The Siren Song of Dust Tactics

kookoobah wrote:

Maybe they're gambling on it. They probably figured that if this does hit the bigtime, it could very well make them really really big.

That's my bet.

Companies do this all the time. Music companies used to sign as many bands as possible when a new style got big. If one of them made it then that would cover the costs of all the hundreds of others they signed. When Green Day made it big you can bet that every faux-neo-punk band out there was getting looked at seriously all of a sudden. Throw enough macaroni at the wall and something will stick.

Or course they could also screw over the artist and when the album doesn't sell they're left owing the record company, I doubt FFG has that flexibility. Still though, they are pretty damned successful and it may not be as much a loss as we think.

If the game is great then who cares? I don't mind companies taking chances if they can afford it. Android, despite being so unpopular, is the kind of game I admire them most for.

It doesn't matter that I've never played it and probably never will. I like that it exists and I like the idea of them trying different things. It pushes the industry forward and helps put more idea's out there. It will never progress otherwise.

... but mini's are hardly progression at this point and I highly doubt dust tactics will sell. But I bet Mansions of Madness will.

As to why FFG is doing these kinds of things.

Easy. Monopoly.

If they can pick up enough of these games even making only slight profits then they are the only company making this kind of thing. If any of the games hits, then they make a ton of money, and there is no competition for that kind of thing.

(FFG doesn't really have a monopoly, and even if they really had one probably hasn't broken any antitrust laws. But businesses to this....shades of the Data Domain bidding war we saw recently between EMC and Netapp. Even though Netapp already has an equivalent product in their portfolio.)

I guess, at the end of the day, there's good and bad in everything. You buy an album, chances are there's a couple of songs that you won't like. Drink a beer? The bottom half-inch is piss. Just the way of the world I guess.

I really want Android too, JJ. Its got a lot of bad press, but the curiousity is insatiable. It was a lemon for them, and mostly ridiculed, but the "idea" of it is slick.

Dust Tactics as a stand alone game MIGHT work, but as a miniature game it's horribly doomed just as Paolo Parente's AT-43 (examine the visual styles, the weapons that are in both games, they look a LOT alike)

This game neither attracts to the die hard miniatures gamer (no modelling, limited army-building, etc etc) or the average boardgamer (no pre-paints for decent prices, useless expansions that don't add a thing) and the #1 reason why this won't be a success: no opponents. It sucks having to buying into a miniatures game where you have to buy for 2 factions just to have people play with you.

If there are no fellow players in your vicinity it's gonna be a boring game with you knowing all the rules, fluff, special rules and them not being interested in this at all.

The launching of a miniatures game nowadays requires a LOT of patience, dedication, and determination. FFG has shown none of the above in the past, if it doesn't become a smash hit they'll just cancel all expansions and move on to their big sellers. FFG isn't as dedicated to let it run without profits and wait for it takes off. (examples: AT-43, confrontation and ofc their own Mutant Chronicles).

Pete -- pick it up. It is the best gamer game they have made since they released it (BSG is more of a party game...). In terms of innovation and uniqueness, nothing else they have compares.