Games are Kickstarter’s largest category, with over 15,000 projects launched. According to Kickstarter Stats, creators have raised over $280 million in successful projects on the platform. Still, the success rate for game campaigns is only 33.87%.
Despite having seen its fair share of successes and failures, the gaming category on Kickstarter has brought fans a wide range of new video games to play and the chance to get cool rewards in the process (including early beta access to games). A Forbes article mentions that:
“Kickstarter wants to direct our attention to the crowdfunded games which started as developer dreams and emerged as publicly playable product. In fact, there are more than 100 of them available to experience on Steam right now, and the majority of them are on sale.”
Before you launch a Kickstarter campaign to raise money for your video game, you should take some time to become familiar with engaged gamer communities. This will help make promotion an easier task, since there are many online blogs and communities dedicated to gaming that have a lot of followers. Just make sure you abide by the rules of any online community or publication:
1. That VideoGame Blog
That VideoGame Blog features gaming news and reviews, plus they’ve posted about Kickstarter campaigns in the past. There is also have a forum where users can interact with each other.
2. Kotaku
Kotaku is a video gaming blog that is run by readers and also features posts about Kickstarter games. This blog is probably one of the more plain-looking ones on this list, but features a lot of video game stories and news, and has a steady readership.
3. Destructoid
Destructoid is a video game blog that focuses on a range of topics, including news and reviews across all types of gaming platforms. They have posted about Kickstarter campaigns. The site also has a community with extensive features for sharing and interacting with other gamers, as well as a forum where people can post and comment.
4. Joystiq
Joystiq is a blog that contains video game news, reviews, podcasts, trailers, and more. Their posts get a lot of comments, and they have written about Kickstarter campaigns before.
5. Video Games Blogger
Video Games Blogger is a large website dedicated to all things related to video games. Their home page features links to news, walkthroughs, guides, cheats, reviews and more. Video Games Blogger has posted about Kickstarter campaigns.
6. Game|Life | WIRED
The Game|Life section of WIRED features gaming news. WIRED has a good readership and has written many posts about Kickstarter campaigns.
7. Video Games – Google+
This Google+ community has over 50,000 members that has a specific category for discussing Kickstarter campaigns.
8. Video Games Meetup Groups
There are over 1,000 video game Meetup groups with over 200,000 members in 48 countries. Finding video game Meetup groups near you can help you meet new people in the industry, and connect with potential backers in person.
9. /r/gaming – Reddit
Reddit is always an interesting option when it comes to promoting crowdfunding campaigns in general. Although the Reddit community is known to be harsh at times and it is important to follow their rules, some projects have had a lot of success with getting their campaigns noticed on Reddit. For a look at how one Kickstarter campaign’s Reddit promotion brought their YouTube views from 500 to 55,000 in one night, see this CrowdCrux interview.
Conclusion
There are many more video game communities and blogs out there that I haven’t mentioned where you can promote your Kickstarter campaign. These are just a few of the more popular and well-known ones.
The writers of these blogs are passionate about gaming. Many of the sites on this list have featured Kickstarter campaigns in the past, so you should feel free to approach them and ask for an interview or other coverage. Make sure you know what kind of topics the writer you pitch to usually posts about – explain what makes your campaign relevant and why they should write about it. For more tips, check out this article on how to craft a PR story.
Another option is finding communities and websites that let readers post their own content. This method allows you to interact one-on-one with potential backers, just remember not to post on the same sites about yourself too often. Don’t only post links, and try to comment on other people’s posts before promoting your game.
What place is your favorite? Feel free to mention any I left out!
