🏆 With more than 6 million euros raised, the innovative collectible card game Altered has just broken records on Kickstarter and promises to shake up the TCG market..
Record funding changes on top of TCG on Kickstarter
After easily surpassing $1 million on its first day on Kickstarter, the innovative and disruptive changing trading card game (TCG) has become the most funded trading card game ever on the site. Crowdfunding. And one of the highest funded board games, period. See the top 5 below.
Altered is the brand new Equinox Studios flagship game, bringing together solid industry experience and TCG expertise behind its inaugural release. The new founding team combines former head of Libelud Studios, Dixit, and Mysterium creator, Regis Bonesi, with high-profile Magic: The Gathering players – including former world champions – and former Hearthstone developers from Blizzard.
Regis Bonesi presented a distinct vision of the contemporary TCG that clearly resonated with fans throughout the campaign. The altered games include a unique back-and-forth mechanic that aims to… bring people together rather than minimize their life issues.
The game also has a cheerful and inclusive art style that contrasts with other games with darker themes (yes, Magic, I’m talking about you). But it must be recognized that it is the digital aspect that has sparked the interest.
A unique approach to revolutionize card collecting
Altered’s original universe and non-combat racing gameplay help TCG compete with industry heavyweights such as MTG, Pokemon, Disney’s Lorca, and this year’s Star Wars: Unlimited. But it’s its revolutionary approach to adding cards to your library that sets it apart. Each physical card—taken from a random booster pack, as with classic TCGs—carries a QR code that, once scanned with the game’s companion app, credits the player with ownership.
The key element here is that once a player has at least one copy of the card, he or she can order as many additional copies as desired, printed on demand and shipped by Equinox for $1 per card, plus shipping.
The goal is to minimize the cost of endlessly opening booster packs to find enough duplicates to complete your deck, or paying exorbitant prices on the secondary market. In other words, basically, it is printed on demand to complete your collection. And without breaking the bank!
A digital secondary market to virtually trade your cards
However, there will still be a secondary market, in which players will be able to digitally exchange ownership of their cards with others through the app itself, turning off the ability to print them unless they register on another copy. Physical cards don’t rely on an app to play, so you can print whatever you want and then resell them, but you’ll need to prove ownership for an official tournament.
In addition to individual cards, each €4 booster pack can include a “foil” that unlocks the ability to print a holographic version of a card already in a player’s collection. These foils can also be swapped before applying to a particular card.
A winning combo of addictive gameplay and creative universe
The combination of the revolutionary approach to collecting, the engaging gameplay – which we were able to test at Vichy last year – and the colorful illustrations that evoke the various heroes and heroines of League of Legends, clearly won over people. Proof with surprising statistics. Altered’s latest Kickstarter campaign closed on February 29, raising 6.2 million euros (or roughly 6,729,790 USD) from nearly 15,000 backers.
This impressive total makes Altered the most successful Kickstarter campaign in the platform’s history for a collectible card game. That puts it in the top 5 biggest board game Kickstarter successes, ahead of other board game projects like Dark Souls board game, Marvel United, and Nemesis.
Following this successful crowdfunding, Altered will be released on August 26 with (very) much fanfare. But hey, with nearly 7 million raised and 14,997 supporters, will there still be anyone to buy it (I think it’s the one: yes!).
Thanks to its innovative approach, Altered Magic can well surpass the giants of the field like Lorcana, Pokemon and others.
And we’re not going to hide it. The success of the campaign is also good news for Asmodee, which is working with Equinox to expand its global sales and distribution. Recently acquired by Embracer for over $3.1 billion, Asmodee is one of the world’s largest distributors of board games.
It is also one of the few positive positions in Embracer’s recent financial reports. And this, mostly thanks to JCC! So, with this record, Asmodee / Embracer has something to break out the champagne for!
With such fundraising and such enthusiasm, there is no doubt that Altered is likely to make a splash in the small world of TCGs! It is scheduled for release in August!
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Article written by PEF, aka Pierre-Francois for short. The undisputed master of board games that lives on forever. PEF got into complex strategy games as soon as he could get his hands on a die. His favorite is building an empire and plotting against opponents while sipping herbal tea. Motto: “If a game lasts less than two hours, it’s a coffee break!” »
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