I doubt there will be any good news today or anytime soon since DD+ was introduced in early October of the previous year. This means that the licensing with Sony possibly began several months prior to last Oct, which suggests that the whole process has already spanned over half a year. It is just simply unlikely that this matter will be settled by February.
Today marks 2 weeks since the last update where they said they didn't expect to have the approval within 2 weeks. It would be nice if Fanatec provides another update today. Has there been any progress, any ETA, or are we still in the same position and we will get another update in 2 weeks.
For all those, who have sorrows concerning Fanatec going bankrupt. TJ and Kosch (i assume its the CFO of Fanatec) answered several questions in an Investor Call. I have Not Seen it myself, but it seems they have confirmed Sony License for mid Feb.
The next update needs to have a detailed plan of getting this disaster solved. Another "goes without saying that we're doing the bare minimum" will not do.
Thomas J. said in a newspaper article from Germany
"Wir erhielten gestern die Bestätigung seitens Sony über die erwarteten aber bislang verzögerten Produktlizenzen, welche nun für die erste Hälfte des Monats Februar 2024 angekündigt wurden.
Landshut, 2 February 2024 – Endor AG today published its revenue and earnings guidance for 2024. Accordingly, the company expects consolidated revenue in the range of EUR 115 million to EUR 125 million in the current financial year, after generating an expected revenue in the range of EUR 102 million to EUR 106 million in 2023. The expected EBITDA margin (based on revenues) in 2024 is estimated to be in the range of 8% to 10% (2023 EBITDA-margin expected to be -10% to -15%).
"Yesterday we received confirmation from Sony about the expected but previously delayed product licenses, which have now been announced for the first half of February 2024. Production of the new line and stockpiling is already running at full speed in order to be able to fulfill pre-orders and expected customer orders at short notice," reports Thomas Jackermeier, CEO of Endor AG. "Even without the new products and based on the existing product portfolio, the order volume in January was well above the previous year's level. We now expect the newly licensed products to provide a further boost to growth in the current financial year.”
115-125 million..... Keep that in mind the next time some idiot says "but they are a small company" Get wrecked moron.
Still waiting on my order for a universal hub, paddle module, and button caps order from Nov 23rd. Still no legitimate response to my emails. I wish I had known this before heavily investing in their ecosystem throughout 2023.
125M is technically mid size but on the very lower end of mid size. Midsize bracket is very large and start at 50M and 100 employees. Endor A.G. at 105M and 160 employees is barely a midsize.
This being said i’m wondering whos an idiot and a moron? The guy calling Fanatec a small company or the guy openly insulting people he knows nothing about?…
Two types of people here speak about the size of the Endor group. The one who knows something about business and economics and other who doesn't but thinks it does. And everything is mixed with those who are aware that in terms of economic size Endor is a small company and then they give them credit for all the mistakes.
Endor/Fanatec is by far the largest sim racing company whose core business is simracing. I do not mention Logitech and Thrustmaster because sim racing is a very small part of their business. In terms of economic size, they are micro or small company, of which there are probably thousands of larger ones in the same province alone. But it is also a fact that they like to call themselves the leader in the sim racing industry, that they have been on the market for almost 30 years, that they are one of the pioneers of the whole sim racing niche and that the problems they have, have no justification in their size. Which is certainly small in economic terms.
Fanatec as a brand, i.e. Endor, according to all the facts, should have a complete job in its little finger and be in a position to educate all other companies in the sim racing branch. Unfortunately, the situation is completely opposite. There is no business segment that currently works for them, by which I mean the orientation towards the end user, i.e. the customer. What should be their priority. The only thing I would leave out here is the marketing sector within the company, which seems to keep the company alive.
But in practice it looks like marketing does a good job and catches you in a net where it seems nice for you, and the next moment you regret it and see that you were wrong.
I don't want to say that you feel cheated, that's too strong an expression, but it's on that way.
If Thomas is coming out in a investor call saying Sony has informed them it is on track for mid February 2024 for licensing approval why hadn't they already sent something to the DD+ customers waiting for an update.
Customers should have to be trawling through reporting data, etc to get an update and should be informed first if you are being customer centric
Well said. I'm clearly not comparing Fanatec to Exxon, Amazon, Toyota, McDonald's, and other global corporate conglomerates. I'm not that dense to think that 125 mil is even a dust spec in their realm of business. But there was an infographic section in one of the endor investment reports directly after the BF incident that was showing that even compared to the sim racing equipment sales of Logitech and TM, Fanatec was not far off in total revenue. Of course the other companies also make other things, but the pdf from endor made it seem like they are just about on par with the other two in their similar product lines. So it can't be both a small business and be so close to the absolute two largest producers of entry level sim racing products.
It's just convenient for the people that are blinded by own justification for letting this company do this to them. I was one of them, and feeling cheated isn't really over stated. I let them crap on me and waited for all of my gear very patiently over the course of 2023 through multiple orders, but this BF fiasco combined with dropping the ball on the DD+ has really made me look back on my overall experience before this happened and think maybe I was so excited to get the product that I glossed over the fact that their business practices are borderline criminal.
Their marketing is fantastic, like you said. It makes you feel like you are buying into the best of the best. Coming from a G27 that was bought brand new when it came out, and finally upgrading it 10+ years later I thought I was really doing the right thing. I never once looked at anything besides researching on YouTube for what base to get, what wheels to pick, which pedals etc. My favorite person to follow was the boosted media channel, and was always coming up top in my suggested videos about the fanatec reviews. Watched tons of stuff before ordering and never once did they say anything about shipping woes, problems, etc that I can recall. If they did, they sure didn't make it sound like it was bad enough to consider looking elsewhere. Come to find out they are sponsored by Fanatec so they of course wouldn't say anything bad, and I'm sure YouTube's algorithm also helps push the videos that they focus the ads on, because between the video the ad breaks were almost all Fanatec related. I do understand targeted ads and how they work, again I'm not that dense, but it worked. They got me hyped on the product without any deeper research to see if there was issues, because why would you? That's not normal business behavior in this day and age. I didn't find this out til I had problems, searching later showed me the reddit posts, and I joined Reddit just to follow the fanatec stuff. Come to find out it's been this way for years. Never once had I thought anything like this was possible. So i feel like calling this getting cheated is not at all too drastic.
Now on the flip side, I love the product, and I've stood up for them in the past, but I don't know that I will be ordering anything additional after this. I'm also not going to rush out and ditch my current gear because I do in fact like the products I've actually gotten. Once I do get my DD+ preorder I believe that will be my last Fanatec purchase. I won't cancel the preorder because I do have high hopes for the DD+ after owning the CSL DD and seeing how big of a jump in quality that was over the G27.
Regardless, I'm the idiot and moron for even wasting my time typing this out. Hopefully Fanatec can move up from their small business start up of 30 years and fire up an Etsy shop next to help grow their budding business ventures.
I was wrong, I looked a bit deeper and you are correct. But they do have some sort of deal together for getting the early release products though, which is what I mistakenly thought was some sort of sponsorship. It seems they are the only people on YouTube that got their hands on the DD+ before release to do any sort of testing with it, so in my opinion there is definitely something there even if it's not full on sponsorship. It seems they are pretty deep in it.
Regardless, they helped me pick out what I did purchase, and I'm happy with it so I'm not knocking boosted media or Will. In all honesty I was also checking out his videos of the simucube and the Sim race machines Fanatec wheel conversions and I've been thinking "what if" for the last two months.
It is more a strategic selection by Fanatec, Will has become a trusted source for the Sim Racing community so as such he gets companies wanting him to review upcoming releases.
At the time of his review of the units they were in Pre Order for both so he would not be aware of any pending issues.
Also he reviewed them well before BF issues started. He is actually meeting with Snr Fanatec Management this week and has put out a call for the community to give him questions to ask them and he will try and get answers to as many as he can get through.
Sounds like mid this month will be the release date, I am assuming with PS updates to with drivers or potential GT7 integration completed but let's see what happens
To clarify a few things, our last Fanatec review video before the Rally Wheel review last week (which had a whole chapter discussing the issues) was the DD/DD+ First Look video, which was released before the issues really became apparent. We recorded a DD+ review video in mid-December which discussed the issues at length and was meant to be published before Christmas, but this has been held under embargo due to the delays. We can't exactly travel back in time to edit existing videos, but we did put a note on the Fanatec buyer's guide on our website to warn people that there are issues which may impact their experience, and pointing them here to this blog for more information.
As mentioned above, we have organised a meeting with Fanatec senior management this week to discuss the issues and hopefully get some clearer answers for the community and we have invited the community to submit their own questions.
As for content exclusivity on the CS DD/DD+, I wasn't actually aware that I was the only reviewer who had been sent one for a first-look video. Exclusivity wasn't something that was discussed with me. I can only speculate as to why this may have been the case, but it's certainly not a part of any kind of "deal". They send us hardware, we review it, and if people find the content valuable they can choose to support us via our affiliate links which are disclosed at the very beginning of every video, no different from any other brand. Ultimately it makes little difference to us which brand or product people choose, as we have affiliate links for most brands, and I've set things up this way intentionally to allow us to remain as neutral and unbiased as possible, whilst also making employing multiple full-time staff sustainable. If you don't find our content valuable, don't use our links. Simple as that.
all that influencer are not independent. independent you are when you buy the products with your own money and then make a review. They major interest is to run their own company with affiliate links and deals behind the scene. So they can´t do everything what they want to do before a product release. So the CS DD was not a review it was a promotion. There are simply part of the marketing machine. which is not a bad thing but you should aware of it, that they are not the customers anymore as they started. they running a buisness and major interest is to get enough money to survive. So they say at the end of the day everthing is fine when you using our affiliate links.
If this is directed at Boosted Media and Will then I suggest you go and watch the beginning of every review video where he clearly states how he got the product and the affiliate links.
He has always called out issues as he sees them and has been in a few situations where he’s been honest, told the truth of issues with products. That’s either caused manufacturers to not send him things or (even better) work with them, using his experience to improve their products.
I don’t think Will would say he’s an influencer, as he’s been doing this for a very long time now and turned his hobby into this job. I don’t think he’s bias towards Fanatec or any other brand.
I would also have to share that Boosted is very clear about what they get and their information has been very good overall. Will and his team provide feedback to the manufacturers both good and bad and I find his content to be very informative. I appreciate that he is coming out and asking the viewers for question they'd like to see if he can get clarification on which is what most of us are looking for. I would like to see what Fanatec is going to do for us who have pre-ordered and have been waiting long past the expected delivery dates and I would like to emphasize that the product page is very misleading which also contributes to the frustration. To share that it is licensed for the PS at the top of the info page and then under smaller section near the bottom to share that it is pending final sony approval is very contradictory and to me dishonest business practice. We are now two months past the expected delivery date and because this was not clearly marketed properly I would expect some for of compensation from Fanatec for the delays in release. A rebate for those who are not expecting to purchase additional products or a discount code attached to the accounts would be something that I feel should be done to be fair to both the company and the customers.
I was looking for something on Discord as I don't have FB and Youtube is a bit of a black hole of comments. But I'll give it a go.
If you happen to read this reply. I am most curious to know about Software/Drivers of new products as I have a BMR that was not really ready for release when I received it. All of it seems to be software related. It runs pretty good now, but it still has some oddities. And CS DD has had lots of software reports since it's release as well.
There were tons of driver releases before the year end. I believe to support the new products and their release dates. But there have been tons of bugs since driver 451. And no fixes since the end of 2023. An awful lot of us are waiting for 456 and hoping it stabilizes.
It's also worth talking about the Driver/Fanalabs integration compared to every other company at this point. The installation process, etc.
Comments
I'm so sorry to have impacted you so badly. I assure you that my disappointment was worse after the excitement of getting the emails.
I didn’t mean it like that. I intended only to reference the crappy situation you found yourself in.
I doubt there will be any good news today or anytime soon since DD+ was introduced in early October of the previous year. This means that the licensing with Sony possibly began several months prior to last Oct, which suggests that the whole process has already spanned over half a year. It is just simply unlikely that this matter will be settled by February.
Today marks 2 weeks since the last update where they said they didn't expect to have the approval within 2 weeks. It would be nice if Fanatec provides another update today. Has there been any progress, any ETA, or are we still in the same position and we will get another update in 2 weeks.
For all those, who have sorrows concerning Fanatec going bankrupt. TJ and Kosch (i assume its the CFO of Fanatec) answered several questions in an Investor Call. I have Not Seen it myself, but it seems they have confirmed Sony License for mid Feb.
Maybe "confirmed" is wrong wording for this. Better would be: "Sony told us we might get the license by mid Feb".
Maybe you are right. At least some News….
As i Said. I have Not Seen the Call myself.
The next update needs to have a detailed plan of getting this disaster solved. Another "goes without saying that we're doing the bare minimum" will not do.
Thomas J. said in a newspaper article from Germany
"Wir erhielten gestern die Bestätigung seitens Sony über die erwarteten aber bislang verzögerten Produktlizenzen, welche nun für die erste Hälfte des Monats Februar 2024 angekündigt wurden.
https://markets.ft.com/data/announce/detail?dockey=600-202402021100DGAP____CORPNEWS_corporate_1829489_en-1
Landshut, 2 February 2024 – Endor AG today published its revenue and earnings guidance for 2024. Accordingly, the company expects consolidated revenue in the range of EUR 115 million to EUR 125 million in the current financial year, after generating an expected revenue in the range of EUR 102 million to EUR 106 million in 2023. The expected EBITDA margin (based on revenues) in 2024 is estimated to be in the range of 8% to 10% (2023 EBITDA-margin expected to be -10% to -15%).
"Yesterday we received confirmation from Sony about the expected but previously delayed product licenses, which have now been announced for the first half of February 2024. Production of the new line and stockpiling is already running at full speed in order to be able to fulfill pre-orders and expected customer orders at short notice," reports Thomas Jackermeier, CEO of Endor AG. "Even without the new products and based on the existing product portfolio, the order volume in January was well above the previous year's level. We now expect the newly licensed products to provide a further boost to growth in the current financial year.”
115-125 million..... Keep that in mind the next time some idiot says "but they are a small company" Get wrecked moron.
Still waiting on my order for a universal hub, paddle module, and button caps order from Nov 23rd. Still no legitimate response to my emails. I wish I had known this before heavily investing in their ecosystem throughout 2023.
125M is technically mid size but on the very lower end of mid size. Midsize bracket is very large and start at 50M and 100 employees. Endor A.G. at 105M and 160 employees is barely a midsize.
This being said i’m wondering whos an idiot and a moron? The guy calling Fanatec a small company or the guy openly insulting people he knows nothing about?…
Two types of people here speak about the size of the Endor group. The one who knows something about business and economics and other who doesn't but thinks it does. And everything is mixed with those who are aware that in terms of economic size Endor is a small company and then they give them credit for all the mistakes.
Endor/Fanatec is by far the largest sim racing company whose core business is simracing. I do not mention Logitech and Thrustmaster because sim racing is a very small part of their business. In terms of economic size, they are micro or small company, of which there are probably thousands of larger ones in the same province alone. But it is also a fact that they like to call themselves the leader in the sim racing industry, that they have been on the market for almost 30 years, that they are one of the pioneers of the whole sim racing niche and that the problems they have, have no justification in their size. Which is certainly small in economic terms.
Fanatec as a brand, i.e. Endor, according to all the facts, should have a complete job in its little finger and be in a position to educate all other companies in the sim racing branch. Unfortunately, the situation is completely opposite. There is no business segment that currently works for them, by which I mean the orientation towards the end user, i.e. the customer. What should be their priority. The only thing I would leave out here is the marketing sector within the company, which seems to keep the company alive.
But in practice it looks like marketing does a good job and catches you in a net where it seems nice for you, and the next moment you regret it and see that you were wrong.
I don't want to say that you feel cheated, that's too strong an expression, but it's on that way.
If Thomas is coming out in a investor call saying Sony has informed them it is on track for mid February 2024 for licensing approval why hadn't they already sent something to the DD+ customers waiting for an update.
Customers should have to be trawling through reporting data, etc to get an update and should be informed first if you are being customer centric
Haha my harmless comment guessing about next week disappears 🤔😂
🍿 good night 😘
next week 🤞🏻😉
hope UPS have a van full of then ready for UK the day it’s green lit 🚦 😬🚛✈️🚚=🕺🏻
Current preorder dates round the world Aussies have the earliest @ the 19th of feb
Well said. I'm clearly not comparing Fanatec to Exxon, Amazon, Toyota, McDonald's, and other global corporate conglomerates. I'm not that dense to think that 125 mil is even a dust spec in their realm of business. But there was an infographic section in one of the endor investment reports directly after the BF incident that was showing that even compared to the sim racing equipment sales of Logitech and TM, Fanatec was not far off in total revenue. Of course the other companies also make other things, but the pdf from endor made it seem like they are just about on par with the other two in their similar product lines. So it can't be both a small business and be so close to the absolute two largest producers of entry level sim racing products.
It's just convenient for the people that are blinded by own justification for letting this company do this to them. I was one of them, and feeling cheated isn't really over stated. I let them crap on me and waited for all of my gear very patiently over the course of 2023 through multiple orders, but this BF fiasco combined with dropping the ball on the DD+ has really made me look back on my overall experience before this happened and think maybe I was so excited to get the product that I glossed over the fact that their business practices are borderline criminal.
Their marketing is fantastic, like you said. It makes you feel like you are buying into the best of the best. Coming from a G27 that was bought brand new when it came out, and finally upgrading it 10+ years later I thought I was really doing the right thing. I never once looked at anything besides researching on YouTube for what base to get, what wheels to pick, which pedals etc. My favorite person to follow was the boosted media channel, and was always coming up top in my suggested videos about the fanatec reviews. Watched tons of stuff before ordering and never once did they say anything about shipping woes, problems, etc that I can recall. If they did, they sure didn't make it sound like it was bad enough to consider looking elsewhere. Come to find out they are sponsored by Fanatec so they of course wouldn't say anything bad, and I'm sure YouTube's algorithm also helps push the videos that they focus the ads on, because between the video the ad breaks were almost all Fanatec related. I do understand targeted ads and how they work, again I'm not that dense, but it worked. They got me hyped on the product without any deeper research to see if there was issues, because why would you? That's not normal business behavior in this day and age. I didn't find this out til I had problems, searching later showed me the reddit posts, and I joined Reddit just to follow the fanatec stuff. Come to find out it's been this way for years. Never once had I thought anything like this was possible. So i feel like calling this getting cheated is not at all too drastic.
Now on the flip side, I love the product, and I've stood up for them in the past, but I don't know that I will be ordering anything additional after this. I'm also not going to rush out and ditch my current gear because I do in fact like the products I've actually gotten. Once I do get my DD+ preorder I believe that will be my last Fanatec purchase. I won't cancel the preorder because I do have high hopes for the DD+ after owning the CSL DD and seeing how big of a jump in quality that was over the G27.
Regardless, I'm the idiot and moron for even wasting my time typing this out. Hopefully Fanatec can move up from their small business start up of 30 years and fire up an Etsy shop next to help grow their budding business ventures.
Boosted Media are not sponsored by them, they make money from affiliate links if you choose to order via them.
I was wrong, I looked a bit deeper and you are correct. But they do have some sort of deal together for getting the early release products though, which is what I mistakenly thought was some sort of sponsorship. It seems they are the only people on YouTube that got their hands on the DD+ before release to do any sort of testing with it, so in my opinion there is definitely something there even if it's not full on sponsorship. It seems they are pretty deep in it.
Regardless, they helped me pick out what I did purchase, and I'm happy with it so I'm not knocking boosted media or Will. In all honesty I was also checking out his videos of the simucube and the Sim race machines Fanatec wheel conversions and I've been thinking "what if" for the last two months.
It is more a strategic selection by Fanatec, Will has become a trusted source for the Sim Racing community so as such he gets companies wanting him to review upcoming releases.
At the time of his review of the units they were in Pre Order for both so he would not be aware of any pending issues.
Also he reviewed them well before BF issues started. He is actually meeting with Snr Fanatec Management this week and has put out a call for the community to give him questions to ask them and he will try and get answers to as many as he can get through.
Sounds like mid this month will be the release date, I am assuming with PS updates to with drivers or potential GT7 integration completed but let's see what happens
Will from Boosted Media here.
To clarify a few things, our last Fanatec review video before the Rally Wheel review last week (which had a whole chapter discussing the issues) was the DD/DD+ First Look video, which was released before the issues really became apparent. We recorded a DD+ review video in mid-December which discussed the issues at length and was meant to be published before Christmas, but this has been held under embargo due to the delays. We can't exactly travel back in time to edit existing videos, but we did put a note on the Fanatec buyer's guide on our website to warn people that there are issues which may impact their experience, and pointing them here to this blog for more information.
As mentioned above, we have organised a meeting with Fanatec senior management this week to discuss the issues and hopefully get some clearer answers for the community and we have invited the community to submit their own questions.
As for content exclusivity on the CS DD/DD+, I wasn't actually aware that I was the only reviewer who had been sent one for a first-look video. Exclusivity wasn't something that was discussed with me. I can only speculate as to why this may have been the case, but it's certainly not a part of any kind of "deal". They send us hardware, we review it, and if people find the content valuable they can choose to support us via our affiliate links which are disclosed at the very beginning of every video, no different from any other brand. Ultimately it makes little difference to us which brand or product people choose, as we have affiliate links for most brands, and I've set things up this way intentionally to allow us to remain as neutral and unbiased as possible, whilst also making employing multiple full-time staff sustainable. If you don't find our content valuable, don't use our links. Simple as that.
all that influencer are not independent. independent you are when you buy the products with your own money and then make a review. They major interest is to run their own company with affiliate links and deals behind the scene. So they can´t do everything what they want to do before a product release. So the CS DD was not a review it was a promotion. There are simply part of the marketing machine. which is not a bad thing but you should aware of it, that they are not the customers anymore as they started. they running a buisness and major interest is to get enough money to survive. So they say at the end of the day everthing is fine when you using our affiliate links.
Hey Will,
Where is the submission for community questions?
On our Facebook Page Here: https://www.facebook.com/boostedmediaofficial/posts/pfbid022upWvofhs4ynhBWYm3Ani8Uk4zD3AM1WwgRzRZLCPgyyeYiwmKBLUEi6UYTtmfyzl
....and on YouTube Community page Here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCH9Z2uxY1Rlij3Pez4omyeA/community?lb=UgkxZ_lJwMgPwIMCmgHMqC-XJYzCsH3uGpLG
If this is directed at Boosted Media and Will then I suggest you go and watch the beginning of every review video where he clearly states how he got the product and the affiliate links.
He has always called out issues as he sees them and has been in a few situations where he’s been honest, told the truth of issues with products. That’s either caused manufacturers to not send him things or (even better) work with them, using his experience to improve their products.
I don’t think Will would say he’s an influencer, as he’s been doing this for a very long time now and turned his hobby into this job. I don’t think he’s bias towards Fanatec or any other brand.
I would also have to share that Boosted is very clear about what they get and their information has been very good overall. Will and his team provide feedback to the manufacturers both good and bad and I find his content to be very informative. I appreciate that he is coming out and asking the viewers for question they'd like to see if he can get clarification on which is what most of us are looking for. I would like to see what Fanatec is going to do for us who have pre-ordered and have been waiting long past the expected delivery dates and I would like to emphasize that the product page is very misleading which also contributes to the frustration. To share that it is licensed for the PS at the top of the info page and then under smaller section near the bottom to share that it is pending final sony approval is very contradictory and to me dishonest business practice. We are now two months past the expected delivery date and because this was not clearly marketed properly I would expect some for of compensation from Fanatec for the delays in release. A rebate for those who are not expecting to purchase additional products or a discount code attached to the accounts would be something that I feel should be done to be fair to both the company and the customers.
Thanks Will!
I was looking for something on Discord as I don't have FB and Youtube is a bit of a black hole of comments. But I'll give it a go.
If you happen to read this reply. I am most curious to know about Software/Drivers of new products as I have a BMR that was not really ready for release when I received it. All of it seems to be software related. It runs pretty good now, but it still has some oddities. And CS DD has had lots of software reports since it's release as well.
There were tons of driver releases before the year end. I believe to support the new products and their release dates. But there have been tons of bugs since driver 451. And no fixes since the end of 2023. An awful lot of us are waiting for 456 and hoping it stabilizes.
It's also worth talking about the Driver/Fanalabs integration compared to every other company at this point. The installation process, etc.