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One of my other hobbies is borad games, especially what are commonly
referred to as "German Games" and wargames. One of the U.S. game
manufacturers, GMT, was having a hard time making ends meeet a few years
ago, because new games weren't selling as well as they had hoped, so they
asked a simple question:
What if the company knew ahead of time that there was a committed interest
in the game, before they committed all those funds? They could produce
exactly the games that their players want!
They came up with the GMT Project 500 list. How it works is that each
quarter they find out which games are designed enough to be close to
production-ready. They then list these games on their website, with a
description of gameplay. Gamers who are interested pre-order the game, but
theri credit cards are not charged. Once 500 orders have been placed (the
number can vary depending on the game) the game goes into production, the
credit cards are charged, and the game is shipped out to those who ordered
it, as well as being put into the catalog for retailers. It's about 12
weeks from the 500th order to shipping. The gamers who preordered it get a
30% discount on the MSRP. If 500 are never ordered, then they take the game
off the list, cancel all the pre-orders and since the credit cards were
never charged there are no refunds to do. More details on the system can be
found here:
http://www.gmtgames.com/p500/gmtp5d.htm
What if LEGO adopted a similar system, especially for Legends? LEGO Direct
gets a list of sets together that they could produce, and determines a
minimum number of sets they need to have pre-ordered to be pretty sure they
will make a profit on the set. A list like (and the set numbers are just
chosen for example, I have no idea what they would need to be):
Galazy Explorer - 2000
Smuggler's Hayride - 500
ElDorado Fortress - 5000
Main Street - 2500
Ambulance - 750
Then when enough orders are placed, LEGO Direct can start producing them.
This would give LEGO Direct pretty good assurances that they will make a
profit on sets, and give fans a chance to make sure they get the sets they
want (To a point). You want ElDorado Fortress, then make sure everyone you
know who likes LEGO orders one. Don't like the Ambulance, that's OK, you
can order the Smuggler's Hayride instead. This also takes care of some of
the complaints from fams of a given theme, that they aren't getting a
Legend. LEGO could have sets from all themes on the list, so that everyone
has a shot, all they have to do is order it.
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