(11-07-2012, 10:29 AM)Dean_P Wrote: I'm coming to the party late, and have little (ok, no...) contact with AP, so take this for what it's worth, but I wonder about the viability of laser printing such a large game. I have heard, and maybe J6S can correct me, that laser printing a sheet is much more expensive than die cutting. EFD retails for $79, KSF for $75. Same number of counters... Saipan has fewer counters (just shy of 500), but is $15 cheaper than EFD.
From a numbers/dollars aspect, I worry that AP is selling each game at a loss but hoping to make it up in volume. If nothing else, it's clear that they're working on paper-thin margins...
Oh, and 300 copies in less than a couple months to me would be a very good sales rate... especially for a "troubled" company like AP
It's clear that laser-cut counters cost more per sheet, how much more I don't know. AP is unable to put together enough cash to pay for a die-cut run and then sit on that inventory while it trickles out. They gain flexibility with laser-cutting but trade-off part of their margin. This is reasonable, I think.
My concern with the 300 copies is based on my belief (perhaps erroneous) that the vast majority of sales occur right when the new game is released. With no evidence whatsoever, I would be willing to bet that something like 80% of total Saipan sales in a three year window would occur in the first 2 months.
Now I may be
completely wrong in which case there's really no need to worry. But my observations of our community structure and my gut tells me the total number of Saipan games in circulation a year from now won't break 600 regardless of how many AP can pay to produce in advance.
