Fantasy Box Office has been a passion project of mine for a few years. In recent months, it's grown tremendously, which has been incredibly rewarding – and increasingly expensive.
Server costs have been rising quickly, and right now, all of that money is coming out of my pocket. The site has zero funding – I have a day job working in film & tv post-production, and build on my nights and weekends. (Although I often say "we" in communications to sound more formal, the truth is, I'm the only person running this thing day-to-day.)
Building the site and supporting the users has become a second full-time job, except I'm paying to do it. I'm not complaining – it's been a dream come true, and I want to be able to dedicate even more time to the project. I'm working on a lot of features: an iOS app, options for critics/awards scoring, expanded player counts in leagues, and so much more. To make all that happen in a timely manner, I have to start making some money 'round here so that I can work on Fantasy Box Office full-time.
"I gotta figure out how to make money on this thing."
—The Driving Crooner, I Think You Should Leave (2023)
Rest assured: the game will remain fully free to play, and all of the current features will remain free to use.
First, ads will start rolling out onto the platform. I've previously experimented with ads in limited, low traffic areas like the news feed; going forward, you may start seeing ads on higher trafficked surfaces like the calendar, scoreboard, movie pages, and blog posts. I'm aiming to create a polished, high-quality experience – I've spent a lot of time on the design of this site, and I don't want to clutter it up with ads. I'll be experimenting with placements and frequency over the next few months, and I'm always open to feedback if anything feels wrong.
Secondly, I'm building a subscription tier for users who want to support the site more directly. For a small annual fee, Fantasy Box Office Pro will offer additional features that make the game more fun (and will remove the aforementioned ads.) I'm currently building out the first wave of features, and will have more to announce later this summer.
All of this will allow me to dedicate more time towards the platform and build it into the best it can be. Thanks for being a part of this.