Dry-Humping the Cash Cow
- JW
- Aug 23, 2019
- 1 min read
Let's talk DVG. You know them. The ones of Field Commander Rommel, Field Commander Napoleon, Field Commander Alexander, Fleet Commander Nimitz. The ones of Hornet Leader, Corsair Leader, Phantom Leader, U-Boat Leader, Thunderbolt-Apache Leader, Tiger Leader, B-17 Flying Fortress Leader, Sherman Leader, Israeli Air Force Leader, Gato Leader. Them. They also have a card game called Warfighter.
Or rather, they have five.
Warfighter: Special Forces
Warfighter: WWII
Warfighter: WWII Pacific
Warfighter: Shadow War
Warfighter: Private Military Contractor
(with Fantasy and SF to come.)
And every single one has expansions. And it's getting out of hand.
2014: 3 expansions
2015: 5 expansions
2016: 13 expansions
2019: 55 expansions
Then the current Kickstarter campaign adds yet another 11 expansions.
They churn them out now like a family-sized clone of FFG.
And every single pack's expensive. I think we're at $1 discount through Kickstarter after shipping to Europe. If I'm lucky.
So why do I keep backing? When will it end?
It's not DVG, it's me.
When they did the Shadow War KS I backed it selecting specific packs (K9, Shadow War and PMC). The fact that PMC went from an expansions to a full game after the KS ended did raise some red flags with me. Before delivering this KS campaign they already launched the Battle Packs campaign with even more packs which raised even more red flags with me.
Having received my pledge, I'm happy with my pledge but I have no need to own more.
Apparently there is a (dedicated) audience that is willing to pay 800+$ to own it all but I'm just not one of them. Personally I'm done with DVG unless they release games like Pavlov's House (and Thunderbolt Apache…
Still, it looks like they'll speed up their rhythm even more (quoting from KS comments):
"Tentative timeline for this year is Valkyrie, some smaller kickstarter, Fantasy, Huey Leader. That would probably be it for this year."
Which makes the discussion about Orchard curiouser and curiouser
https://www.solitairetimes.net/post/kickstarter-forces-side-room-games-to-postpone-orchard
DVG is a hot-button issue for me. They honestly have no business using Kickstarter as they are an established publisher. I know of course why they use Kickstarter; it takes all of the risk away from them. I get it. CMON and many other large publishers still use crowdfunding. The thing is though, that CMON makes it worth your while to back their Kickstarters. I know that I’ll get a bunch of free extra stuff. Meanwhile, there is no reason for me to back DVG’s Kickstarter campaigns. I made the mistake of backing Castle Itter. It is on preorder at Miniature Market for $10 less than I paid for it. Plus I could have qualified for free shipping from MM.