Despite Easily Being Able To Print In The USA, New Star Realms Conquest Crowdfund Goes Digital Only To Virtue Signal To Tabletop Industry On Tariffs
The people at Wise Wizard Games have always pushed extreme leftist politics at the expense of their products, and now they’re doing so again by announcing an unprecedented move: they will not have a physical set for their new crowdfund but be digital only because of tariffs.
Wise Wizard Games used to be White Wizard Games, a reference to the good-natured Gandalf the White in The Lord of the Rings, as the color white symbolized purity and goodness, also further used in games like Final Fantasy for light and healing magic. However, the company decided several years back that the word “white” was “racist” and changed its name in a strange branding move that had many laughing at the company because of its absurd political virtual signaling that meant nothing in reality.
The company’s founder, Darwin Kastle, is also prone to Facebook rants and blocking anyone who disagrees with him on his extremist politics, something that has gotten them into controversy over the years as they’ve made it clear conservatives are not welcome in the Star Realms sphere like many other board game companies have done over the years to their own detriment.
Despite this, the company has had several successful crowdfunds in Star Realms, a game with Magic: The Gathering lite mechanics in a deckbuilder that’s very accessible both from a gameplay and from their space theming perspective where they’ve managed to avoid much of the real world politics plaguing the industry and even their own company. Each crowdfund usually comes with a physical play set of cards with mechanical twists on the original game, which the company has made hundreds of thousands of dollars on in prior campaign iterations.
Now, Wise Wizards Games issued a statement on their new Gamefound campaign page for Star Realms Conquest to virtue signal about Donald Trump’s tariffs along with the rest of the industry.
They posted:
To avoid any tariff related complications, this project will be for digital product only. Backers will get to play these new sets early in the Star Realms Digital App! We will also offer Legend Accounts on Stretch Pay!
Hi Everyone!
BIG NEWS: this project will be digital only, and backers will get to play with these new sets RIGHT AWAY in the Star Realms App!!!
This raises questions immediately as to if the development is done, and the game is ready to play, why even crowdfund to begin with? The pre-ordering system matters for how many sets of cards need to be printed, but for an app that is already in existence, adding cards that already seem to be done doesn’t seem to warrant a crowdfund.
The entire idea makes it pointless to do a crowdfund for backers and obviously will hurt the bottom line of the company, which has built massive crowdfunds in the past for their physical sets. With a card game like Star Realms, it’s simple to print in the USA because the components most companies rely on from China are plastic bits and dice—something not involved in a Star Realms game. Their posting about not having a physical version seems to be solely a political move, or perhaps it’s a move out of company laziness.
The game was also clearly designed for print as the preview images show foil “packs” and game box art that would have been designed for a physical product.
Wise Wizard Games has been notorious, like CMON before it, for using new crowdfunds to pay for the last ones, with unfulfilled projects building pretty often. One Star Realms Fan told Fandom Pulse, “I've been more and more reluctant to back WWG crowdfunding lately. Their business model of starting new campaigns before the last one delivers seems unsustainable in the long run."
With the backer base reluctant to pay a premium for a digital product, one wonders what their business sense is in producing this campaign other than trying to squeeze a few dollars immediately from the fan base. With tariffs not complicating potential print at all, it seems more like the company is refusing to print in the USA even though it would easily be an option for them, making this a political statement more than a business one.
With more board game companies like Wise Wizard Games making moves like this, one wonders how long the board game industry will last.
What do you think of Star Realms going digital only to virtue signal about tariffs? Leave a comment and let us know.
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I loved Star Realms back in the day, and Jon's novel in the universe could have spawned an entire series. Too bad about the woke producers.
They won't even get my virtual money.
Plenty of US printers who could satisfy this demand, but slave-wage profit margins are too sweet.
Sad game company can stay sad.