have backed that has failed.

One thing that I would be interested to know is that if they are out of money but Archon have done a load of casts, where exactly did all the money go?  I thought I had read somewhere that ND were struggling before they launched Starfinder and had perhaps used Starfinder funds to progress previous Kickstarters but I can’t remember where I read it.

All in all, a bit disappointed but still OK with backing Kickstarters.  Really gutted for the people who made large pledges though.

[tankkommanderParticipant 6429xp 2]

Archon/Prodos got burned on KS…oh the irony.

 

[horati0nosebl0wer 19661xp 0]

Makes me think that it might be good to snag what Super Dungeon Explore minis are still around.

[limburger 21775xp 0]

I do wonder where the heck the money went … because the products apparently got made and are now being helt hostage by Archon.
There’s bound to be a legal reason for this, but it kind of reads like two kids fighting over toys.

I suspect Archon is in trouble themselves as a result of ND’s issues.
Or they are acting like this because they’ve been through this kind of stuff before and are using threats of legal action to cover their own behinds.

The worst part is that apparently at least one of the kickstarters could be completed …

I hope any industry insiders can shed a bit of light on the situation.

It is yet another reminder that Kickstarters are risky even if they are funded.
Just like real investments to be honest … except we can’t threaten legal action (and even if we could the percentage we’re owed is like threatening a big company after buying a single share … ;-))

@onlyonepinman :

IIRC the problem for ND was that their primary IP (Dungeon Explorer series ?) wasn’t performing as expected.
This may have had an indirect effect on their ability to complete kickstarters.
It is hard to stay afloat when the foundation of your business is failing.

 

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