Alex Ziebart is creating Blizzard Watch
Blizzard Entertainment news, guides, and analysis for fans and by fans
2477
$12,154.38
Milestone Goals
4 Milestone Goals
reached
Weekly features for other Blizzard titles
At $13,000 per month, we'll be able to afford weekly columns and features for all of Blizzard's games: Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, and so forth. We will continue to cover the news and produce what features we can below this level, but at $13,000, we can make weekly features happen for all of them.
Location
Milwaukee, WI, USA
Top PatronsSee all 2477
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Blizzard Watch is an editorial-focused fansite for all of Blizzard Entertainment's games from World of Warcraft to the upcoming Overwatch and everything in between. Our team, which has been covering Blizzard's games for nearly a decade, not only covers the latest news, but also produces regular guides, videos, livestreams, podcasts, and more. We strive not only to provide the news, but provide its context and continue to explore its impact. We're fans willing to show our passion in both praise and criticism. We provide guides to content not aimed only at the hardcore, but players on every point of that spectrum in the vein of Blizzard’s motto: easy to learn, difficult to master. Our community helped us launch our site back in February and we're still going strong -- but our site (and our community) always has room to grow.
To maintain a bare minimum of content, our operating requirements are $8,000 per month. Running a website with our ambitions, providing regular daily content, is a big undertaking. Maintaining professional quality necessitates at least part of the staff can dedicate themselves to the site as their full-time job. They need to be paid for their time, and more importantly, we need the ability to pay for the volume of content a site like ours produces. To reiterate: that $8,000 per month will cover the cost of a full-time editor, a part-time editor, and a schedule of daily content. That daily content will includes news, editorial, community-driven features, guides, our podcast, and fan favorites such as The Queue and Know Your Lore.
That number does not include World of Warcraft class columns. If we want to continue producing class columns, we need to move the goalpost. Delivering class columns on a consistent basis is itself a significant undertaking. World of Warcraft currently has 11 classes, and within those classes, a wide array of specializations and playstyles. Given that columns are feature-length articles that often require significant research, making them cost more to produce than your standard news, there’s a price tag attached that can’t be ignored. If we can maintain $10,000 per month, we can maintain all of our currently active class columns.
Everything north of $10,000 will continue to be used to produce content across all of Blizzard's game titles as well as guarantee the financial security of our site. We continue to build a nest egg to futureproof us against any unexpected expenses or a dip in funding during a lull in World of Warcraft’s development period. Traffic and interest has a habit of dips and spikes with the cycle of patches and expansions and if we can smooth out the financial ramifications of that with the additional funding, we will be healthier for it. We are also constantly looking for ways (and funding) to expand our Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm offerings, as well as Diablo, StarCraft, and the upcoming Overwatch.
As of July 2015, we're introducing a tiered reward structure for our backers, which you can find at the bottom of our page. In the meantime, here is a small FAQ:
What the heck is Patreon?
Patreon is a crowdfunding service where, rather than having one lump sum up-front total like a Kickstarter, you sign up for monthly, recurring payments. Think of it like paying an optional subscription where you choose how much the subscription costs. If you'd like to give us $1/month, that's fine. If you want to give us $5, $10, $25, or whatever other amount per month, you can do that, too. Pay as much or as little as you'd like.
Does your site run ads?
We do run ads, yes. However, if you provide a monthly contribution of $5 or more, you can visit our site ad-free. The support we receive from Patreon is a wonderful thing, but only a fraction of our daily readership supports us in this way. We tend to see Patreon as our way of sustaining operations while ad revenue provides us with opportunities for growth -- making a bigger, better Blizzard Watch. Ad revenue also helps us cover our business expenses. For example, ad revenue helps us afford to send a team (or individual) to BlizzCon each year for liveblogs, photography, and so on. It also contributes to the aforementioned nest egg to smooth out any unexpected financial hiccups. Further, it acts as a safeguard against catastrophic equipment failures. This is a profession where it’s not possible to perform your work without some expensive technology at-hand. With a bare minimum income, replacing that equipment if it fails can be a terrible setback, potentially impossible to recover from. We care about our people and don’t want that to happen.
We will also explore the possibilities of affiliate marketing and sponsorships. Advertisements and sponsorships will never dictate our editorial, however. Sponsors will never choose what we do or do not post or say. A sponsor will not dictate our opinions. To be clear on that, here are some sample scenarios:
Continuing to run advertisements is purely a matter of financial responsibility. We want to ensure a healthy site. If all of you are willing to back us, we also need to do our part to make sure your investment stays strong. We don’t intend to simply cash out our revenue and put it in our pockets. We will invest in our website above all.
Will your content be behind a paywall?
No. Other than the few specific items outlined in our backer benefits, our content will be free to all. We need your support to make sure we can do that. We don’t think a site like ours would be viable whatsoever with a paywall – and frankly, we’re generally not a fan. Rather than making all of our content exclusive to Patreon backers, we provide just a few tasty exclusives and will continue to explore bonuses for our patrons. We're always open to adding new backer benefits. If you have anything you'd like to see, don't be afraid to send us a note.
Can backers tell you what to post?
We’ll always listen to feedback, but we won’t let individuals dictate our opinions, just as we wouldn’t let sponsors do that. Independence among the editorial staff creates a healthy editorial environment and we want to maintain that. If you’re willing to support us, you probably know what sort of people we are already. We’ll praise when we feel it’s due. We’ll be critical when we think it’s needed.
Feedback is different. Feedback will always be considered. We won’t always do the precise thing you ask, but if there’s a problem, we will take it into consideration. If you’d like to see more of something, let us know. If you’d like to see less of something, tell us that, too. We are who we are and we feel the things we feel. That’s what you’re supporting. If you trust us, give us your support. If you don’t trust us, then don’t.
One of the benefits of this business model, however, is we don’t need to base our decisions on corporate demands of traffic generation -- that is, we don’t need to determine what is profitable in the traditional sense. Those features that have small but passionate fans become possible. While our backers can’t tell us what we can or cannot post, knowing what sort of content interests our backers lets us know why you support us -- and helps us create content our backers enjoy. Again, that comes with the caveat of our editorial freedom coming first. If we don’t think a particular feature fits our vision and our voice, then we won't do it.
To maintain a bare minimum of content, our operating requirements are $8,000 per month. Running a website with our ambitions, providing regular daily content, is a big undertaking. Maintaining professional quality necessitates at least part of the staff can dedicate themselves to the site as their full-time job. They need to be paid for their time, and more importantly, we need the ability to pay for the volume of content a site like ours produces. To reiterate: that $8,000 per month will cover the cost of a full-time editor, a part-time editor, and a schedule of daily content. That daily content will includes news, editorial, community-driven features, guides, our podcast, and fan favorites such as The Queue and Know Your Lore.
That number does not include World of Warcraft class columns. If we want to continue producing class columns, we need to move the goalpost. Delivering class columns on a consistent basis is itself a significant undertaking. World of Warcraft currently has 11 classes, and within those classes, a wide array of specializations and playstyles. Given that columns are feature-length articles that often require significant research, making them cost more to produce than your standard news, there’s a price tag attached that can’t be ignored. If we can maintain $10,000 per month, we can maintain all of our currently active class columns.
Everything north of $10,000 will continue to be used to produce content across all of Blizzard's game titles as well as guarantee the financial security of our site. We continue to build a nest egg to futureproof us against any unexpected expenses or a dip in funding during a lull in World of Warcraft’s development period. Traffic and interest has a habit of dips and spikes with the cycle of patches and expansions and if we can smooth out the financial ramifications of that with the additional funding, we will be healthier for it. We are also constantly looking for ways (and funding) to expand our Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm offerings, as well as Diablo, StarCraft, and the upcoming Overwatch.
As of July 2015, we're introducing a tiered reward structure for our backers, which you can find at the bottom of our page. In the meantime, here is a small FAQ:
What the heck is Patreon?
Patreon is a crowdfunding service where, rather than having one lump sum up-front total like a Kickstarter, you sign up for monthly, recurring payments. Think of it like paying an optional subscription where you choose how much the subscription costs. If you'd like to give us $1/month, that's fine. If you want to give us $5, $10, $25, or whatever other amount per month, you can do that, too. Pay as much or as little as you'd like.
Does your site run ads?
We do run ads, yes. However, if you provide a monthly contribution of $5 or more, you can visit our site ad-free. The support we receive from Patreon is a wonderful thing, but only a fraction of our daily readership supports us in this way. We tend to see Patreon as our way of sustaining operations while ad revenue provides us with opportunities for growth -- making a bigger, better Blizzard Watch. Ad revenue also helps us cover our business expenses. For example, ad revenue helps us afford to send a team (or individual) to BlizzCon each year for liveblogs, photography, and so on. It also contributes to the aforementioned nest egg to smooth out any unexpected financial hiccups. Further, it acts as a safeguard against catastrophic equipment failures. This is a profession where it’s not possible to perform your work without some expensive technology at-hand. With a bare minimum income, replacing that equipment if it fails can be a terrible setback, potentially impossible to recover from. We care about our people and don’t want that to happen.
We will also explore the possibilities of affiliate marketing and sponsorships. Advertisements and sponsorships will never dictate our editorial, however. Sponsors will never choose what we do or do not post or say. A sponsor will not dictate our opinions. To be clear on that, here are some sample scenarios:
- A sponsor may pay us to have our ad boxes for a day
- A sponsor may not pay us to review their product
- A sponsor may pay us to give their product away in a raffle
- A sponsor may not pay us to let their marketing team write content for us
Continuing to run advertisements is purely a matter of financial responsibility. We want to ensure a healthy site. If all of you are willing to back us, we also need to do our part to make sure your investment stays strong. We don’t intend to simply cash out our revenue and put it in our pockets. We will invest in our website above all.
Will your content be behind a paywall?
No. Other than the few specific items outlined in our backer benefits, our content will be free to all. We need your support to make sure we can do that. We don’t think a site like ours would be viable whatsoever with a paywall – and frankly, we’re generally not a fan. Rather than making all of our content exclusive to Patreon backers, we provide just a few tasty exclusives and will continue to explore bonuses for our patrons. We're always open to adding new backer benefits. If you have anything you'd like to see, don't be afraid to send us a note.
Can backers tell you what to post?
We’ll always listen to feedback, but we won’t let individuals dictate our opinions, just as we wouldn’t let sponsors do that. Independence among the editorial staff creates a healthy editorial environment and we want to maintain that. If you’re willing to support us, you probably know what sort of people we are already. We’ll praise when we feel it’s due. We’ll be critical when we think it’s needed.
Feedback is different. Feedback will always be considered. We won’t always do the precise thing you ask, but if there’s a problem, we will take it into consideration. If you’d like to see more of something, let us know. If you’d like to see less of something, tell us that, too. We are who we are and we feel the things we feel. That’s what you’re supporting. If you trust us, give us your support. If you don’t trust us, then don’t.
One of the benefits of this business model, however, is we don’t need to base our decisions on corporate demands of traffic generation -- that is, we don’t need to determine what is profitable in the traditional sense. Those features that have small but passionate fans become possible. While our backers can’t tell us what we can or cannot post, knowing what sort of content interests our backers lets us know why you support us -- and helps us create content our backers enjoy. Again, that comes with the caveat of our editorial freedom coming first. If we don’t think a particular feature fits our vision and our voice, then we won't do it.