Board game publisher Mythic Games has responded to criticism of its crowdfunding practices, saying “we’re focused solely on delivering projects that are behind schedule”. Mythic caused controversy back in May when it asked for additional payments to complete production of the 6: Siege board game, but Mythic Games co-owner Léonidas Vesperini says the company has made many internal sacrifices to help get board games to backers.
“We have sold IPs, reduced our staff to save money, and we have a backlog of IPs that we had to sell”, Vesperini tells Wargamer. “These sales help us to reduce the contributions we ask from our backers.”
Backers of 6: Siege were asked to pay up to $129 in additional costs to cover the game’s unanticipated expenses. Similarly, Mythic asked backers of its Darkest Dungeon board game for more money in July 2022 to guarantee they’d receive the game they’d already backed. Both requests were attributed to rising prices caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
According to their Kickstarter pages, 6: Siege and Darkest Dungeon were expected to reach backers in June 2022 and November 2020 respectively. 6: Siege is yet to be delivered, and only the first wave of the orders for Darkest Dungeon have reached backers. Mythic Games also currently has three other unfulfilled Kickstarter projects – Hel: The Last Saga, Monsterpocalypse, and Anastyr.
These delays and requests for extra funding have caused many in the board gaming community to criticize Mythic Games. This includes Leder Games CEO Patrick Leder, who critiqued Mythic in a social media post on October 7.
Leder incorrectly believed Mythic Games were advertising a new crowdfunding campaign, and he commented upon the “unmitigated gall” of the alleged decision. “And if Mythic Games is reading this – how dare you”, Leder writes. “Take a good long hard look in the mirror and get it together.”
Leder later realized his mistake and acknowledged this in a subsequent post on October 8. However, as a backer of one of Mythic’s unfulfilled campaigns, Leder makes it clear his ire remains. “They still owe me more than 500 dollars of stuff, and I am allowed to be salty about it”, he writes.
When asked about Leder’s post, Vesperini tells Wargamer “These times of requests for contributions are always very painful”. “Of course we understand that people are upset, but that doesn’t justify posting inaccuracies or lies.”
Vesperini is also confident that 6: Siege “will be delivered soon”, as it’s reportedly in the process of being printed. Delivery is planned for March.
Additionally, Vesperini tells Wargamer that backers of Darkest Dungeon can expect to receive the products they paid for. “We can be confident that we’ll deliver Darkest Dungeon Wave Two (we have the funds to print and deliver it)”, he says. “We expect to print between December and January and ship the game around April or May.”
As for Hel, Monsterpocalypse, and Anastyr, Vesperini says “We’re considering different solutions, not necessarily the same ones as before”. Vesperini also says Mythic Games will be working on “a small project” called Rise of the Necromancers in November.
When asked if Mythic Games is planning any more crowdfunders at this moment in time, Vesperini answers “No, absolutely not”.
In our Darkest Dungeon board game review, you can find out why Matt Bassil found the title “as fantastic as it was frustrating”. We can also recommend many of the best board games available for tabletop fans right now.