AwesomeJapan - postmortem performance

[fr33sty13]

Awesome Japan did a really bad job in my opinion. From the start they appeared very amateur. I'm a huge fan and when I first saw the kickstartrr page I was almost immediately turned off. Firstly the intro video footage of the game I thought was a parody or something. They could have put a bit more effort into it? I can easily see how lame it would look to new people. Bad animation, bad acting (monotone yeah) and uninformative narrative. It was pointless.

Then there's the rewards, which were so lame to begin with. Most people would be around the 30-150 tier and it took days to get suitable rewards for that category. The grammatical mistakes, ugh. I just don't understand? If they took 5 seconds to at least copy into MS Word or proof read it, it would have made them look much more professional yet they made some really silly mistakes. This company's sole purpose is to be a clear communicator and organiser so how did they screw it up?

The first twitch was the most awkward and cringy interview I have ever seen broadcasted. Some of the questions asked were blatantly scripted, there was no real organization. The red shirt guy made what was supposed to be a concise QnA into a comical, cringe worthy convoluted piece of crap that I've ever had the displeasure of watching. I was rethinking at this stage about the pledge. The video quality and the quality of the content was so fricken amateur.

Then the last twitch, which was severely delayed at such a critical time. You'd think they would test everything well before. The updates and feedback was anticlimactic. Reaching all those goals and hardly any acknowledgement. Lots of uncertainty and questions left unanswered, unupdated FAQs.

While I'm very happy with the final outcome. I am left with a bitter feeling that I can't get over. Had they presented the whole campaign in a professional, informative manner from the start, how much better we would have done. First impressions matter the most in these campaigns and had it not been for the community I truly believe this would have been a disaster. Still today there has been no video or updates congratulating and thanking everyone. No word about PayPal.

Just my 2 cents.

[Dragon St.]

At this point I don't care. It's past (thank God!).
We've had the best kickstarter campaign and now we can focus on the actual game content and not some marketing campaign.

What if they get to run the long term funding through Paypal? It will be a disaster. The coming 6 months will be crucial for funding, while at the same time the development team will have little to show. Marketing and transparency in communication will continue to play an important role. Things AJ can't be trusted with.

[Riku Rose]

At this point I don't care. It's past (thank God!).
We've had the best kickstarter campaign and now we can focus on the actual game content and not some marketing campaign.

If they're in charge of sending out all the rewards do you really think people are getting the game on time? I can picture in a few years the game being available to buy and everyone who pledged will be without their copy. It will be a combination of shocking and hilarious to watch the meltdown.

If they're in charge of that stuff I seriously think we haven't seen the tip of the iceberg of hate for Awesome Japan.

[Himuro]

People said AJ couldn't be trusted with charging us because they'd ruin things because they were "taking the weekend" off but they ended up charging us yesterday. The last Twitch stream was a success despite the power outage, AJ turned it around after the Twitch stream for the most part. Even I, one of AJ's biggest critics on this forum is giving them slack because they showed that they up to stepping up to the plate. Despite all of this evidence, you guys still are giving AJ a hard time. Get over it.

[denile]

The campaign was not good. PR was poor.

And yet, we will; still get Shenmue 3.

[code l name]

At this point I don't care. It's past (thank God!).
We've had the best kickstarter campaign and now we can focus on the actual game content and not some marketing campaign.

What if they get to run the long term funding through Paypal? It will be a disaster. The coming 6 months will be crucial for funding, while at the same time the development team will have little to show. Marketing and transparency in communication will continue to play an important role. Things AJ can't be trusted with.

Great post. I really hope they are able to build enough capacity within Ysnet to run this by themselves but I frankly don't expect communication to be a whole lot better. Getting a community manager to channel the passion and dedication of the fanbase would be a good start.

The last Twitch stream was a success despite the power outage, AJ turned it around after the Twitch stream for the most part. Even I, one of AJ's biggest critics on this forum is giving them slack because they showed that they up to stepping up to the plate.

What is your definition of success regarding the Twitch stream? The fact even after a catastrophic first Twitch stream they still had technical problems and there was echo for the first 10-15 minutes of the stream. The supposed power outage was magnified by a computer problem they had on their end. During fan segment the audio wasn't working. Instead of pitching the last few higher tier items they spent 30 minutes talking about a public poll they took, the results which were released weeks earlier.

You're a good poster but tell me how exactly did AJ step it up. Seriously what ideas did they implement (Which the community didn't pester and ask for repeatedly) did they include in the KS campaign?

The campaign was not good. PR was poor.

And yet, we will; still get Shenmue 3.

I don't know if the PR was poor, we did break records but I think it's very apparent the campaign didn't come close to realizing its full potential due to mismanagement.

[Dragon St.]

People said AJ couldn't be trusted with charging us because they'd ruin things because they were "taking the weekend" off but they ended up charging us yesterday. The last Twitch stream was a success despite the power outage, AJ turned it around after the Twitch stream for the most part. Even I, one of AJ's biggest critics on this forum is giving them slack because they showed that they up to stepping up to the plate. Despite all of this evidence, you guys still are giving AJ a hard time. Get over it.

Uhh, no. The charging process is automatically handled by Kickstarter. AJ has nothing to do with this. They are taking the weekend off, again. They will write their 5 minute thank you message on Monday.

And although the second stream was a lot better, it did not make much sense to me to explain the rewards 20 minutes before the end (especially the busts that were priced way too low and were long gone). And presenting the poll results they already published in an update before?

[Snakiest]

It is a national holiday this Monday, don't expect much from them until Tuesday. -)

In Yu we trust.

[joka]

I'm not sure what the benefit is in reaping over AJ's performance tbh.

I mean are they definitely going to be involved in any of the PayPal funding? Nothing has been announced as yet except it that it will be happening right?
the delay in further details could be that AJ aren't actually going to be involved...

Although I don't disagree with the points in the OP but many of them wouldn't have been down to AJ themselves and as I've mentioned previously a lot of the reaction is a case of shooting the messenger imo.

People need to think back to the position we were all in pre-E3... I get the criticisms come from the passion for the series and wanting the absolute best but let's just focus on making the most of whatever is next in this glorious journey towards Shenmue 3 being released- something many of us had given up on really!

[Sh3ppy]

I agree on a lot of points made by people who aren't happy with AJ but having missed the red shirt debacle, I can only base my opinion regarding the stream on the final day. The power outage & echo doesn't by itself condemn them (in my head), as these things can happen to even the largest companies. In fact Apple's iPhone 6 keynote was a mess including echoing & constant cutouts. They learned and it hasn't happened since. One can only hope AJ will learn from their mistakes & are able to up their game.

[shredingskin]

even if it was managed like bloodstained i don't think the difference in money at the end would have been very different.

[Mystere]

Guys, I've been as vocal and cynical a critic of AJ as anyone throughout the Kickstarter. All the OP's (and others') points are completely valid and I could probably add a few of my own. But, it's like I said earlier: If you buy a Casio watch, don't expect a Rolex. YsNet hired a no-name company with a track record that's so-so at best, probably due to budget constraints. AJ were in over their heads and underwent a baptism of fire from the fans.

In AJ's defense, they learned from (and partly compensated for) their initial performance, but I think Suzuki choosing AJ was symptomatic of the cash-strapped nature of the Shenmue III project and dare I say it, Suzuki's own judgement on the promotional front. Yu Suzuki is a genius game designer, but he produced Shenmue I and II under Sega, a multinational company with dedicated PR and Advertising sections. Suzuki presumably didn't have to deal with that stuff, so we can't exactly blame him for lacking a promotional instinct in choosing AJ, or AJ for being chosen.

Re Paypal; Cedric and Joel Tess have both commented re implementing PayPal ASAP so it'll be implemented - again, if not as quickly as we'd like, but we'll make the $10M.

Shenmue III is happening. Honestly, I still find that incredible. Not only that, but it's broken world records and amassed a huge amount of funding already. We have 2 years to fund via Paypal and we'll make it. We're all fans here and it's you guys' right to navel-gaze right now if you choose to, and micro-analyze how everything could've been better, but I think this month was amazing.

[Himuro]

What is your definition of success regarding the Twitch stream? The fact even after a catastrophic first Twitch stream they still had technical problems and there was echo for the first 10-15 minutes of the stream. The supposed power outage was magnified by a computer problem they had on their end. During fan segment the audio wasn't working. Instead of pitching the last few higher tier items they spent 30 minutes talking about a public poll they took, the results which were released weeks earlier.

You're a good poster but tell me how exactly did AJ step it up. Seriously what ideas did they implement (Which the community didn't pester and ask for repeatedly) did they include in the KS campaign?

AJ went from not communicating with the community to actively doing things like announcing physical ps4 on the same date 30 on the 3rd. They really starting to pick up the slack, and they REALLY TRIED and worked really hard. They didn't do a great job, but they still tried to right the ship.

[Snakiest]

They deserve a tap on the shoulder for putting their best effort into acting on the advice from the community, but that doesn't absolve them from being incompetent. I wish they had had that learning experience with another project, not the revival of a fan favorite classic 14 years after its untimely death. Sure, it is over, but no way they are getting my gratitude. They should be thanking the community, really, and in an ideal world, the community would have got a cut - if only to invest in the hosting of their sites and forums. -)

In Yu we trust.

[Himuro]

They deserve a tap on the shoulder for putting their best effort into acting on the advice from the community, but that doesn't absolve them from being incompetent. I wish they had had that learning experience with another project, not the revival of a fan favorite classic 14 years after its untimely death. Sure, it is over, but no way they are getting my gratitude. They should be thanking the community, really, and in an ideal world, the community would have got a cut - if only to invest in the hosting of their sites and forums. -)

In Yu we trust.

I'm not saying they weren't incompetent. I'm just saying that making bullet lists and moaning about the incompetence feels pointless now that we've made 6.3 million dollars.