Maxwell Salzberg, co-founder of BackerKit, here. 

We wanted to address some recent discussions circulating within the industry regarding Dog Might Games. While we have yet to receive official confirmation from the Dog Might Games team, our preliminary investigation leads us to believe that they have unfortunately gone out of business.

First, thanks to all the backers that brought this situation up in the comments of the project.

This development surprised us and many of their fans. Dog Might Games was well-established in the TTRPG community. They have been around for ten years, launched 26 successful crowdfunding projects, and enjoy a loyal following who have been lamenting across social media.

Unfortunately, we believe they will not be able to produce and deliver the rewards for the d20 Tribute GM Screen project as promised. This is truly disappointing news. We recognize the frustration and inconvenience this situation is causing you, and we share your dismay. The impact of this closure extends beyond our community to many of their e-commerce customers.

As outlined in our terms of service, we require that creators make good-faith efforts to complete projects as promised, and if they cannot do so, they must make reasonable efforts to find a resolution and communicate transparently with their backers. Based on our current (albeit limited) understanding of the situation, the Dog Might Games team does not seem to have met this bar. 

We are working to investigate what happened and find ways to mitigate this situation's impact. Below is an accounting of the steps we've already taken and the actions we plan to take in the coming days and weeks.

We will provide regular updates every other week until we are ready to share our final findings. If you have any questions, add them to the discussion here, or email our BackerKit’s support team through the Pledge Manager here.

We understand that many of you might be inclined to initiate chargebacks to rescue the funds pledged to this campaign. Keep in mind that money reclaimed via chargebacks will not come from Dog Might Game or your bank; those funds will come from BackerKit. Chargebacks work differently on crowdfunding platforms than on e-commerce sites (or even our pledge manager).

We appreciate your trust and support of our platform, and we ask for your patience as we conduct our investigation. We remain committed to providing a safe and reliable space for creators and backers to join forces to make awesome new things.

Maxwell Salzberg

CEO BackerKit

p.s. If you are a current or prior member of Dog Might Games, we ask that you reach out to me directly at maxwell AT backerkit DOT com to shed light on this situation, and work on finding a reasonable resolution with your backers.   

We have had the opportunity to engage in candid conversations with the leadership team at Dog Might Games. During these discussions, it was confirmed that the company is indeed navigating through formal bankruptcy proceedings. In light of these legal complexities, the Dog Might team is unable to issue any formal comments or statements at this time. They did, however, convey their deep regret regarding the collapse of their business and the consequent impact on their BackerKit project, and to you, their backers.

We fully recognize that this result is far from ideal, and in an effort to extend our support to the backers of this project, we are glad to announce that the companies Elderwood Academy and Wyrmwood have generously offered exclusive discounts on their products, specifically for the backers of this campaign. While this is not provided as a replacement for the original pledges, rewards, or add-ons of the Dog Might BackerKit project, our hope is to show acknowledgement and appreciation for the commitment and support from the project's backers.

BackerKit recognizes that crowdfunding campaigns and small business failure is an inherent risk in new or ambitious endeavors, and we will always be committed to empowering creators with the resources and support necessary to maximize their chances of success. While it is an unfortunate possibility that a project is unable to proceed as expected, we want to ensure that we still uphold the values of honesty and transparency within the BackerKit community. 

Additionally, as a reminder, we have ensured that BackerKit’s platform fee was refunded to all backers, back in August 2023. Our team is dedicated to maintaining transparency and support throughout these rare circumstances, and we thank you for your understanding and patience.

Maxwell Salzberg
BackerKit CEO

Dear Backers,

Maxwell Salzberg from BackerKit again. As promised, I am checking in to share updates about our investigation. 

First, I want to thank you for your patience as we continue investigating the situation. We appreciate all of the responses we received to our last update and acknowledge your frustration and disappointment with Dog Might and BackerKit.

Since our last update, we've contacted multiple industry contacts who might be able to help shed some light on what transpired with Dog Might. So far, we haven't been able to uncover anything newsworthy.

We spent a lot of time combing through Dog Might Games' recently rebranded Discord server to try to piece together what happened. As Ryan R. pointed out, the only official announcement from the Dog Might team was:

We have been investigating Dog Might's legal status by searching court records in Michigan. We can confirm that they have not filed for bankruptcy yet. However, since foreclosures are often nonjudicial, we cannot verify if this process is ongoing. 

Our search for alternate methods to recover backers' funds has not borne fruit. We continue to investigate other approaches but don't have any promising leads. 

As promised in our previous update, we will refund the 5% platform fees BackerKit earned from this project by August 15th. We do not want to profit from projects that don't live up to the core tenets of our policy. 

We will continue to update you every two weeks until we have exhausted our investigation. We urge you to continue adding your queries to the discussion here or email our BackerKit support team through the Pledge Manager.

Thank you for your continued patience and understanding as we navigate this complex situation. Our mission at BackerKit is to provide creators and backers a safe and reliable space to create amazing new things together.

Maxwell Salzberg

CEO, BackerKit

P.S. If you are a current or prior member of Dog Might Games, I encourage you to contact us directly. Any information you can provide will be extremely helpful in resolving this situation and finding a reasonable resolution for the backers.