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Ex-GameTrailers staff announce new project EasyAllies

farisr

Member
Whats the difference between the "kickstarter" and subscribing to their Twich?
The patreon directly adds to the total for the goals reached and the funding amounts can vary based on what you want. The twitch subscription is set to $5 and will be something extra they get on the side. If you're interested in any of the higher goals, like Damiani's new show, or more retrospectives, it's better to pledge $5 (or more) on patreon as it counts towards that goal rather than $5 on twitch.
 

Piers

Member
Really concerned over using Patreon since, I mean, can't subscribers drop off? That'd mean cutting back on content, which then causes people to loose interest. Death spiral.
If it's short-term, and they're looking to source financing from more reliable means asap, cool. But I can see this collapsing in on itself after the honeymoon hype rather quickly.
 

Hasney

Member
Really concerned over using Patreon since, I mean, can't subscribers drop off? That'd mean cutting back on content, which then causes people to loose interest. Death spiral.
If it's short-term, and they're looking to source financing from more reliable means asap, cool. But I can see this collapsing in on itself after the honeymoon hype rather quickly.

Are there any examples of this happening? You can't lock people into a contract to be funded for things like this, so I don't know what else they could do. Advertisers don't pay enough and people adblock even if they did.
 

farisr

Member
Really concerned over using Patreon since, I mean, can't subscribers drop off? That'd mean cutting back on content, which then causes people to loose interest. Death spiral.
If it's short-term, and they're looking to source financing from more reliable means asap, cool. But I can see this collapsing in on itself after the honeymoon hype rather quickly.
I do see whatever the patreon figure ends up being at the end of the day, dropping over time. But hoperfully that will be mitigated by new people discovering their content and contributing to the patreon as well and not getting caught up in the hype. I'm sure there are people who have put up pledges higher than they really can afford consistently, so a drop off is inevitable. But I don't think it's going to be a death spiral or anything like that, especially if they leverage their initial popularity to get marketing deals, and do merchandising (which they've already mentioned they're doing).
 

jbluzb

Member
I was a happy at 10k but 20k if sustainable will be amazing. I think that the audience that gametrailers have, are at 25 and up which have disposable income that can support $5 to $10 a month. The YouTube comments when gametrailers was up was also more grounded as YouTube comments can be.
 

dex3108

Member
Really concerned over using Patreon since, I mean, can't subscribers drop off? That'd mean cutting back on content, which then causes people to loose interest. Death spiral.
If it's short-term, and they're looking to source financing from more reliable means asap, cool. But I can see this collapsing in on itself after the honeymoon hype rather quickly.

If they are smart (and i think they are) as soon as they start they will have additional sources of income. That includes merch, paid promos (there is nothing bad doing those in right way), affiliate links for Amazon for example, before/after show ads, Twitch subs...
 
Holy Shit, the Patreon is really taking off. It was at $6K when I went to bed, now over $15K.

Going to put my money where my mouth is and support them like I said I would. Pledge inbound.
 

Ulldog

Member
How likely is it that they will hit 20k? has anybody checked by how much it is increasing per hour?

I'd say it's pretty likely. The west coast hasn't really woken up yet, and not everyone checks gaf/twitter/yotube everyday.
 

Vinc

Member
Just speaking for myself here, but I definitely wouldn't drop my Patreon contribution for as long as they keep making content. Sure, it sounds risky, but it's basically the same risk of losing viewership over time. I hope they can be and remain successful for a long long time.
 

Hasney

Member
How likely is it that they will hit 20k? has anybody checked by how much it is increasing per hour?

It's slowed down, but it's still going up. I expect it to go up again when the stream starts, and when people start finishing work/school. 20k by the end of the day is amazingly possible.
 
Here's the thing though, Kinda Funny is working off over 60,000 a month on Patreon AND sponsor deals / ads and they're making just enough to keep their company going with a small staff of 4 people. That means EZA will likely need more than that for them to commit full time. I hope that can happen, but I think it'll take more time.

But there's, like, so much you don't know about their financial lives. Is Colin still paying his student loans? Does Nick own or rent his house? A bunch of stuff like that that can impact how much they're making and how much EZA is going to make--or how much either side needs to live comfortably. You just don't know.
 

takoyaki

Member
I hope they get a new logo design ASAP.

how about

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/jk, but Eazy-E was the first thing that popped into my head when I saw their logo
 

LeleSocho

Banned
Man that is an ugly name/logo combo but sincerely i couldn't care less as long as i have my weekly podcast, it is the only thing i need from them anything more is extra
 

Bluenoser

Member
You're right, and I shouldn't have phrased it that way as I know they're not exactly struggling, but I do remember Greg saying they couldn't add someone on staff for example. But honestly, I'm pretty much just guessing and have no idea how much it would cost to get them all on board full time. I hope it can happen though!

To me that's like a professional athlete saying 10 mil per year is not enough. It's all about context, and responsibility with money. No way in hell they were making anywhere near 10k per year at IGN. These guys are doing well.
 

Vinc

Member
But there's, like, so much you don't know about their financial lives. Is Colin still paying his student loans? Does Nick own or rent his house? A bunch of stuff like that that can impact how much they're making and how much EZA is going to make--or how much either side needs to live comfortably. You just don't know.

I basically think it would be amazing for them if they could afford paying the whole staff the salary they used to get at Defy with the same benefits. That would then give them more control over their own destiny and more possibility for growth in the future. That would be a good starting point. But we don't know how much they were making a year and I honestly don't want to speculate either. I wonder how much they were expecting to make with this, but I genuinely think the 50k goal is attainable.
 
That sounds like bullshit, honestly. 60k a month and ads/sponsors is plenty of money to support 4-5 people.

Just to quote Galactic Mouse

A couple things on Kinda Funny...

- They have 5 staff (Greg, Colin, Nick, Tim, & Kevin)
- At least two of them seem to travel to every big convention. Travel isn't cheap and it's not necessarily a requirement for EzA's success.
- Most importantly, though...I don't think they've given the impression that they're struggling these days. They were definitely projecting a lot of fear a year ago when they left IGN since they didn't have that security anymore, but they've said a few times now that Patreon money is just a portion of their income and they're doing just fine and are very optimistic about their growth potential for the future.

Also, the fact that Patreon takes 8% of their revenue, as well as additional taxes. Patreon is not tax free, it's money you're taking in with the promise of delivering a product. How it's taxed is unknown, but remember, you're not funding the KF members directly, you're funding a company in which payroll is only one of the many expenses.

You're also making a lot of assumptions on each member's respective financial situation which is all relative. Yeah they may have said they're secure, but we don't how "secure" that is IYGM.

It is bullshit

Kf themselves have recently said they're doing great financially

No it's not bullshit. And yes, they are financially secure. I don't ever remember them saying "great" (so perhaps a source would be appreciated), but it's all relative. (See post above).
 

Vinc

Member
No mention of a new show from Bosman on the Patreon...

I like a lot of the GT stuff, but The Final Bosman is the thing I miss the most.

First thing I noticed. No Bosman show, no support.

The show (and his podcast) are both coming! They're just not a stretch goal on Patreon. Assume the Patreon money just helps with the production values of the show, but it's happening regardless. Kyle clarified this on twitter, and said he was hoping to have the first new Bosman episode up this week.
 

Bluenoser

Member
Just to quote Galactic Mouse



Also, the fact that Patreon takes 8% of their revenue, as well as additional taxes. You're also making a lot of assumptions on each member's financial situation.



No it's not; you have to remember it's all relative too. See post above.

The number shown on their Patreon page is after these expenses are removed. This is a true estimate of how much the content creator is being given. In reality it's much more when you include Patreon's cut, and the admin fees, etc.
 

SPAW

Member
It's slowed down, but it's still going up. I expect it to go up again when the stream starts, and when people start finishing work/school. 20k by the end of the day is amazingly possible.

that sounds comforting. It makes me really happy to think that we might be getting pop fiction back...
 
The number shown on their Patreon page is after these expenses are removed. This is a true estimate of how much the content creator is being given. In reality it's much more when you include Patreon's cut, and the admin fees, etc.

Oh really, I never actually knew that. Thanks for the info. Do Patreon say that in their ToS or something. or how did you know?
 
I am THRILLED to have the opportunity to support this group. Also glad that Bosman clarified his "casual Bosman" will be hosted on EZA channel as well.

Only concern is the exclusive early podcast access. I will obviously be supporting them on Patreon and will get the early access, but I listen to podcasts all day at work. While the video is great, I can't say i've ever watched a GT Time because i've always just listened to them at work. Also, video drains my lame data cap so running it while at work is a no go. I download podcasts on my home wifi to avoid eating away at my data.

Listening to news-ish types of podcasts with dated information is kind of a huge drawback to me.

My suggestion i'll throw out into the ether...GT Time-ish new podcast upload to itunes same day as recorded (same as they did at GT) and have podcast 2 be the one that is exclusive early as that deals with less time sensitive material.
 

Bluenoser

Member
Just out of curiosity, what would you estimate to be a "good enough" yearly salary for living in LA?

I'm curious of that too. GT guys are in LA, but KF is in San Francisco, where it's expensive as fuck to live. That's probably why Greg and Colin are probably still living in a shared apartment like college kids - keep living expenses to a minimum.
 
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