but unless it makes good business sense
Please don't say such things in reference to CGL, it's awfully dangerous when people spray hot beverages everywhere. :-p
Let me just say that too many people defend poor choices and lack of optimised business processes on things like "didn't make goof business sense" or "It wasn't the right time". That can either be contributed to not the right people on the right spots or management not making the right decisions. I see either or both at many, many small business, that generally relates to IT (that's my thing), but also translates to the rest of the business.
Let me start by saying that I've been a BT fan for over 30 years. And the Fanpro/VGL era has me spending about the least amount of money on those companies. Heck, I spend more on MechWarrior clickytech then on BT/SR products since from Fanpro/CGL. Don't get me wrong, things like the hardcover consolidated rule books are awesome, something like Alpha Strike is interesting and I bought one or more of each boxed set (if at all available). But I've spent ~€1600 on cheap second hand RP minis (not IWM, but actually blue backed RP minis) and another $5000 on CAV KS for plastic Mechs and Vehicles for BT. Only recently I saw something I really liked and is on my 'to buy' list: House Arano: The Aurigan Coalition and now this 'Clan' KS...
Now, I might be viewed as very negative, but that's due to the last 12 years 'experiencing' the CGL business for both BT and SR. Many a can of worms have been opened (which I shall not do so now) and very good ideas have been extremely slow to implement. As mentioned before, this Clan Box idea is a very old idea. The quality of the minis had finally improved significantly with the latest boxed sets (yay!) but price per mini has tripled (ouch!) and is still PVC. But good PVC is better then bad PVC... I've worked at banks and other companies that are very slow to implement change, I'm very patient in that regard, but honestly CGL is trying my patience.
That said, Shimmering Sword is an excellent choice for art director and artist. And while I still love PLOG, his designs require another step to convert to proper minis and that has always been the issue with BT. Traditional 2D art vs. the consistency of 3D art in all mediums (2D art, 3D miniatures, computer games, etc.). That fills me with hope to be honest. But having experienced all the low points of CGL as well, recent news and 5+ years experience as a KS backer (do I need to mention Robotech or the ton of projects I did manage to avoid?), does give my hope an *asterisk*. Great! But... Also a bit late, if CGL jumped on the bandwagon 4 years ago, that $5k for CAV projects might have gone to BT KS projects instead. On the other hand, even the latest CAV KS gave me 60 Mechs (15 different designs) for $100 I don't expect the BT KS to not come even close to that.
I'm personally not that interested in the actual Clan box with the rule/map contents, I've had those rules since they came out 30 years ago. I am interested in minis, LOTS and LOTS of minis. I really hope that CGL sees that many of us are interested in that primarily and if we can buy just the minis (at a reduced price) instead of multiple copies of the Clan box, that would be a win for everyone. Personally I would 1 Clan Box and then (possibly) multiple sets of just the Mechs. Many of us also love deals. 10 Mechs for $40 is great but 4x10 Mechs for $120 would be better ;-) That would probably generate a ton of cash. But on the flip side CGL isn't the owner of the BT property and would need to consider the wishes of the owner (TOPPS) and their partners (IWM).