Are you looking to get funding for a game? There’s never been a better time to use crowdfunding to finance your board game, card game, or video game — especially on a platform like Kickstarter!
In this article, we’re taking you through several different ways to receive funding for your game idea.
Not only can you tap into an online crowd, but you can also dip your toes into multiple funding sources to fuel the production, creation, and distribution of your game.
So buckle up, because we’re getting into all of it!
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For now, let’s do a deeper dive into how to get funding for a game!
Creating an Initial Prototype
When it comes to garnering funding for your game, I think it’s helpful to think of the venture as a business.
While you might view yourself as the game developer or creator, the larger goal is creating a business that leads to eager and satisfied customers (and investors!) willing to show up for your product offering.
In order to do this, you first have to get to work on creating your prototype.
This is where some up-front investment will be required from you; you’ll have to pay someone to actually produce a working concept of this game — whether that be digitally or a traditional board game — in order to get feedback about gameplay and attract people to buy and/or invest.
The prototype phase is commonly self-funded. But you could also think about calling upon your close network of friends, family, colleagues you’ve had success within the past, etc. to bring this idea to life and actually bring the product, tangibly, into the world.
You could even incentivize an initial investment by treating your close network like “micro-angels,” offering them a small stake of equity in your company going forward.
Crowdfunding For a Game
Here’s the dilemma: board games are usually too expensive to be completely self-funded (without the help of a loan). However, the projects many times aren’t large enough to be taken on by large investing or venture capital groups.
There could be exceptions to this rule, of course. But for the majority of board game and video game projects, creators are seeking a healthy middle ground.
That’s where crowdfunding platforms such as Kickstarter come in.
The Kickstarter Games category is one of the hottest offerings on the platform — with more than 43% of all Games campaigns reaching their funding goal.
In total, more than $1.5B successful dollars have been raised on the platform, with 26,188 projects brought to life for games alone.
It’s pretty impressive stuff! And your campaign could be next.
Here’s why Kickstarter is effective on several levels:
- You can get funding for the development, production, and distribution of your game
- You can reach a large network of game-obsessed individuals already primed to back your project
- You can take the momentum from your Kickstarter campaign and use it to launch on ecommerce or other ventures
Keep in mind that you’ll need to show up to the crowdfunding platform with a prototype already developed, as well as supporting creatives to demonstrate that prototype’s functionality, use cases, and gameplay.
So many people have ideas for games — but only a select few are able to actually bring that idea into the world. You have to be able to demonstrate to your backers that you have the resources and tangible assets to get it done.
Once you’ve got your prototype, it’s all about building an emotionally provocative story behind your campaign. You’ll need to:
- Make a compelling 1-4 minute pitch video
- Build an engaging campaign page with desirable rewards
- Execute a pre-launch strategy to prime backers to show up on Day 1 through email and social media marketing
The best thing you can do as a game developer looking to launch on Kickstarter is research successful campaigns that have become before you.
Take a look at seven-figure campaigns such as Exploding Kittens, Frosthaven, and Shenmue 3 to see how they structured their video, copy, rewards tiers, etc. to elicit an emotional response.
Then, try to emulate those elements in a way that makes sense for your particular campaign. What will resonate with your audience? Humor? Curiosity? Adventure?
Takeaways: Is Kickstarter a Good Option For Your Game?
When it comes to launching a game on Kickstarter, three elements are indispensable:
- A killer concept with great artwork to support it
- Execution of a pre-launch strategy to “prime the pump”
- Building a stellar campaign page with video creatives, etc.
If you do all of these things, you’re going to have a pretty great chance to reach your funding goal on Kickstarter. And that means that your game idea will finally be played in the real world, by real people!
It also means growing your business.
Here at CrowdCrux, we specialize in pre-launch and campaign page creation to ensure that you smash your funding goal. Wanna work with us? Book a coaching call with our founder Salvador Briggman.
Not quite ready for coaching? No problem. We have some awesome education resources for you:
- The Crowd Crux blog, podcast, and Youtube channel where we’re always working to deliver the best insider tips, tricks, and secrets from experts who have a wide range of experience in the industry.
- The Crowd Crux weekly newsletter that delivers streamlined, valuable insights to your inbox every Thursday.
- Books and courses designed our founder Salvador Briggman, such as The Kickstarter Launch Formula and it’s sister UDEMY course
Good luck with your game campaign! Remember, CrowdCrux is here to help you drive up that funding meter and smash your launch, should you need us!
