GBP (£)
EUR (€)
The Gamefound Campaign
No need to worry, the crowdfunding campaign for Winds of Exchange went very well! $1,101,183 was pledged in total, that’s insane. There were 6172 backers, plus many people are likely pledging as groups, so there are plenty of people out there eager to play Keyforge. Other people will likely be waiting until the retail release. More on that later. All the stretch goals were also reached, giving those who backed things such as extra packs, unchained decks and token creature boxes.
Process, Printing And Problems
As 2023 began, the pledge manager closed for the final time and the work of getting everyones pledges out started. We got some really cool videos of the printing process (you can find them on Ghost Galaxys Youtube), and news of more people joining the team. Translating the cards into different languages seemed like quite a big challenge, and the Thai translation did unfortunately get cancelled, but the frameworks set up now will help make future expansions much simpler.
By the start of May the first packages were away! Specifically, the pledges for US backers were being delivered first, as those were the easiest to achieve given that they are based in the US. We began to see people talking about their new decks online and everyone got very excited.
USA A-OK
As soon as the first decks made their way into US players hands, things got going quickly. Ghost Galaxy worked with venues across the country to hold several vault tour events and set up regionals. There are even a couple of regionals planned for other countries. Recently news dropped of the second Keyforge convention where the world championship will again be held, with national competitions to qualify. It's all looking very positive over the pond.
Europe & The Rest Of The World
While the US was having a great time however, the rest of the world waited…and waited...and waited…ok, I might be exaggerating with that last one. There were complexities in shipping such custom packages over to Europe, which delayed their departure until July. Then when the packages finally arrived on our shores, they got stuck in customs for several more weeks. (I think my eye was beginning to twitch at this point!). But at last, at the beginning of September, our decks finally began to arrive. I am happy to say my pledge was everything I hoped for and I’m well on the way with analysing my decks and organising some evenings with friends to get the ball rolling. Local stores are again starting to take notice of the game, so fingers crossed, with a bit of enthusiasm from the fanbase, we can get the Keyforge train well and truly back on the rails.
As of speaking I believe the europe release date for retail stock isn’t 100% confirmed, but it should be within the next week or two, fingers crossed.
The Future
So now you know the state of Keyforge in the present…but what about the future? In my next article I’ll dive into the spooky future that is, Grim Reminders…