Beyond the Gates of Antares… is over (for now)
Rick Priestley’s ‘Beyond the Gates of Antares’ Kickstarter has been the most ambitious miniatures gaming Kickstarter yet. It has also been, as I tried to argue, severely flawed. After a good start, it has been a crawl for most of its running time. Now, with more than two weeks left on the clock (and about 2/3 of the hoped-for goal of £ 300.000,- still missing), the project was cancelled.
After much consideration we have decided to withdraw our project from Kickstarter.
We’d like to thank you all for believing in us and backing us, GoA will still become a reality but through different means.
We will take the next month to reassess our plans, during this time you will still see us on the forums and we will continue to post updates to our website. Once we have a plan set we will let you all know what it is so that we can continue to build GoA together.
There are a lot of positives to take from this journey and we certainly don’t think of this as a failure, more a change in plans with actual direct feedback from the market, which should help us greatly in the future. One of the best things we’ve done is you guys. We managed to develop a thriving community in a very short time, which is bursting with ideas and support for the project and for that we thank you and we will continue to want and need your help in the future.
There are too many people to thank, but we’d like to take the opportunity to give special thanks to these guys (in no order!): Melcavuk, Krazus, Prototheca, Endtransmission, Karl Pedder, Gylan Hunter, Michael Musson, John Wigley, Des Hanley, Karol Rudyk, Bruno Lavallee, Angelika Rasmus, Andy Gibson (brandnewbadidea), Golem Painting Studios, James Sherriff, Tim Prow, Kev White, Wojtek Fils, Bob Naismith, Andrew Chesney, Paul Sawyer
We’ll talk to you all very soon
Thank you!
Rick, Rik, John and Co
Some parting Pictures
Over the last few days, Gates of Antares has been hemorrhaging backers and pledges, and not gaining them. This observation might well have played a part in the decision to not have the campaign continue for the full running time, to the end of February.
Beyond the Gates of Antares on Kicktraq
Hansa Nairoba, painted by Golem Painting Studio, was the “face” of the Kickstarter and – unfortunately – one of the very few miniatures shown.
Hansa Nairoba – Fully Painted
Though the Kickstarter campaign was deeply flawed, the very fact that it did raise over 100.000,- quid (despite the scarce visuals) on the trust and faith of gamers across the world in Rick Priestley and his team proves that there is interest in this vision.
I hope they stick with it, as they say they will in their final update. I sure would love to have the Gates of Antares rulebook to page through at some point (along with a Hansa-miniature).
What are your thoughts?
What do you think would be the best strategy from here on out to make ‘Beyond the Gates of Antares’ a reality?
Z.