Friday, January 29, 2016

The death of All Quiet on the Martian Front.

A real shame for those interested in fighting the Martian wars, but hardly a surprise given the well documented difficulties in obtaining promised items and general lack of customer service.
Definately a lesson for future creators within Kickstarter not to get carried away when you see so many people backing and funding your creations.

Let's hope someone can step in to keep some of these ranges in existance.

"We regret to announce that effective January 27th, 2016, Robot Peanut Studios, LLC, and its associated brands, Architects of War and Alien Dungeon have permanently closed their doors.
Our sales plummeted precipitously in the 3rd and 4th quarter of 2015 and never recovered across our online retail operations as well as hobby shop and distributor sales. We could not maintain our business under these conditions and despite a continuing series of sales and marketing efforts, we have been forced to file for bankruptcy. The case has been filed in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania at case number 16-20247. Please contact an attorney if you have any questions.
We set out six years ago to start a company providing exciting and entertaining intellectual property primarily in the analog gaming market. RPS began with miniature games with the intention of expanding to board and digital games. While the All Quiet Kickstarter project brought in significant sales for us, the cost of development, manufacturing, and shipping exceeded the sales numbers and we were relying on sales beyond the Kickstarter in the broader market to carry the costs and expand the game. These sales never materialized in sufficient quantities. It is just that simple - we sold stuff through the Kickstarter that essentially ended up just above cost and then paid for the shipping. All Quiet just didn’t generate enough money for its scale. In addition, our original cost estimates based on quotes and time frame from various vendors Pre-Kickstarter were exceeded, making the business model untenable without retail sales that never materialized.
We are very sorry that it has come to this. Certainly not the outcome we dreamed of when we started the company. To our investors, the Kickstarter supporters and our loyal customers, we’d like to thank you for your support. It has been difficult not communicating during this legal process, but we have had to go through a process and that has been well outside any of our previous experiences.
This will be our last communication. Customer service inquiries will not be answered and there will be no additional communication on Kickstarter. We do not know what the final disposition of All Quiet and or other product brands will be at this time. We have to forfeit our participation in such matters to the court.
Barb and I must move on and find employment and start putting our lives back together. To our friends, investors, vendors, and loyal customers, thank you for helping us try to fulfill our dream and we wish you the best possible future."
Yours Sincerely, Barb and Ernie

11 comments:

  1. That's a damn shame. I got to play AQMF once and had a great time. Honestly though, expensive rule books and pricey minis kept me from spending money on it. I've had enough of that with FOW.

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    1. Ski I understand how creators can get carried away $300K is one large pile of cash, but the constant new add on's and ever more fanciful ideas as the cash racked up, just felt like ego got the better of commercial realities.
      Cheers
      Stu

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    2. yep gona try and pick some of the minis to fill out my armies played with ski and have a lot of the minis managed to get a land giant thou!!! hope to see the game back very soon

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    3. Lets hope so with a better supply chain.

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  2. Frankly there's just too much stuff coming on the market and gamers are flitting from one thing to the next as yet another batch of lovely figures or rules come on the market only to lose interest in short period of time as yet another latest and greatest thing takes their fancy. That said I'm one of the worst offenders.

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    1. Ogilvie I agree, in the case it was hardly surprising 2 years for the first real mini's to arrive. So glad I threatened legal proceedings back in the summer other wise I fear I would have been one of the many with little to show for their support.
      Cheers
      Stu

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    2. Well I'm glad you got your minis Stu. I'm sad that they have closed, but a relatively niche game like this will have limited appeal after the initial sales. All of my friends have now scaled back to a few core rulesets that we know and enjoy and are no longer just buying stuff because it is the latest fad (think Frostgrave).

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    3. Agreed Steve, you can see the appeal of the likes of Lion and Dragon rampant, not mini-dependant and can be used across several periods.
      Cheers
      Stu

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    4. Yep, my Dux Bellorum figures can be used for both Dragon Rampant and Lion Rampant. The forthcoming 'The Pikemen's Lament' units can easily be transposed to Dragon Rampant, as could the 'The Men Who Would Be Kings' from what I've read. So what's not to like?

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  3. Sad really. I'm hoping someone buys the molds for the terrain at least and gets that stuff back on the market.

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