Weta puts game face on raise
Wellington’s Weta Workshop is branching into the gaming sector for the first time.
The props and design arm of Sir Peter Jackson and Sir Richard Taylor’s filming empire has raised more than US$935,000 (NZ$1.3 million) to launch the new venture.
Weta raised the money through crowdfunding platform Kickstarter within 30 days, and attracted nearly 6600 investors.
The board game, called GKR: Heavy Hitters, was an original creation by senior concept designers Paul Tobin, Leri Greer, and Christian Pearce who worked on movies District 9, Ghost in the Shell, and Avatar.
The game, which can we played with two to four people, is set in the world of giant killer robots.
Players use strategic deckbuilding, dice rolling, and miniatures to battle for salvage rights to the destroyed cities of the future.
The project marks a number of firsts for Weta Workshop.
It is the company’s first venture into the board game industry and it is also the first time the company has used Kickstarter.
Weta Workshop general manager David Wilks said in addition the game gave the company an opportunity to support the original intellectual property created within its own walls.
‘‘GKR was a terrific opportunity to unleash our creative capacity on a project of our own [and] bringing the game to Kickstarter was a great way to connect with the huge and vibrant community of board game enthusiasts who love sharing the process of bringing a board game to life,’’ Wilks said.
‘‘We’ve enjoyed the concept design and world building around GKR – that’s all in our DNA – but our community have helped influence the board game itself.
‘‘I’m hugely proud of what the team have accomplished and excited for what lies ahead.’’
While the crowdfunding campaign had come to an end, the next phase was about to kick in.
Weta Workshop’s consumer products staff will move onto the manufacture stage. The investors would get their hands on the game by December.
It took two years, including many months of play testing, and a road trip across the United States to meet game-store owners and board-game players face to face, before the company decided to launch its new venture.
As a result, the central gameplay was developed by US game producers Cryptozoic Entertainment, with lead game designer Matt Hyra at the helm.
GKR co-creator Paul Tobin said: ‘‘What a journey … we never dreamed the game would take off the way it has.’’