THE TRITON NOIR ADVENTURE IS OVER

The board game sector is fragile, especially at the moment. Our first major setback came a few months after receiving our very first game, V-Sabotage. A third of the stock had been consigned to a French distributor. Although the 1.000 boxes sold very quickly, we were never paid: the distributor was itself experiencing serious difficulties. As a result, a third of our production was lost, resulting in a shortfall of €15,000 and a net loss of US$10,000 in manufacturing costs. It may not seem like much, but for a start-up company, at a time when I was still managing everything on my own and couldn't pay myself a salary, it was very difficult.

For our second game, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood of Venice, the total freight cost was initially estimated at US$34,500 before the COVID crisis. In April 2021, new quotes tripled, reaching US$105,000. We decided to absorb this US$70,500 increase, knowing well that we would not make any profit on Kickstarter sales—and that we would even lose money. But three months later, the situation worsened: the new estimate was US$218,200, more than six times the initial cost! We had no choice but to ask our backers to contribute an additional amount equivalent to about 10% of their initial contribution. We refunded 100% of those who refused (covering the costs of Kickstarter and payment platforms). Approximately 150 backers requested a refund, for a total of US$31,500. In the end, this operation resulted in a loss of US$102,000.

The weakness of the Canadian dollar against the US dollar had a particularly significant impact on us, especially in the last few months.

Being a game publisher requires a wide range of skills. While I think we have demonstrated our ability to design, develop, and deliver games that are acclaimed by the community, we have encountered difficulties when it comes to promoting and selling our creations. The market has become extremely competitive. Every year, thousands of new games are released and players are bombarded with offers from all sides. Standing out in this environment has become a real challenge.

We also have principles and values that are difficult to reconcile with today's hyper-competitive business world. It is likely that we have not been aggressive enough in our communications (social media, newsletters, advertising, etc.). We have tried several collaborations with marketing agencies, but they have rarely yielded the desired results. Similarly, we have always refused to go on Amazon on principle. A game like Assassin's Creed could have been successful there, especially since we would have been the only ones selling it on that platform.

Most of our Kickstarter campaigns generated results that fell short of our expectations. This translated into lower production volumes, which automatically led to an increase in the unit cost of manufacturing our games. One of the best examples is the cost of manufacturing the core boxes during our second Kickstarter campaign for Assassin's Creed Brotherhood of Venice, where the cost of manufacturing the core box nearly doubled!

We were not focused enough on profit. Here are a few examples:

o The price offered for Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood of Venice during the Kickstarter campaign was underestimated. The core box, bundled with the huge tower miniature, was offered for only US$119 / €105 / $158 CAD. Subsequently, we had to more than double this price in order to break even.

o “The game will be released when it's ready.” This is the mindset with which we have worked on each of our games. We have always prioritized quality, regardless of the time needed to refine every detail. But this choice comes at a cost: each additional month spent in development represented up to four salaries to pay.

Our fifth crowdfunding campaign, for the game Gods Heist, ended in failure. It generated only a third of the amount needed in our most pessimistic scenario. With this project, we had the ambition to create an original universe, perhaps too daring, and we undoubtedly failed to communicate effectively what differentiated this project from our previous games. However, we had invested heavily and the game was almost ready to go to print, in line with the practices of many publishers today: all the illustrations, tiles, and miniatures had been finalized. This failure marked the end of the Triton Noir adventure.

I have been working in the gaming industry for over 30 years, including 20 years in the video game sector, where I have contributed to the development of around 20 titles since 1993. During all those years, I dreamed of working on a game that I could be truly proud of. That moment never came —mostly due to a lack of resources or ambition. With Triton Noir, I decided to aim high. I put everything I had into it, giving myself the means to do my best, with a great deal of freedom. Today, with Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood of Venice and V-Sabotage, I finally feel like I've achieved that dream. That's why I don't see the end of Triton Noir as a failure, but as a success. I've learned a lot in the field of game development and publishing, but also on a more personal level.

Thanks to a passionate team of jack-of-all-trades, Triton Noir operated for 12 years without investors, remaining 100% independent. The studio had up to four employees, with a catalog consisting of only two games and nine expansions. That alone, I think, can already be considered a great success. The plan I had in mind from the start (combining crowdfunding, online store, and distribution) worked well overall.

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood of Venice is an extremely ambitious game. Developing the game's various campaigns (50 missions in total) in five languages with only four people is quite an achievement. It was a huge challenge, taken on with far fewer people than other studios developing games of this caliber.

We delivered all of our Kickstarter campaigns, including the latest one, Assassin's Creed: Apocalypse, even though we were going through a financially critical period and shipping costs were starting to rise dramatically again. We were $65,000 short of being able to make the deliveries, and we had three options: 1. Close the company without delivering. 2. Ask our backers for additional financial support. 3. Honor the deliveries and take the risk of having to cover part of the costs myself, personally. We chose option 3 (deliver without additional charges), out of respect for our commitments and our community.

- I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to the Triton Noir team, without whom this adventure would never have been possible: Laurence, Fabrice, and Shannon, thank you from the bottom of my heart. Together, we have accomplished incredible things!

- A huge thank you also to the thousands of backers who supported us throughout our crowdfunding campaigns—especially the 663 backers of our very first campaign, V-Sabotage, who put their trust in me when I was a complete unknown.

- I am also very grateful to Manuel Sanchez and Christian Lemay from Scorpion masqué for their wise advice and invaluable support in developing our games.

- Thank you to Philibert and Meeple Logistics, who believed in us from the very beginning, back when we were creating private pledges for certain stores, as can still be seen on the page for the first campaign (V- Sabotage). They supported us until the very end, and it is largely thanks to them that we were able to deliver our latest campaign.

- Thanks also to Carl Brière from Synapses Games, who made the retail edition of Assassin's Creed possible. That helped us a lot!

- Finally, a big thank you to the YouTubers, podcasters, and content creators who talked about our games, often on a voluntary basis. Their passion and generosity do a lot for the visibility and success of board games.