A VTES model for the gamestore

Lönkka wrote:

Not to rain in anyone's parade but

Who is going to produce/manufacture this?
Who is going to distribute this?
How shall the retailers (especially in majority of USA), who for years haven't wanted to carry the game, be convinced to carry it?

Manufacturing is closer to just assembling the components acquired elsewhere whith the ideas suggested here.
Distribution is somewhat of an issue, but really, if we got a majir distributor interested ( Diamond im sure remembers how quickly it was out of httb starters), then we are available readily in the pipeline, and making the game a valuable commodity to newbies is a different, and at that point(assuming it gets to that point) the real hurdle.
To the third part: Racketeering..........

Or slightly more legally, try catching good promotional opportunities when we can do so easily, make our own by stealing thunder or customers from similar niche hobbies when we cant.

Honestly, the capital to get the ball rolling on such a project is tbe largest problem, aside from being 327% dependant upon pod happening. But if pod happens, and if money is generated toward new player acquisition, maybe stealing mtg players and wod players is the next step, while we wait out the ccp mmo and steal its fans as well if we can.

Wrote a longish reply for this earlier on but it either seems not to have been gone up. or it has been removed (kinda doubt that).

Not going to write it again, but just saying that Diamond ain't gonna be viable distributor choice. And trying to get the game into distribution would be rather uphill battle (Steve's company really hasn't put any of their other products available via "normal" distribution) and the products would need to be even more expensive to cover the two additional tiers (distributors & retailers).

Lönkka wrote:

Wrote a longish reply for this earlier on but it either seems not to have been gone up. or it has been removed (kinda doubt that).

Not going to write it again, but just saying that Diamond ain't gonna be viable distributor choice. And trying to get the game into distribution would be rather uphill battle (Steve's company really hasn't put any of their other products available via "normal" distribution) and the products would need to be even more expensive to cover the two additional tiers (distributors & retailers).

i know a bare minimum about distribution, (such as that stores with truly small budgets can't even justify using diamond due to minimum monthly order requirements, which is unrealistic for even mtg orders in an area with multiple gaming stores if the company is already not making money) but i do know that in my city, at least 2 if not more gaming stores would carry vtes if they could, possilby 3. that is, however, just due to the amount of players in the area, both casual and otherwise, being higher than normal.

if a product was assembled and ordered through the vekn via the 2 companies that sell sealed product still, would it be reasonable to assume that vtes would then be accessible to stores wishing to have it?

again, i'm talking about a basic product of POD decks with a rulebook, counters, and possibly mats. just trying to get a bead on what is reasonable/within the scope of happening.

I think we can all agree, that there ARE stores willing to sell VTES merchandise. I believe, some complain, that this is not a world-wide trend and those which do not have information about nearby VTES players, would not promote VTES. But is this that much of a problem? Many people would be lazy enough to buy precons just for those Tupdogs, Enkil Cogs or whatever cards they could not afford before and even with higher-than-usual distribution costs, these some decks would sell for some time. This would if not reignite local communities then at least, keep VTES economy alive until an external incentive in a shape of WoD Online comes. Best that could happen then would be a sellout and more influx of money into VTES, worst - VTES would still be alive for a while paying for itself.

ReverendRevolver wrote:

i know a bare minimum about distribution, (such as that stores with truly small budgets can't even justify using diamond due to minimum monthly order requirements, which is unrealistic for even mtg orders in an area with multiple gaming stores if the company is already not making money)

Diamond charges all kinds of things from the manufacturer, so if you're working with peanuts like the ones pushing VTES through them would be, it would not be profitable. Actually vice versa.

ReverendRevolver wrote:

if a product was assembled and ordered through the vekn via the 2 companies that sell sealed product still, would it be reasonable to assume that vtes would then be accessible to stores wishing to have it?

If they don't have clauses preventing sales of the current product stock to retailers I don't see why this couldn't be done already.

Contact/have the stores contact David at Rose Tatu Productions regarding selling of the available stock to the stores in question. No need to involve VEKN in this in any way.

ReverendRevolver wrote:

again, i'm talking about a basic product of POD decks with a rulebook, counters, and possibly mats. just trying to get a bead on what is reasonable/within the scope of happening.

Again I'm telling you, based on my 20+ experience in the busines and on my American colleagues I'd be inclined to say that anything involving upcoming VTES items and stores/distribution is unfortunately only a pipe dream.

At least some of the problem is that game stores have very little incentive to have the game played in-store if it's PoD. The money goes to the printing agency, and the store owner loses tables that could be supporting games that he can make sales from.

What's keeping people from playing is that nobody is playing.

A freemium model where you download and print your own cards could generate more players, and sales would come from people buying PoD decks and singles upgrading to "real" cards. There'd also be a market for legacy cards with the original art or expansion symbol - there always is. A starting package would be nice, but VtES biggest problem is that it needs to get traction.

But prize support and paid tournaments are what get people in stores buying sodas and making impulse purchases. Organized league play would get more games going, and print-at-home decks would create more potential players. Running organized play can be a huge pain in the butt, and it's silly to expect stores to do this in a model where they can't profit from it - which releasing PoD cards into an unsupported vacuum would be.