The Doom That Came to Atlantic City. Probably the best looking Kickstarter that I didn't back. Great art. Pewter minis. Enthusiastic project creator. A stroke job over a year long. Yes, this has it all.
On July 23, 2013, Chevalier canceled the project. “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," he explained. The post continued:
Suffice to say that I never gave up and always intended to get this project printed. My intentions have always been good and I've struggled with this greatly. I've spent a large amount of time pitching investors, begging banks for loans and seeking other sources of funding to fix this. Sadly I found no takers."
FTC lawyers claim that in reality, Chevalier never hired artists and "instead used the consumers’ funds for miscellaneous personal equipment, rent for a personal residence, and licenses for a separate project."
The settlement order imposes a $111,793.71 judgment, but it's suspended due to Chevalier's inability to pay. "The full amount will become due immediately if he is found to have misrepresented his financial condition," the FTC writes in today's statement on the case.Full article here
Can you get blood from a stone? Money from one that can't manage his own money, let alone that of others?
There are well deserving Kickstarters, but one needs to do their due diligence before backing the next shiney. That shine may just be obscuring a pile of shit and empty promises.
Hat tip to +Vincent Florio
Post judgment collection is it's own filthy area of law. I don't know how the FTC does it, but there's nothing easy about getting paid by the broke.
ReplyDeleteYou should have mentioned that the backers did get the game, just not from Chevalier. The article doesn't say whether the miniatures were included, though.
ReplyDeleteDidn't get our pewter, though. Cryptozoic did a great thing picking up and delivering, but this dipshit still owes me two sets of pewter figures.
DeleteI think I just need to type my nigh-identical response to your Kickstarter-Gone_Wrong posts and just paste it in every single time.
ReplyDeleteBacked Reaper. Backed Kevin Crawford. Unlikely to back anyone else, ever.
Mike Nystul better just move to a country with no extradition treaty with the U.S. . . .and John Adams better get his shit together soon. . .
ReplyDeleteThere's nothing wrong with building profits and expansion plans into a kickstarter but that should be explicit and/or come along with fufilment of the kickstarter.
ReplyDeletewhy are so many people bad at the math that says: if they have to pay contractors $4000.00, printing and shipping willcost $6000.00 thenthey cant spend 6000.00 ahead of time on something else.
Profits and expansion plans _should_ be built into a Kickstarter. First, I want to see them in a _better_ position for their next project, Kickstarter or not. Second, it helps provide a buffer in case things go wrong.
DeleteThis made the NY Post business section today. Way to get out ahead of the story !! As a semi regular backer of Kickstarter content , I always enjoy your updates on various projects.
ReplyDeleteThere's nothing wrong with building profits and expansion plans into a kickstarter but that should be explicit and/or come along with fufilment of the kickstarter.
ReplyDeletewhy are so many people bad at the math that says: if they have to pay contractors $4000.00, printing and shipping willcost $6000.00 thenthey cant spend 6000.00 ahead of time on something else.
I am always shocked by the number of these that essentially include '..and paid his rent...'. Really? Your cunning plan was to pay your rent with kickstarter funds?
ReplyDelete