Game development has always been a rapidly evolving industry. Every year, new platforms, consoles, and distribution methods emerge that present an appealing opportunity for developers and designers who want to cast off into a rising tide.
Despite these innovations, game development continues to be a time consuming and costly process that requires investors, along with a team of marketers, brand ambassadors, and public relation experts who have the right connections and can get the word out.
Luckily, the industry is poised to morph once again, only this time, it seems more like a revolution.
Just imagine. You are a game designer at a reputable firm with a few years experience under your belt. You have some great ideas for new games, the technical know-how to pull them off, but you know you won’t leave that company for another few years, and when you do, it will be to join another company that may or may not be more receptive to your creative ideas.
Sure it’s an exciting industry, but you have little say on what is made.
Wouldn’t it be great if there was a way to raise the funds you need for your great idea. Wouldn’t it be cool if this technique also had a built-in marketing and industry feedback mechanism. Well, look no further. The answer? Crowdfunding.
Examples
Double Fine Adventure is probably one of the most famous crowdfunded games that raised over $3 million in a span of about 30 days, with $1 occurring in the first 24 hours. With a $400,000 fundraising goal, this game put forth by Double Fine Productions surpassed expectations and paved the way for a new fundraising marketplace. This is an example of an established game production company utilizing crowdfunding technology to produce a downloadable “Point-and-Click” adventure game.
Wasteland 2 is a sequel for the 1988 popular game Wasteland, developed by Interplay Productions. Although the team only asked for $900,000, this project also drew attention when it ended up raising upwards of $3 million, $700,000 of which in the first 24 hours. Cutting out the middle man (investor) and going straight to the fans seems to be an effective method for established developers that want creative control and financial flexibility.
TAKEDOWN is a Kickstarter project created by Christian Allen, the designer for Halo Reach and GRAW. It was marketed as a “spiritual successor to the original Rainbow Six and SWAT4.” This project ended up raising $221,833 of a $200,000 funding goal. Although this is not an out of the park homerun like the previous two projects, it certainly demonstrates the ability for game designers to acquire funds via their fans.
FTL: Faster Than Light a spaceship simulation game that had a mere $10,000 fundraising goal exponentially surpassed its mark. Subset Games, the owner of the project, ended up raising upwards of $200,000 in a 30 day period. The project had only one backer for the $5,000 tier (max) and the majority of pledges were in the $40-$100 range.
Industry Statistics
So far this year, in the Games category on Kickstarter, there are 3,751 proposed projects, $81.89 M raised, $71.51 M of successful dollars, $6.22 M of unsuccessful dollars, $4.15 M live dollars, and a 34.10% success rate.
From 2010 to 2011, the games category on Kickstarter saw the largest percentage increase in backers (up 730%).
More info
For more information how how to take use crowdfunding as a game designer, check out The Crowdfunding Bible by Scott Steinberg or subscribe!
Food for Thought
This quote is taken from the TechCrunch article, Games Are A Difficult Investment Proposition, But Crowdfunding Could Change That, by Tadhg Kelly, a game designer with 20 years of experience and the creator of leading game design blog What Games Are.
In a sense, crowdfunding’s real value is not the money that it generates, the success of what individual projects deliver, or whether it is currently overhyped. Those things help, but really what crowdfunding should be thought of is as the best market-research tool we’ve ever had. It gives us a way to look into the tribal minds of the players who care, the ones that are most likely to spread the word later by correlating not just what they have already bought, but what they intend to buy. Crowdfunding of games is a way to validate franchise potential (while maybe easing some of those Series A blues into the bargain).
The point is that, rather than making games in isolation in the hope that they will hit, the tools have emerged to poll audience intent first and even turn that into a production budget.
