This is why I’m always hesitant to donate my own money to Kickstarter campaigns, because you have no guarantee that your money is going to go toward the thing you’re supporting, or even if that thing will ever see the light of day. Unfortunately, both seem to be the case for those who supported The Doom That Came To Atlantic City, a Lovecraftian board game that’s been cancelled despite receiving $123,000, $88,000 more than what they were asking for.
Obviously, people are pissed. More after the jump.
The Kickstarter campaign, which launched back in May 2012, ended up being hugely successful. Despite this, its creator, Erik Chevalier, has decided to shut it down.
“The project is over, the game is cancelled,” he wrote in an update on the board game’s Kickstarter page.
“Every possible mistake was made, some due to my inexperience in board game publishing, others due to ego conflicts, legal issues and technical complications. No matter the cause though, these could all have been avoided by someone more experienced and I apparently was not that person.”
Chevalier’s intention was to use the funds to launch a board game company, with its first product being The Doom That Came To Atlantic City.
“Everyone involved agreed on this. Since then rifts have formed and every error compounded the growing frustration, causing only more issues. After paying to form the company, for the miniature statues, moving back to Portland, getting software licenses and hiring artists to do things like rule book design and art conforming the money was approaching a point of no return.”
Now, he’s working on finding a way to pay everyone back, starting with those who donated through his website.
“My hope now is to eventually refund everyone fully. This puts all of the financial burden directly on my shoulders. Starting with those who’ve pre-ordered after the Kickstarter campaign through our webstore, then I’ll begin working my way through the backer list, starting with those who funded at the highest levels.”
Many people are calling him a fraud. I see something far more sinister. I smell a curse, one that’s been placed on any form of entertainment that has to do with the Lovecraft universe. First, Call of Cthulhu — a planned trilogy — was canned after the first game, then Guillermo Del Toro’s Mountans of Madness got the axe, and now this. There isn’t a doubt in my mind that there’s dark magic at work here.
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