CNN Money: Pathfinder Online Demo Tardy

[Mbando]

Interesting article about how top Kickstarter projects ship late. I noticed that Pathfinder Online Tech Demo was on of the projects in the "Tardy" category. Was it tardy? Their method involved self-reporting:

CNN Money wrote:

CNNMoney contacted the creators of the 50 highest-funded Kickstarter campaigns with estimated delivery dates of November 2012 or earlier to determine their shipping status. We found that only eight of those 50 projects hit their deadline.

There's a detailed chart here, with the following text:

CNN Money wrote:

Pathfinder Online Demo

1 month late

Estimated delivery:October 2012
Actual delivery:November 2012
Raised:$307,843

Massively Multiplayer Online games -- MMOs in gamer jargon -- typically cost as much as a blockbuster movie to launch. Development studio Goblinworks hopes to create one on a shoestring.

The company's Kickstarter campaign set out to raise enough cash to produce a series of demo videos for the game, called Pathfinder Online. Goblinworks released the demo videos in November and used them to launch a second, still-ongoing Kickstarter. The new one seeks $1 million for a three-year development project that would take Pathfinder live in January 2016.

Creator Ryan Dancey posted a detailed accounting breakdown showing Kickstarter backers how their cash was used.

"We were really surprised with the level of support the community gave us," he says. "It was such a success."

[Marthian]

I don't really think they are tardy.

Unless the article is confused, thinking that the Kickstarter was for the actual MMO.

[Nihimon]

Yeah, they were tardy delivering the backer-only video. The article has it right; it was promised in October and delivered in November.

[Ryan Dancey]

I think it's fair to say we were tardy.

[TheDarklord]

But hey what's a month between friends. :-)

Daniel.

[deinol]

A month late is like 6 months early compared to most kickstarters. ;)

[DeciusBrutus]

The planning fallacy
People are (inherently?) bad at estimating the expected time to complete a project.

[Andius]

I would just like to point out the deadline for The Empyrean Order's new topic that I gave was January 1st. ;)

Anyway 1 month is no big deal. I spent my break today patching the beta for "Darkfall 2010" just now. Servers still weren't up even though we were supposed to be able to play it yesterday. This beta comes after the November AND December LAUNCH dates they gave us.

Yeah, 1 month is no biggie between friends.

[Valkenr]

If anything ever comes out on time you should always ask 'what is wrong with it?'

[blope]

I think it is interesting that kickstarter project results are being watched by CNN Money. I think the whole business world is taking notice of the success of various kickstarter projects.

[Mbando]

Andius wrote:

I would just like to point out the deadline for The Empyrean Order's new topic that I gave was January 1st. ;)

Anyway 1 month is no big deal. I spent my break today patching the beta for "Darkfall 2010" just now. Servers still weren't up even though we were supposed to be able to play it yesterday. This beta comes after the November AND December LAUNCH dates they gave us.

Yeah, 1 month is no biggie between friends.

The hate, discontent, and gnashing of teeth on my gaming guild's forums over Darkfall is reaching truly epic proportions.

[Keovar]

I didn't hear about the tech demo KS until after it was closed, and I'm wondering if it's available somewhere. Is the video for the current KS the one that was produced by the tech demo?

[AvenaOats]

Keovar wrote:

I didn't hear about the tech demo KS until after it was closed, and I'm wondering if it's available somewhere. Is the video for the current KS the one that was produced by the tech demo?

Yes, it's same footage, but the tech demo has more including the "in-between" bits.

[htrajan]

And this is why the golden rule is to always promise less and deliver more. :)