Crowdfunding and Why Every Gamer Should Care…
So “crowdfunding”… “crowd-funding”… “CROUDfunding”… say it with me now… “c r o w d f u n d i n g”…
Cool isn’t it. Don’t you feel all zeitgeisty and trendy and stuff? I certainly do.
But wait, shouldn’t we actually stop and think about this seriously rather than just keep saying it? Probably.
Whilst “crowdfunding” is a lot like “boing” or “clothes-peg”, in that I just like saying it for some reason, it also happens to have significance far beyond its pleasant sound.
Have you ever wondered / moaned / complained or even ranted that no one is making the game you want? That publishers aren’t catering for your gaming needs? That they don’t make games like they used to?
Well, believe it or not, there is a very good reason for all these problems. They don’t know how much you want that game, or indeed, if you really, really actually do. That is to say if you are willing to actually part with your hard earnt cash for them.
Projects range from the sublime to the ridiculous... just like the games I like then... 
Can a huge global company afford to risk large amounts of money on a hunch? No.
Can you actually trust people to pay for something if they say they will during your survey / in your market research? Erm… No.
So what do you do? You make something that is very likely to succeed. A game which is similar enough to another recently successful game to make failure highly unlikely. This is great because you are, in a very real way, responding to market demand. It’s also great because you have thousands of people to pay and this approach invariably turns a profit.
But what if only a few people want a certain type of game, but they want it a lot. Enough to pay for it up front. What if you could somehow be certain that people would actually pay for something once you produced it? Like a pre-order, but on blind faith, before a screenshot, demo or preview was available?
You see sometimes people want something so much they will pay for the idea of it. This is the complete reverse of game piracy. They will give money to someone in the hope they will deliver on a promise, an idea, somehow, eventually…
Sounds fanciful? Well, this concept has just successfully funded a new game project to the tune of $2,000,000. Not only that but the developer had originally sought just a fifth of that sum. Wow.
Yup, you read it right! Crowdfunding explodes onto the scene...
Crowdfunding is epitomised by successes such as Minecraft and sites like Kickstarter & IndieGoGo. Developers are realising that certain types of projects lend themselves particularly well to this method of financing and so we can expect a lot more of this to happen going forward. Why? Because you will be involved. Yes you. You will make it happen. Not sure I’m right? Head over to Kickstarter or IndieGoGo right now and check out their gaming related projects and then tell me you’re not tempted to dip into your wallet and be part of the birth of at least one brand new game!
Why does this work so well? Well it’s a combination of factors, but the main reason is that it doesn’t always. Wait. What?
Yes, one of the big strengths of this model is that interested parties (you and I) invest in a game idea directly. We decide what succeeds or fails. Crowdfunding is the most democratic and exciting thing to happen to games development since, well, online gaming.
For the first time in decades YOU can make a huge difference to the success of a single game, you can steer the industry directly by your prudent deployment of funds. No longer do you have to be a genius software programmer to get that game you’re desperate for made. You just need to find a person (or group thereof) who are suitably skilled and motivated and back them with your $10. Job done. You are now part of a team making this game happen. Exciting isn’t it!
One of the first hugely successful crowdfunded projects... a little game you may have heard of...
Not only is it exciting, but it’s empowering and rewarding. Logic and tradition now combine to dictate that your trust, love and cash earn you the respect and thanks of the developer. This means not only do you get cool stuff for your money, like the finished product, but also often some say in its final form and sometimes even a mention in the credits!
Don’t get me wrong, of course we need the big publishers for those block-busting, epic, genre defining titles, and we always will. But we also now have a system which can give us ownership, involvement and a real say in games that we want to see, games that can’t happen any other way.
Not only that but this system can, will and is being used to send a message, a message about what we want. What grass-roots gamers are excited about, what we’re so passionate about that we’re willing to back it. And believe you me; a 2 million dollar message is very hard for ANY publisher to ignore…
So, come join the evolution, check out to Kickstarter and / or IndieGoGo’s gaming sections and see if you can avoid the temptation to make a real difference to the industry… yes, that’s right… gaming needs you!
- Richard “Rax” Burley
@Raxous
I love this approach to funding games (though it also irks me since I had the idea for a crowsourcing site and then I discovered that month that somebody had beaten me to the punch!!!
)
My only problem with it is that popularity is a massive magnet for this, and thus, guys with decades of fame like Ron Gilbert and Tim Schafer with cult favorites at their back can raise a decent budget (yes, $2m is a “decent” budget in moder videogame industry) but newbie developers with a good idea but nothing to show will not get a dime. I’m still curious how this will change the scene though… good times!