After the board game The Doom That Came to Atlantic City was abruptly cancelled despite raising over $122,000, the response from Kickstarter backers was predictable (and appropriate) a mix of outrage, confusion, and disappointment. However, when Erik Chevalier — who led the project — backed out, the intellectual property behind the game reverted to its original designers: Keith Baker and Lee Moyers. On their respective blogs and on the website for games publisher Cryptozoic, they have announced that the game will be published and shipped to backers, at Cryptozoic's own expense. Cryptozoic publishes several popular titles, including the World of Warcraft Trading Card game and a Lord of the Rings card game. Baker and Moyers say that the company is stepping in to do "what they can to make things right for gamers who have suffered" because of the situation.
The company, which has no direct affiliation with Chevalier or his company The Forking Path, explicitly isn't "isn't assuming responsibility for the Kickstarter project" and can't commit to matching all of the original funding rewards. However, it will be shipping the game to backers irrespective of whether or not Chevalier makes good on his promise to refund all of the original money. A downloadable and printable version of The Doom has already been released, and Cryptozoic tells Polygon that it will have more details on the actual date "in a few weeks."