The P500 Program: Overview
Basically, P500 is designed to create a steady cash flow as well as to produce the products that our customers want to buy. As long-time gamers, you guys know all too well that many game companies have come and gone after guessing wrong about a product.
The nature of this beast is that we, as a company, must invest thousands of dollars to conceptualize, develop, record, edit, print, package and distribute a product.
If that product doesn’t explode out of the sales gate when it hits the market, no matter what the reason, the company loses. Have that happen a few times, and the company dies. And, as we’ve seen in this market, we all end up losing sources of new gaming products
Now, Toxic Bag is not a big company with deep pockets (though we’re working on it!), so the consequences we face for guessing wrong on new product ideas can be pretty dire, even fatal. Ever since 1996 when we first released the 20th Century disc, our plan has been to create a product, release it and trust that it will sell…a lot. Even though the positive response you have given us has been overwhelming, and we had more hits than misses, we’ve always felt that there has to be a better way of doing this.
That’s when we found the P500 concept. Many companies in the gaming industry use this system, or something like it, to guarantee that you get the games and products that you want. So what is it? P500 is an advance-order system that allows a company to know ahead of time that there is a definite interest in a product, before they commit all of the time, cash, and resources. Simply put, it allows us to produce exactly the products that y'all want!
P500 allows us to communicate with and hear from our customers on their wants and desires for new products. We can then schedule our releases to get the "most wanted" products turned around and out the door quicker. Essentially, you guys get to determine to a large degree what our future production schedule looks like. That's always been the coolest part of P500; it gives the gamer/hobbyist (you!) a very definite and loud voice in the discussion on which products we produce.
How it works - the nitty-gritty
We are constantly working on new products. We’re always out in the field recording new sounds; air shows, re-enactments, car races, anything that can be used for new sounds. We’re constantly coming up with ideas for new products (How 'bout a disc with a 30-minute zeppelin battle?). When we feel that a product is rounding into shape, (we like the concept and think that you guys will like it) we will price the product and add it to the existing P500 listing, with a (roughly) 25% discounted price to anyone who orders them from the P500 list before the Charge Date (see below). We then make them available to order on the Web Page, and begin to track order numbers for each game. We update the P500 page on a weekly basis, so players who order via the website can track the progress of their ordered games.
Once a product is available to order from the P500 list, you decide whether you want it. If you do, you order it by credit card, and we add your name to the list of buyers. We DO NOT CHARGE YOUR CARD. When we reach 500 buyers, the product has passed the P500 line. We then will begin production recording. This includes location and studio recording, dialog recording, and searching our extensive sound library. Once production recording is finished, we begin final editing, and graphics prep and schedule a production run from our replicator. Then when the product is ready for final production
(usually about 700-750 orders), we announce a Charge Date (the date we actually charge your card for the game + shipping). We aim to ship in 12 weeks or less from that Charge Date. Occasionally, some products may have longer lead times which we announce before charging, and others may be delayed in production (Buy Joe a beer sometime and ask about our first disc!). This doesn't happen often, but if it does, we'll keep you informed via this site's News section.
If for some reason we don't get 500 interested gamers to commit to purchasing the product, we don’t charge you anything. That’s the beauty of it, there's absolutely no risk on your end. And you can cancel or modify your P500 orders at any time here online (Look in your account history and use the Delete or Add/Subtract options. Your order will be updated in real time).
500 orders is still the level at which a product "passes the P500 line." Now, however, we don't automatically and immediately send such a product to the replicator. Instead, we look at how quickly its numbers are rising as well as how far into the final editing we are, and slot the fastest-rising and most-ready "over 500 products" in order. So how many orders does it take to get a product into production once it has made the cut and gone above 500? There is not a formula that can be applied across the board. A good rule of thumb is somewhere between 700 and 750. (since this is about the number of orders that it takes to pay for the replication costs). However, if a product is not ready to enter production because recording is still ongoing or final editing and graphics have not been finalized, etc, the product will not be charged even if it has crossed this rule of thumb threshold.
The P500 system is designed to keep production flowing smoothly. With it in place, we look forward to bringing you many, many more "cool products" to use with your games on a schedule of production that is determined in no small part by our community of gamers.
We hope this information is helpful and informative and invite you to let us know which games you want us to produce by participating in the P500 program.
Steve and Joe
TOXIC BAG PRODUCTIONS, INC.
July, 2008
