Why a multi-billion dollar IP needs a Kickstarter for CoD: The Board Game
The Call of Duty franchise is worth billions, so why use a Kickstarter scheme to raise money for The Board Game? Arcane Wonders reveal all.
03rd Jul 2023 15:07
Why a multi-billion dollar IP needs a Kickstarter for CoD: The Board Game
The Call of Duty franchise is worth billions, so why use a Kickstarter scheme to raise money for The Board Game? Arcane Wonders reveal all.
03rd Jul 2023 15:07
The Call of Duty franchise is worth billions. It's grossed over $1 billion in sales from Modern Warfare 2 alone and has been an integral cog in Microsoft's claimed monopolisation over the gaming industry that saw their Activision merger be blocked.
So why on earth do they need a Kickstarter scheme to raise money for Call of Duty: The Board Game?
It was a question slapped all over social media when Arcane Wonders revealed Call of Duty: The Board Game earlier this year, and now we've sat down with the Designers who explain why a fundraiser is necessary for a Call of Duty IP game.
Call of Duty: The Board Game Designers reveal why they need a Kickstarter scheme
A Kickstarter scheme is a way of fundraising, designed to show off the uniqueness of the project and gather "pledges" of people that will back its development financially.
Call of Duty: The Board Game is set to start its first round of Kickstarter campaigns on August 1, and Arcane Wonders have now revealed why this IP needs to raise money before going to market.
"The shortest answer to that is Activision not making this board game. We're paying Activision for the right to use Call of Duty in this board game. And bluntly, we've already paid a lot for that privilege," said Arcane Wonders President Robert Geistlinger.
The designers, who already have the Mage Wars Arena and Mage Wars Academy games in their portfolio, have bought the license to use Call of Duty's brand for their game, meaning that they have full financial control over the project, instead of Activision.
"At the end of the day, we're a third-party licensee. This is pretty standard. We just saw it with Apex Legends, you've seen it with Elder Scrolls. We're in the board game world. Most of us are very small companies.
"When you're looking at something like a Call of Duty IP, the game might sell 10,000 copies. The game might sell a hundred thousand. We don't know what it's going to sell, so it's hard for us to even gauge that upfront without doing something like a Kickstarter for it," Geistlinger added.
Activision is not involved in making Call of Duty: The Board Game
Activision always deploys different studios to make their game, with the three-pronged trident of Sledgehammer Games, Infinity Ward, and Treyarch all releasing different series and titles within the universe. But Activision always has the final say when it comes to the direction, as seen by the scrapped Vanguard sequel.
But for Call of Duty: The Board game, they will have no input on how the game will be formed, and their only helping hand comes with graphics.
"Activision is only involved in that we purchased the license to play in their world," said Geistlinger. "We work with them on what we can use, they give us access to graphics and things like that - you can tell that we're not just using screen grabs and things, we our own art - but it has to be modelled after their real things. So Activision's involved from that standpoint.
"They want the game to represent Call of Duty, but at the end of the day, Arcane Wonders is the one making the game, and for a project of this scope and for us to make the game at the level we want to make it at, we really do need to go the Kickstarter route.
The Kickstarter scheme will roll out Collectors edition designs into a neat bundle with the base game, and they aim to raise enough capital to send Call of Duty: The Board Game to the market by this time next year.
About The Author
Jack Marsh
Jack is an Esports Journalist at GGRecon. Graduating from the University of Chester, with a BA Honours degree in Journalism, Jack is an avid esports enthusiast and specialises in Rocket League, Call of Duty, VALORANT, and trending gaming news.
