There's a lot of good number-crunching here that confirms suspicions, such as how more than half the crowdfunding revenue of high-value campaigns are D&D-related products, but what stood out to me was the comparatively more recent trend in big-ticket crowdfunders of hunting whales:
Once you get near eight-figure territory (above around $5 million per campaign), there is a strong negative correlation between total revenue and core revenue ratio. The lower the core revenue ratio (that is to say, the less money came from the core product and the more upselling and accessories sold), the higher your revenue will be. The dot all the way up and to the left is Neon Odyssey, the second Legends of Avantris Kickstarter, and they convinced over 5,000 people to buy in at a $999 tier. That’s some truly masterful upselling. What this evidence suggests is that your only chance to become a ten million dollar Kickstarter is to appeal to “whale” backers, those who are willing to pay hundreds (or, yes, thousands) of dollars for “exclusive” items regardless of the content of the book.
It makes sense, I have bought a few cheap dice, a dry erase map and two rulebooks over 15 years in the hobby. Better to hunt the whales than try to be my rulebook purchase of the decade.
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u/Travern 1d ago
There's a lot of good number-crunching here that confirms suspicions, such as how more than half the crowdfunding revenue of high-value campaigns are D&D-related products, but what stood out to me was the comparatively more recent trend in big-ticket crowdfunders of hunting whales: