Metazoo Collapsed | Speed Rants
IMPORTANT ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Did some reading and listening and here are some of the SPECIFIC issues that we know (and/or are strong allegations) that Metazoo was facing.
1. They owed players money. While this is not a specific TCG problem, it is a problem that I have spoken to many times. If you have to LITERALLY PAY people to PLAY your GAME, you made a BAD GAME. Don't do cash prizes EVER. The second I see a new card game with cash prizing, I know that game is dead on arrival. NEVER DO THIS. (See Artifact from Valve)
2. Allegedly they owe thier printer money. This is exactly one of the issues that I talked about in the video. If you don't have large minimum orders, you won't owe money. If you print on demand, you won't ever get behind. If you aren't counting on speculating on your own product, you don't have to gamble. DO NOT MAKE A TCG.
3. Allegedly they owe Sanrio (Hello Kitty) money. Again, if you don't have to bet the horse itself on a risk collab to stay afloat, you can keep racing. If you, as an indie dev, ever do a collaboration product make sure it's a revenue split. Never pay up front for an IP unless you can afford it out of pocket. Duh.
4. There are many allegations of the creators, Mike and Andy, doing really shady stuff. Like I alluded too in the video. All of it shows that these guys loved pushing snake oil and artificial scarcity and all that jazz. You'll have a much easier time staying in business if you're nice to people. So give that a shot.
Metazoo is dead and I'm going to scream about it.
Do not expect insightful discussion. I'm ranting.
Read up on Metazoo being shifty AF here: comicbook.com/gaming/amp/news/metazoo-games-shuts-down-trading-card-game/