Infinity - Incube8 Games - Delayed Again
"Hello Infinity customer,
We wanted to give you a quick update regarding your Infinity pre-order.
Unfortunately, the fulfillment timeline has been pushed to the end of June (video explanation below).
We sincerely apologize for this additional delay.
To improve the long-term quality and speed of our production pipeline, we are currently upgrading our assembly process with brand-new molded coconut pulp inserts and a new fulfillment workflow."
https://youtu.be/oXd4_4bvzhI?si=-ZrrJefdVFljMNxw
In the update video, the owner straight up said the delay is because they're replacing the folded cardboard inserts with molded coconut pulp ones. They don't want to manually unfold/fold 3,000–4,000 of them by hand just for Infinity (not even counting their other games). Apparently it would take all their staff 5 full days of doing nothing but opening inserts.
Look, I get wanting to make assembly easier going forward. My problem is this: You've known your exact order numbers for Infinity for months. You've known these cardboard inserts need to be folded by hand since day one of manufacturing. How did this only become a crisis right when you're supposed to be shipping? Why wasn't this figured out during the tail end of development instead of at the last possible second?
They mentioned that taking 5 days just to fold inserts would "back up logistics and customer service." Bro, how many emails and messages are you getting from Infinity backers asking where their game is? Is it really worse to shut down for 5 days and actually get 3-4k copies out the door than to keep stringing everyone along?
I like Incube8's games. I really do. But the business side is painful. Every single one of their products gets delayed multiple times, and it's always some last-minute roadblock. Just stop giving firm release dates if you can't hit them. Tell us up front "we don't know" instead of the 500th delay feeling like a slap in the face.