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NEWS: Muv-Luv Kickstarter Ends With Over US$1.2 Million


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encrypted12345



Joined: 25 Jan 2012
Posts: 728
PostPosted: Tue Nov 03, 2015 2:14 pm Reply with quote
Incidentally, it narrowly managed to beat Order of the Stick and secure the 100th place on Kickstarter. It won't have it for long, but it feels very nice.
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Mr. Nescio



Joined: 13 Jul 2011
Posts: 165
PostPosted: Tue Nov 03, 2015 2:40 pm Reply with quote
So, final comparisons to the Grisaia and Clannad campaigns:

Grisaia
Funded: $475,256
Backers: 4348

Clannad
Funded: $541,162
Backers: 5819

Muv-Luv
Funded: $1,255,444
Backers: 7890

Hopefully these numbers give incentive for more visual novel releases in the West.

This campaign was also personally memorable for me, because my predictions about it turned out to be wrong again and again. For example, one idea I was confident about for a long time was that the amount backers would be less than what Clannad got.

For other people also, I recommend making unambiguous predictions about events and checking the results later. This way you can learn about how under/overconfident you are, and then you have the chance to try to adjust your confidence level.
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HitokiriShadow



Joined: 09 May 2005
Posts: 6251
PostPosted: Tue Nov 03, 2015 2:46 pm Reply with quote
Mr. Nescio wrote:

This campaign was also personally memorable for me, because my predictions about it turned out to be wrong again and again. For example, one idea I was confident about for a long time was that the amount backers would be less than what Clannad got.


Before it launched I was iffy on whether it could even meet the initial goal. I didn't pay attention to the Clannad or Grisaia kickstarters, but it certainly seemed like it had a lot less exposure than Clannad due to not having an actual adaptation (and the spin-off being not terribly well received) and I did check the Grisaia KS and see that Muv-Luv's goal was significantly higher.

After it hit the goal I figured the donations would slow to a crawl within a few days and we'd be lucky if it hit the last stretch goal. Then I thought there was no way it would hit the 900k goal. And it just smashed past that and kept going.

I have no interest in the Fate VN myself but now I really want to see it get on Kickstarter just for comparison purposes. (It's also the biggest glaring hole in the English VN market right now.)
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myskaros



Joined: 13 Jun 2011
Posts: 604
Location: J-Novel Club
PostPosted: Tue Nov 03, 2015 3:05 pm Reply with quote
I definitely was a last-minute backer for Muv-Luv simply because I wanted to contribute to something that could help get Type-Moon onto Western shores. Fate is amazing and I would love to replay it in English on my Vita, but the Tsukihime remake is what I am most interested in. It's incredibly sad that it can no longer include Matsuki Miyu's talents (assuming they didn't do the voices already in secret or something), but it would nonetheless be great to finally see updated.
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Vaisaga



Joined: 07 Oct 2011
Posts: 13242
PostPosted: Tue Nov 03, 2015 3:58 pm Reply with quote
Well this is the first Kickstarter I've contributed to and I'm glad it was such a smashing success. I pledged $280 total for the physical box + destroyer plushie + physical codex.
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Mr. Nescio



Joined: 13 Jul 2011
Posts: 165
PostPosted: Tue Nov 03, 2015 4:07 pm Reply with quote
Vaisaga wrote:
Well this is the first Kickstarter I've contributed to and I'm glad it was such a smashing success. I pledged $280 total for the physical box + destroyer plushie + physical codex.


Did you take into account that all $300 tiers and above will get the physical CODEX for free? I'm just saying that going by to the $300 tier you would also get a mecha model and the gift bag in addition of everything else you got.
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invalidname
Contributor



Joined: 11 Aug 2004
Posts: 2487
Location: Grand Rapids, MI
PostPosted: Tue Nov 03, 2015 4:35 pm Reply with quote
Mr. Nescio wrote:
So, final comparisons to the Grisaia and Clannad campaigns:

I think the most interesting difference is the per capita contribution level. Grisaia at $109, Clannad at $93, and Muv-Luv at $159. So not only did Muv-Luv get more backers -- surprising given the series' obscurity and lack or a real tie-in anime -- but also each backer gave far more. I think people are going to look at this Kickstarter to see just how it managed to be so successful: a very well-handled social presence, appealing rewards in the three-digit price range, an initial group of under-served fans who pushed it over its goal immediately and turned it into a topic people were talking about, etc.

It's interesting to speculate what other VNs might fetch in a follow-on Kickstarter. Kimi ga Nozomu Eien / Rumbling Hearts, of which all of Muv-Luv is a direct spin-off, surely has a much smaller fan-base, but from what I've seen, they're more passionate than even the Muv-Luv fans. They might make for even higher average contribution if that turns out to be age's next campaign. Not to mention Fate/Stay Night, which at this point is notorious by its lack of a legitimate English-language release, and whose fanbase is both broad and deep.
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encrypted12345



Joined: 25 Jan 2012
Posts: 728
PostPosted: Tue Nov 03, 2015 4:54 pm Reply with quote
Mr. Nescio wrote:
This campaign was also personally memorable for me, because my predictions about it turned out to be wrong again and again. For example, one idea I was confident about for a long time was that the amount backers would be less than what Clannad got.


Compared to Sekai's kickstarter campaigns, this was highly unusual for a few factors.

1. The goods: Many mecha fans are rabid collectors due to the nature of the shows they watch. Furthermore, the high number of choosable daki, and the last minute inclusion of additional sizes for the TSF Jacket helped immensely. Let's not forget the extremely rare garage kits at the creator's disposal, and the Vita physical copies they offered soon after only reaching the requirements for a digital port. And rare T-shirts.

2. The 150 tier and its relation to the stretch goals: The stretch goals were somewhat unusual in that many were not focused quite on the base game and more focused on giving extra ports or translating more things ... that the $150 tier would get for free. This caused the $150 tier to increase in value every time that a stretch goal was met, and cemented it as the default backer tier. In normal circumstances, the normal tier would be the ones that simply got you the game. Them also offering the physical codex to the $300 tier and up was also a huge surprise. It was to the point that if you wanted the Collector's edition and the codex pluse one physical item (That wasn't a shirt or Vita add on), you might as well have upgraded to at least the $300 tier and up.

3. The creators: They were very responsive throughout the prefundia and the campaign itself. It definitely helped that Degica hired someone with experience doing a crowdfunding (the project leader of Sierra Ops) exclusively for the sake of running the campaign.
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Vaisaga



Joined: 07 Oct 2011
Posts: 13242
PostPosted: Tue Nov 03, 2015 5:07 pm Reply with quote
Mr. Nescio wrote:
Did you take into account that all $300 tiers and above will get the physical CODEX for free? I'm just saying that going by to the $300 tier you would also get a mecha model and the gift bag in addition of everything else you got.


I did. All that extra stuff is neat, but I really don't have much use for them so I wanted to avoid getting too much stuff.
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partially



Joined: 14 Oct 2007
Posts: 702
Location: Oz
PostPosted: Tue Nov 03, 2015 6:20 pm Reply with quote
I think a lot of people seem to misunderstand something here. Muv-Luv isn't particularly obscure. It is well known to people who play VN games. And it is also reasonably well known in anime circles for one reason or another because of Total Eclipse. Granted not really known as Muv-Luv. But I talked to a LOT of people who had no idea what Muv-Luv was, yet instantly recognised the characters as they had seen parts of the anime or manga or simply that they are commonly seen them on image boards and the like. So even if people didn't originally know of the games, they had plenty of time to read up, lots of material available in one form or another in English. This wasn't a bubble success, nor particularly surprising.

It has a more mainstream story than Clannad, and was backed by a good campaign with decent rewards. People seem to forget, superhero movies far outsell dramas. And it is the same in the anime/game audience. And so far only JP drama VNs have been sent to Kickstarter, so this was the first time something different appeared. Sci-fi action I would say is going to trump sucky feel-good drama. And I say that really liking Clannad. But I know plenty of people who say exactly that (actually worse). It is just as a genre Clannad is far more niche than Muv-Luv. In addition people need to remember, Clannad's anime adaptation is over 10 years old. Muv-Luv is far more recent in comparison. Clannad is out of the current popular conscientious. So I personally wasn't surprised when Muv-Luv beat out the competition.

Anyway my personal 2 cents.

Full disclosure, I backed Clannad and not this. Wink
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shuusei



Joined: 09 Apr 2015
Posts: 154
Location: Fort Gordon
PostPosted: Tue Nov 03, 2015 6:41 pm Reply with quote
I've backed for all 3 Kickstarters so far - each one for the Collectors Box Set tier - and I plan to do it for each VN that I've waited for that has a Kickstarter. I'd love for the Type-Moon titles to come over (however unlikely it may be), and for White Album 2 to be next.
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#840423



Joined: 27 Jun 2015
Posts: 8
PostPosted: Tue Nov 03, 2015 10:03 pm Reply with quote
Vaisaga wrote:
Mr. Nescio wrote:
Did you take into account that all $300 tiers and above will get the physical CODEX for free? I'm just saying that going by to the $300 tier you would also get a mecha model and the gift bag in addition of everything else you got.


I did. All that extra stuff is neat, but I really don't have much use for them so I wanted to avoid getting too much stuff.


$20 will get you a mecha model... you can probably ebay that for more than $20... not to mention the gift bag goodies... even if you lowball that to $20 as well...
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Ingraman



Joined: 07 Feb 2005
Posts: 1084
PostPosted: Tue Nov 03, 2015 10:05 pm Reply with quote
invalidname wrote:
Mr. Nescio wrote:
So, final comparisons to the Grisaia and Clannad campaigns:

I think the most interesting difference is the per capita contribution level. Grisaia at $109, Clannad at $93, and Muv-Luv at $159. So not only did Muv-Luv get more backers -- surprising given the series' obscurity and lack or a real tie-in anime -- but also each backer gave far more.

Hmm... Well, I never bothered with the Grisaia fundraising, but I did put $190 towards Clannad ($50 tier, plus a few add-ons).

My Muv-Luv contribution was the $300 tier + $10 shipping. I'm still not sure what I'll do with a couple of those extras, but I've got plenty of time to think about it. ^_^
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gustave154



Joined: 14 Nov 2013
Posts: 89
PostPosted: Tue Nov 03, 2015 11:36 pm Reply with quote
Shows the power of fan translation. Hope this brings more japanese developers to bring their VNs to the west. If it's a Kamige like White Album 2 or Subahibi it's going to be an instant success.
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casenumber00



Joined: 05 Feb 2011
Posts: 169
PostPosted: Tue Nov 03, 2015 11:56 pm Reply with quote
I back this at the $150 tier. Anyway, i am a TYPEMOON fan obviously but I kinda dont want to see a Fate/Stay Night release. I like the universe more so than the single FSN VN. Don't get me wrong it is a really good story (not well written in some places), but enough of the Fate milking. I for one like to see the universe expand and contribute to the other unique story TYPEMOON has brought us. With the single release of FSN in the west this will be just be more of an excuse to for the next Fate Whatever. Rumor is Mahou Tsukai no Yoro, TYPEMOON's latest 2012 release, didn't do so well and the production for the planned 2nd and 3rd installments is non existent due to no interest. To me, it seems like they just stopped caring for it at some point then finished it. The VN is very short ~10 hours, no voices (both way below the standard of an ordinary eroge, multiple delays... I think they just saw more money in Fate stuff they didn't bother much with it. Well hopefully the new Tsukihime will help them. I ran off into a tangent. Anyway, I supported Muv Luv because I see my contribution will help that company expand their universe and I will reep the benefits. If I donated to TYPEMOON, they will see it as producing more Fate stuff and nothing else. I fell in love for TYPEMOON for their unique plots, settings, and stories in their core works. I am tired of seeing Fate and another way to tell the same story. They have a universe at their disposile, hell they had it before the company existed in 2003. They can do but for reason somewhat eluding me they wont do anything with that universe. They have the potential and the talent but its not being used, and that really disappoints me.
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