Dear Community Members,
This 2021 has been a roller coaster of emotions for everyone. As a community, we managed to get the project funded on Kickstarter and thus began the adventure to build the Caster Gear to deliver the experience of having superpowers in real life. During this process, a myriad of obstacles arose as expected. Most were successfully overcome thanks to different innovations in technology and/or thanks to the support of all of you.
However, the time has come to make a decision, temporary, but a decision that will modify the future of what was previously communicated. Because of the shortage of semiconductors worldwide, it will not be possible for us to deliver the Caster Gears in 2022. Let me explain in detail:
The world faces a widespread shortage of electronic components, mainly driven by the pandemic (although it is something much more complex). Naturally, we are not the exception. This problem has affected large companies such as Nintendo, Apple, NVIDIA, and even other industries such as automotive. It only takes a Google search to be inundated with news about it.
Today, we have an estimated delivery date of 56 weeks for the components needed to produce the Caster Gear. This is in addition to the expected production cycle that is no less than 24 weeks. These timeframes indicate that it is not possible to have the product ready for shipment before mid-2023, plus the weeks that shipping requires depending on the location of each person.
Next steps.
Initially, on Kickstarter we said that the Caster Gear would be delivered around April 2022, this will not happen. However, challenges at One Game Studio motivate us to innovate. Given that there will be no Epons in 2022, and we will not rest until we deliver the experience of having superpowers in real life, this is the plan for next year:
Seeing that the shortage problem has only worsened, we spent the last 60 days developing new technology that only requires your cell phone. With the App, you can fight in real life without needing the Caster Gear.
This technology, along with the rest of the App, will be released in February in a closed "Alpha" test for you to play, give feedback, and help us continue to improve and advance.
All the people who purchased any product through Kickstarter or the online store will receive 5 access keys in February. One (1) for themself and 4 to share with their family and friends. Those who purchased a Caster Gear will receive 4 additional keys, for a total of 9 keys.
The application will receive a major update every month until it is in Open Beta at the end of 2022. In other words, it will be open all year long for Alpha users, except for brief closings for maintenance and updates.
In the summer of 2022, we will have an official face-to-face tournament in different countries of the world. The goal is for Alpha users to have 6 months to train.
With this plan, we will continue to develop the experience for you. Here is a video that shows real footage (recorded from my cell phone) of what a fight looks like in real life with this new technology. We will use the remainder of the year, and January, to make it ready for you to use in February.
What will happen to the Caster Gear?
The global uncertainty about the shortage puts us in a position where, for the moment, it is not ideal to make a final decision, but rather to wait at least six months to see how the situation unfolds. Therefore, the production and development of the Caster Gear will be completely stopped until the situation is reassessed in 6 months. This means that we will be attentive to see what happens and what is viable, both with the new technology, and the natural evolution of The Bone.
Remember, in a year and a half everything will improve. If we force production today with the aim of having it by mid-2023, said product would be out of date. With this in mind, we will make a formal communication in six months with the status of the process. In case it is not feasible to build it for whatever reason, we will give individualized solution options to everyone who has purchased a Caster Gear.
We will always communicate clearly and promptly any delay, problem, or news that we face. At the end of the day, the experience of having superpowers in real life is a challenge and a dream that belongs to each one of us.
We will give all the details of the relaunch of the application and more news in January, meanwhile, the entire team of The Bone wishes you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Marc Oyamburu
CEO.
Here is the video where Abby explain it in its way