Just when backers were starting to forget (not forgive) Kotkin Enterprises for not shipping the open source gaming gun Delta (and with no information at all about its whereabouts), the creators have officially announced a new date and a new catch.
For those who haven’t heard about this gaming accessory, Delta Six became a crowdfunding sensation back in 2013 and took home nearly $200,000 thanks to its Kickstarter campaign. The controller is compatible to XBOX, PS3, PC and apparently the next generation of consoles. Originally set to delivery the finished product in December 2013, the campaign organizers staled, until finally they went dark in August 2014.
Now, after numerous pleads from the backers, the Delta Six management team has broken their silence with new details about the finished product. During the most recent update they announced:
“As you may have heard through multiple reports, Kotkin Enterprises creators of the Delta Six is under all new management. They have done a complete overhaul of all staff, stepped back to let a new team run the company to make it successful and profitable for the years to come. The owner is very passionate about making his Delta Six dream come true of the most realistic first person shooter product on the market today. He is also very dedicated to finding ways on fulfilling all of the orders that were backed on Kickstarter as you are the people who believed in The Delta Six from the beginning.
“The new management team has been working tirelessly on every aspect of the business from manufacturing, funding, marketing, and most importantly getting feedback from the customers on how to better the product for their gaming experience. In doing this overhaul, the management team has found some faults in the Kickstarter fundraising campaign leading to long list of disgruntled customers and products not being fulfilled.
“We the management team want to fix this and give all of our backers the opportunity to enjoy our great product. All in all, we have over 800+ backers who were promised a Delta Six for their contributions. In looking at the pledge amounts from backers and the cost of good on our end, we found HUGE problems in the management on the Kickstarter process. It was very, very, poorly managed from the start.
“Based on this here is our solution to the problem we have of fulfilling thousands of orders in a timely manner. What the Delta Six Team has done is set up a link for all 800+ Kickstarter backers to get their product shipped out.
“What you will find on this link is a portal to purchase shipping for your product. USA customers a $30 charge and International customers a $70 charge. Once the shipping purchase is done on the backers end we will cross reference it to your pledge number, name, order and ship out the product within 3 days as we have it in stock. Keep in mind if you pledged a higher amount for 2 Delta Six Products, you will need to place double the shipping for both products to be sent.
“We understand that this is not the most ideal situation for our backers, but it is the only way we will be able to fulfill these orders as we are still a start up. We will be eating the cost of the manufacturing of the Delta Six which for this many backers is hundreds of thousands of dollars. Backers must understand that when they back a project, they’re helping to create something new which takes a lot of time to develop and bring to market. We hope that you all will understand and work with us on receiving your Delta Six after such a long wait.”
So, correct me if I’m wrong, but the $30 isn’t for the shipping cost per say, this is for the company to make more profit from the Delta Six. A little strange and a bit unfair considering the product was supposed to slip over 14 months ago, but apparently that’s the excuse they’re going with.
Despite disagreeing with the situation (which some call extortion), backers have decided swallow their pride and give in to the additional cost. One backer wrote:
“While I agree this has been a terribly run kickstarter, I did pay the additional monies to get this product sent. I have so far received notice that I was charged, but no shipping information yet. I will update everyone with the results of this once it happens. I did make sure to pay with a credit card, so the transaction can be disputed if necessary. I would advise anyone else to do the same. I also will not forget the continued attitude that Mr. Kotkin has had and will be sure to inform any future dealings I hear him involved in as to his underhanded and blatantly dishonest practices.”
Let’s hope that the new management team is as dedicated to the product as they seem and will deliver the controller that meets all backers expectations.
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