So I have looked at this game on many different YouTube channels and I have to say I can't wait to get my hands on it. But funds my be low at the time of release. Any idea if the 30,000 units Riot has produced will run out in the first week? Also if they do what do you think the wait would be, before more can be produced and shipped?
They will have 15000 available on the 13th, and another 15000 available in December. If they sell out of the first 15000, they will do preorders for the next 15000. If those sell out, they will get more by late spring. They have no plans on making this a limited run - they will print them as long as people are interested in buying.
Hard to know whether it will sell out fast or not. Typical board game runs are from 2000 to 5000, so this is a massive print run. But there are a lot of LoL players who wouldn't normally buy board games that might buy this one.
30,000 units is a LOT.
If you look at one of the biggest, most "mainstream" board game makers right now, Cool Mini or Not, their games get around 20,000 backers on Kickstarter then go to retail where they sell some amount of copies.
Basically 30,000 copies of MvM is equivalent to what a company who is expecting their game to be REALLY popular would order. I could easily see the first wave selling out and probably the second considering the amount of LoL players who will buy it just because it's connected to the game.
Also a factor to consider is how much value there seems to be in the box. It's only $75 and it contains quite a few miniatures, I wouldn't be surprised if subsequent runs cost more.
As for how long it would take to get more units in stock, it's about a month to ship freight from China to the US by boat. Various other hurdles like customs can add anywhere from a few weeks to two months so it all depends on when Riot orders it. If they order more as soon as the second wave sells out in December you're probably looking at March before you could get a copy in your hands. Be aware however that any subsequent print run isn't going to be anywhere near the size of the first so if demand is still fairly high you might have trouble getting one then as well.
While Riot probably doesn't intend to make this game a limited edition sort of thing there will come a point where there is still demand but not enough demand to make it cost effective to keep making the game. When that happens is anyone's guess but if one wanted to speculate on a game, this might not be a bad one to look at long term.
Sorry if this question has been answered somewhere else but is Riot limiting this to one copy per person?
I ask because what's to keep aftermarket sellers from purchasing 100s of units at one time to inflate the price on the secondary market?
When you add these unscrupulous people to the mix, that 30000 doesn't seem as big. Between the 1000s of board gamers who know this is a great deal and the millions of League of Legends players that might want a part of the Riot legacy (sort of like a collector's edition) I can totally see this selling out in hours. Now add in the scalpers, see what I mean.
And they will have buyers that will pay more that won't want to wait until December or next year for reprints, lots of them. I have a feeling we'll be ever chasing this carrot dangling in front of us as the cycle of reprints come out and the resellers gobbling them up.
Yes, they are limiting purchases to one game per person.
