General Pre-launch Discussion

[robbaylis79]

Voyager is now a 'club membership' that allows you to buy their products. It is no longer an incentive to get the puzzles cheaper or in advance of standard buyers. We are the only buyers now and there is only 1 price. I dont think its good business sense to limit the supply incase the demand becomes higher further down the line. Then again, its not my business so its not for me to judge.
Ill be happy enough to just see the puzzles come at regular intervals and not wait many years to own the whole collection. What does worry me is what someone else mentioned, what about inflation and other rising costs over the years. You cant be expected to pay more than the set £100 for each puzzle after we have paid the 'Voyager Status' which stated that this would never be the case

[TheJuggler]

From what I've gathered, one of the main reasons the Mercury has taken this long is due to everything else Chris was juggling at the time and that's only from what has been shared via the forum. Despite it being a huge workload for one person, who is to say that he isn't able to blast through more than 2 or 3 puzzles of this type per year for the R2 series? I have no idea either way and this is definitely optimism though perhaps the aim is to have a manageable number for each puzzle so that he doesn't have to go down the "1 puzzle per year" route this time.

Based on the last several years, I think the last several months seem sadly representative of the challenges Chris has constantly. Please don't take that as any slight on Chris. Life happens, I know that all too well. Sadly when your only source of income is this business, life happening makes life difficult.

If we know that work has already been done on later puzzles in this series, is it too outrageous to think that perhaps most of the work has been planned out already or placed into a tentative sort of schedule so that they will be able to release enough puzzles over the next year and earn what they need to? I also have no idea how much supplies cost for the R2s though let's say Chris is capable of pumping out the first 5 in a year. That's already looking way better as far as the math goes - and perhaps they now have a secondary source of income so that it isn't just about how much the Mercury or Venus bring in...??? I have no idea. These are all simply ideas.

I'd say I find this very hard to believe. Not to mention that how many people out there can drop 500GBP on puzzles in a year. 100 every 2.5 months is a lot for many people. Not everyone has a large budget, and even with the quality, it's not an insubstantial outlay

We all have very little information to build off of at this point so who knows what they have in mind or how they want to be doing things. We can always ask! Either way, I don't imagine Chris and Sophie would have overlooked something as significant as only bringing in 10,000GBP over a year

I do.

We'll find out soon enough though.

That we will. I keep my fingers crossed for positive news.

[Auroch]

That's another part of why I hope this is not a long, drawn-out series. I mean, realistically who wants to be getting the last R2 puzzle ten years from now? If that's how it is then fine with me though I'm more drawn to thinking it won't take that long. In the event inflation rapidly becomes more and more of an issue specifically for later puzzles in the R2 series, they may just have to settle with spending more and making a little less.

Either way, I'm not concerned. It's a learning experience for everyone involved. Both creators and buyers.

Every different business approach that Chris and Sophie try out is just more and more experience that will help them shape the company. I'm just glad everyone hear is honest and straightforward because that is a huge advantage for them and very quickly shows how people react to the waters they are testing

[Auroch]

I believe part of what I said is being misunderstood.

Just because more puzzles are produced in a year as opposed to only one per year doesn't mean everyone suddenly has to be dropping hundreds in such a short time to "keep up". It now sounds like those who have the VS are pretty much guaranteed to get their R2s. If 100 ends up being the absolute limit, and each customer can only buy one of each puzzle and no one outside of the Voyager group can buy them then even if someone can't get the latest puzzle right away - who else is going to buy it?

More puzzles per year could mean that people can buy them at whatever pace is reasonable and comfortable to them without having to wait an entire year and it could very well mean that Chris doesn't just bring in 10,000 GBP in a single year which I still don't imagine him overlooking when he has bills to pay, food to buy, supplies to buy, etc. Then again, I'm not pretending to know Chris personally and perhaps some people know things that I am unaware of though I'm hoping the average person knows how much they earn in a year and how much they spend.

[nos6074]

Interesting points.. but we can all speculate until we turn blue... I for one am just glad that we have all purchased the status to basically be guaranteed a purchase if we want it. Just to throw this out there take the Popplocks for example. Only a small amount are ever made of each one and when they are released if you dont happen to be lucky enough to get one you may never be able to. And we really dont know what the scale or time frame for the R2's is going to be.

[Auroch]

Interesting points.. but we can all speculate until we turn blue... I for one am just glad that we have all purchased the status to basically be guaranteed a purchase if we want it. Just to throw this out there take the Popplocks for example. Only a small amount are ever made of each one and when they are released if you dont happen to be lucky enough to get one you may never be able to. And we really dont know what the scale or time frame for the R2's is going to be.

I totally agree with you, nos6074:) It's a privilege and I'm very thankful for this.

[nos6074]

well guys looks like its just the elite few

[Orko]

Yes,

And who knows, maybe we can all puzzle with the mercury soon.

[Auroch]

This is definitely a super-exciting time!

[halfbake69]

I Will be exite when i See it since i ordered in march